Arie "Lova" Eliav, born
Lev Lipschitz , (21 November 1921 – 30 May 2010), was an
IsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i politician and former member of the
KnessetThe Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
.
Biography
Eliav was born in Moscow in 1921. The family moved to Mandate Palestine in 1924. He studied history and sociology, gaining a BA from the
Hebrew University of JerusalemThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
and worked as a teacher and sociologist. He later served as a visiting professor in several American academic institutes, including two years at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(1979–1980) and his two terms at
Trinity CollegeTrinity College is a private, liberal arts college in Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1823, it is the second-oldest college in the state of Connecticut after Yale University. The college enrolls 2,300 students and has been coeducational since 1969. Trinity offers 38 majors and 26 minors, and has...
in the 1990s.
As a teenager, he joined the
HaganahHaganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
in 1936 before joining the British Army in 1940, serving in an artillery unit. Upon his return home in 1945 he helped the Aliyah Bet movement and served as a colonel in the
IDFThe Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
. He later worked as an aide to
Levi Eshkol' served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969. He was the first Israeli Prime Minister to die in office.-Biography:...
on the topics of immigration, absorption and settlement. Between 1955 and 1957 he oversaw the foundation of several settlements in the
Lakhish Regional CouncilLakhish Regional Council is a regional council in the South District of Israel. It surrounds the ancient city of Lakhish and the modern city of Kiryat Gat. It was founded in 1955. Today it includes 15 moshavim and one village, as listed below. As of 2008, three new communities are being built in...
area. During the
Suez CrisisThe Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...
he supervised Operation Tushia, which transported the Jews of
Port SaidPort Said is a city that lies in north east Egypt extending about 30 km along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal, with an approximate population of 603,787...
to Israel.
In 1958 he returned to Moscow, where he worked as the first secretary in the Israeli embassy, a position he held until 1960.
Political career
Eliav was first elected to the Knesset in the
1965Elections for the sixth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1965. Voter turnout was 85.9%.-Background:Prior to the elections, two major alliances were formed; Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda united to form the Alignment, whilst Herut and the Liberal Party had formed the Gahal alliance towards the end...
on the
AlignmentThe Alignment was an alliance of the major left-wing parties in Israel between the 1960s and 1990s. It was established in 1965 as an alliance of Mapai and Ahdut HaAvoda but was dissolved three years later when the two parties and Rafi formally merged into the Israeli Labor Party...
's list, and was appointed Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry. During the Knesset term he became Deputy
Minister of Immigrant AbsorptionThe Ministry of Immigrant Absorption of Israel , known until 1951 as the Ministry of Immigration , a ministry in the Israeli government.In co-ordination with local authorities, the Ministry is responsible for new immigrants for three weeks after they arrive...
.
He retained his seat in the
1969 electionElections for the seventh Knesset were held in Israel on 28 October 1969. Voter turnout was 81.7%.-Results:¹ Meir Avizohar defected from the National List to the Alignment² Avner Shaki left the National Religious Party and remained a single MK...
, but was not given a ministerial position. However, he did become general secretary of the Labour Party until 1971. After again retaining his seat in the
1973The Elections for the eighth Knesset were held on 31 December 1973. Voter turnout was 78.6%.-Results:1 Aryeh Eliav left the Alignment and merged with Ratz to form Ya'ad - Civil Rights Movement...
, he left the party, first sitting as an independent MK, before joining with the Ratz faction to form
Ya'ad – Civil Rights MovementYa'ad – Civil Rights Movement , commonly known as just Ya'ad, was a short-lived political party in Israel. It is not related to the other party by the name of Ya'ad which existed during the ninth Knesset.-Background:...
. However, the new party split up soon after its foundation, with Eliav founding a new party, the
Social-Democratic FactionThe Independent Socialist Faction was a political party in Israel in the 1970s.-Background:The party was established on 27 January 1976, during the eighth Knesset, as the Social-Democratic Faction, when Aryeh Eliav and Marcia Freedman left Ya'ad – Civil Rights Movement. Prior to its creation,...
together with
Marcia FreedmanMarcia Freedman is an American-Israeli activist on behalf of peace, women's rights, and gay rights. In the early 1970s she helped create and lead the feminist movement in Israel...
