Eytan Named New Chief of Staff

The Cabinet’s approval yesterday of a “fighting general” to be Israel’s next Chief of Staff when, for the first time in 30 years, the nation is engaged in direct peace negotiations with one of its Arab neighbors, raised eyebrows here. Defense Minister Ezer Weizman’s choice of Gen. Rafael Eytan for the number one military post seemed, in some quarters, to be ignoring the new political circumstances.

Eytan, at 49, is regarded as one of Israel’s top combat soldiers with an unexcelled record as a paratroop and infantry commander. The other leading contender, Gen. Herzl Shafir, is noted for his negotiating skills and his outstanding abilities as an organizer and administrator. If Israel is moving on the path toward peace, the latter characteristics might be more appropriate than a talent for success on the battlefield, some circles argued.

But Weizman disagreed. In his conception, the primary duty of the Chief of Staff is to keep the army in peak condition, primed for combat at any moment. Moreover, he sees no reason why a field general cannot make a good administrator.

Weizman began to groom Eytan for his new post last August when he was transferred from command of the northern front to General Headquarters. Before that, Eytan was said to have performed “miracles” in revamping the civil defense structure along the frequently violent Lebanese border and making the new development towns there more self-sufficient militarily.

Eytan will succeed Gen. Mordchai Gur on April 16, a day after Gur completes his four-year term as Chief of Staff. Like Gur, he is sabra. He was born in Tel Adashim in the Jezreel Valley and his military career, which began at the age of 17 when he joined the Haganah striking force, Palmach, was interspersed with farming.

Eytan had his first taste of combat in 1948 when, in Israel’s War for Independence, he was wounded during the siege of Jerusalem. By 1949 he was a deputy company commander. He commanded a paratroop unit during the 1956 Sinai campaign and participated in the battle of Mitle Pass.

During the Six-Day War, the paratroop brigade under Eytan’s command broke through Egyptian lines in the Rafah salient, Gaza and Khan Yunis and advanced across Sinai. His men were the first to reach the Suez Canal but Eytan himself was deprived of that honor because of an injury he suffered only a few kilometers east of his goal.

During the Yom Kippur War, Eytan commanded the division that successfully blunted the Syrian attack and counter-attacked on the Golan Heights. In 1974 he was promoted to commander of the northern front.

Eytan’s elevation to Chief of Staff is expected to be followed by the retirement of Shafir and possibly of Gen. Yekutiel Adam who was also considered for the top post. As a result, there will be a succession of promotions in the officers corps that will bring up the “young guard,” career military men who were only children when Israel fought for its independence 30 years ago.

They are officers who participated in the Sinai campaign, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War and the war of attrition with Egypt in the early ’70s. They are believed better acquainted with modern warfare than some of their elders and will have Eytan’s combat experience to guide them. The Chief of Staff-to-be is married and the father of four children.