. The new party later changed its name to
Independent Socialist Faction.
In the run up to the
1977 electionsThe Elections for the ninth Knesset were held on 17 May 1977. For the first time in Israeli political history, the right-wing, led by Likud, won the election, ending almost 30 years of rule by the left-wing Alignment and its predecessor, Mapai...
, he joined the
Left Camp of IsraelThe Left Camp of Israel was a left-wing political party in Israel. It was also known as Sheli , an acronym for Peace for Israel .-Background:...
. The new party won only two seats, but a rotation agreement saw the terms shared by five people; Eliav served the first term, before resigning from the Knesset in January 1979 to make way for
Uri AvneryUri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
. In 1984 he established a personal faction that ran in the
elections that yearElections for the eleventh Knesset were held in Israel on 23 July 1984. Voter turnout was 78.8%. The results saw the Alignment return to being the largest party in the Knesset, a status it had lost in 1977...
, but failed to cross the electoral threshold by around 5,000 votes. In 1987 he returned to the Labor Party.
In 1987 he led a
Jewish AgencyThe Jewish Agency for Israel , also known as the Sochnut or JAFI, served as the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora into the state of Israel.-History:...
project initiated by him to found
NitzanaNitzana is an educational youth village and communal settlement in the western Negev desert in Israel, adjacent to the Egyptian border. It is named for the nearby Nabataean city of Nitzana and gives its name to the Nitzana Border Crossing, formerly Auja al-Hafir.This settlement was founded in 1987...
, a new educational community, in the
NegevThe Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
desert. He served as the Head of Community until 2008. Eliav returned to the Knesset after the
1988 electionsElections for the twelfth Knesset were held in Israel on 1 November 1988. Voter turnout was 79.7%.-Results:1 Five members of the Likud left to form the Party for the Advancement of the Zionist Idea; after two returned, the party was renamed the New Liberal Party...
. He served one last Knesset term and in 1992 he decided not to run for a new term.
Eliav died in
Tel AvivTel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
on 30 May 2010 at the age of 89.
Pioneering activity
Eliav helped to found the city of
Arad in the
NegevThe Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...
and promoted the development of
LachishLachish was an ancient Near East town located at the site of modern Tell ed-Duweir in the Shephelah, a region between Mount Hebron and the maritime plain of Philistia . The town was first mentioned in the Amarna letters as Lakisha-Lakiša...
and Kiryat Gat. In the 1980s, he was the driving spirit behind the establishment of
NitzanaNitzana may refer to:*Nitzana , a city of the ancient Nabataeans located in the Negev desert in Israel*Nitzana , a communal settlement near the ruins of the Nabataean city...
in the Western Negev, turning the sand dunes into a
youth villageA youth village is a boarding school model first developed in Mandate Palestine in the 1930s to care for groups of children and teenagers fleeing the Nazis...
.
Honors and awards
Eliav was one of the most decorated citizens of Israel, a Doctor of Honour of all important academic institutes of Israel.
- In 1988, he was awarded the Israel Prize
The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, for special contributions to society and the State of Israel.
- In 2003, he won the Ben-Gurion Prize.
- In 2005, he was voted the 74th-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Published works
Eliav published 15 books, including:
- Between Hammer and Sickle (1965)
- The Voyage of the Ulua (1967)
- New targets for Israel (1969)
- The Short Cut (1970)
- Land of the Hart (1972)
- Shalom: Peace in Jewish Tradition (1977)
- Autobiography: Rings of Dawn (1984)
- New Heart, New Spirit: Biblical Humanism for Modern Israel (1986)
- On Both Sides of the New-Comers' Camp (2006) – with co-author Y. Alfi
External links