Yossi Klein Halevi - Like dreamers: the story of the Israeli paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem and divided a nation

For Moriah, Gavriel, and Shachar

the next chapter is yours.

A SONG OF ASCENTS

When the Lord returned the exiles of Zion,

we were like dreamers.

Then our mouths filled with laughter,

And our tongues with songs of joy.

Then they said among the nations:

The Lord has done great things for them.

The Lord has done great things for us.

Psalm 126

We are writing the next chapter of the Bible.

Hanan Porat, June 7, 1967

Sky-diving without a parachute,

Open to all directions,

And the longing for each direction

Is destroying me.

Meir Ariel, The Snakes Shed Skin, 1988

Contents

THE KIBBUTZNIK PARATROOPERS

ARIK ACHMON Born on Kibbutz Givat Brenner and moved to Kibbutz Netzer Sereni after the split over Stalinism. Served as the 55th Brigades chief intelligence officer in the Six-Day War and helped lead the crossing of the Suez Canal during the Yom Kippur War. Went on to help establish Israels domestic aviation industry and shift the statist economy toward capitalism.

UDI ADIV Born on Kibbutz Gan Shmuel. In 1972 traveled to Damascus to help create an anti-Zionist terrorist underground. Served twelve years in an Israeli prison.

MEIR ARIEL The greatest Hebrew poet-singer of his generation. First came to public attention after the Six-Day War, with his song Jerusalem of Iron. Member Kibbutz Mishmarot. Died in 1999.

AVITAL GEVA Born on Kibbutz Ein Shemer. Wounded in the battle for Jerusalem, went on to become a leading conceptual artist. In 1977 founded an educational greenhouse to teach young people ecological principles and kibbutz values. Represented the state of Israel in the 1993 Venice Biennale. Active in the antioccupation movement Peace Now.

THE RELIGIOUS ZIONIST PARATROOPERS

YOEL BIN-NUN A founder of the Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful) settlement movement. Led a generation of religious Zionists to study the Bible as a way of understanding contemporary Israel. Broke with the settlement movement following the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. A founder of the settlements of Alon Shvut and Ofra.

YISRAEL HAREL (FORMERLY HASENFRATZ) A child survivor of the Holocaust, and a leader in the Bnei Akiva religious Zionist youth movement. Founded the West Bank settlements umbrella organization, the Yesha Council, and its magazine, Nekudah , and served for many years as settler spokesman. A veteran settler in Ofra.

HANAN PORAT Founder of the first West Bank settlement, Kfar Etzion. Wounded in the Yom Kippur War, then helped found Gush Emunim. First settler elected to the Israeli parliament. Died in 2011.

FAMILY MEMBERS

YEHUDIT ACHMON Psychologist, married to Arik Achmon. Grew up on Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek. Daughter of Yaakov Hazan, leader of the socialist Zionist movement Hashomer Hatzair.

TOVA AND URI ADIV Udis parents. Led campaign for his release from prison.

TIRZA ARIEL Businesswoman, married to Meir Ariel. Grew up on Kibbutz Kfar Szold, moved to Kibbutz Mishmarot after marrying Meir.

ESTHER BIN-NUN Dietitian, married to Yoel Bin-Nun. A member of the Ofra settlement before leaving with Yoel after the Rabin assassination.

ADA GEVA Bible teacher and high school principal, married to Avital Geva. Member of Kibbutz Ein Shemer. Daughter of Ein Shemers fallen hero, Anatole Shtarkman.

KUBA GEVA Avitals father. Kibbutz Ein Shemers architect.

SARAH HAREL Social worker, married to Yisrael Harel. Grew up in an ultra-Orthodox family. Member of the Ofra settlement. Died in 2006.

SYLVIA KLINGBERG Far-left Matzpen activist, Udi Adivs first wife. Daughter of Soviet spy Marcus Klingberg.

LEAH LESHEM Led campaign to free Udi Adiv. Married Udi when he was released from prison.

OTHER PARATROOPERS

YISRAEL ARIEL (FORMERLY SHTIGLITZ) Rabbi of the Sinai settlement of Yamit, helped lead the struggle to prevent Israels withdrawal from the Sinai Desert in 1982.

EMIL GRUENSWEIG Peace Now activist killed by a grenade in an attack on a demonstration against Ariel Sharon in 1983.

MOTTA GUR Commander of the 55th Brigade in the battle for Jerusalem, later chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Died in 1995.

AMNON HARODI Member of Kibbutz Ein Shemer, killed in the battle for Jerusalem.

YOSEF YOSKE BALAGAN SCHWARTZ Arik Achmons ex-brother-in-law and paratrooper jester.

MOSHE MOISHELEH STEMPEL-PELES Deputy commander of the 55th Brigade in June 1967. Killed in action in 1968.

OTHER RELIGIOUS ZIONISTS

YEHUDAH AMITAL Rabbi of the Mount Etzion yeshiva. A Holocaust survivor and leading opponent of religious extremism.

AVINOAM ABU AMICHAI A founder of Kfar Etzion; killed in the Yom Kippur War.

SANDY AMICHAI Kfar Etzions first American; married Avinoam Abu Amichai.

YEHUDAH ETZION Student and study partner of Yoel Bin-Nun. Imprisoned for leading a plot to blow up the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount.

SHLOMO GOREN Longtime chief rabbi of the IDF. Became chief rabbi of Israel in 1973.

ABRAHAM ISAAC KOOK First chief rabbi of the pre-state Jewish community in the land of Israel. One of the great Jewish mystics and thinkers of the modern era. Died in 1935.

ZVI YEHUDAH KOOK Son of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, rabbinic head of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva and spiritual father of the Gush Emunim settlement movement. Died in 1982.

MOSHE LEVINGER Founder of the Jewish community in the West Bank city of Hebron, and of the adjacent Jewish town, Kiryat Arba. Helped found the Gush Emunim settlement movement.

OTHERS

MOTTI ASHKENAZI Commanded the only Israeli outpost along the Suez Canal that didnt fall to the Egyptians during the Yom Kippur War. Initiated the protest movement that toppled the government of prime minister Golda Meir in 1974.

SHALOM HANOCH A founding father of Israeli rock music. Grew up on Kibbutz Mishmarot. Childhood friend of Meir Ariel.

URI ILAN Israeli soldier from Kibbutz Gan Shmuel who committed suicide in a Syrian prison.

ENZO SERENI Italian-born Zionist pioneer, a founder of Kibbutz Givat Brenner. Killed on a parachuting mission to Nazi-occupied Europe. Kibbutz Netzer Sereni is named in his memory.

DAOUD TURKI Arab Israeli leader of an anti-Israel terrorist underground. Charged with treason along with Udi Adiv and sentenced to seventeen years.

T HE LONG LINES of silent young men moved single-file through the blacked-out streets, illumined only by flashes exploding in the approaching distance. Not even the outlines of houses were visible, as if the city of white stone had been reabsorbed by the hills. It was a cool June night in Jerusalem, but many of the men were sweating. Their uniforms were olive green or camouflage-patterned, US Army surplus more suitable for the jungles of Vietnam than for urban warfare. Most of the men were in their twenties, reservists abruptly extracted from university or from farms. For most this would be their first war. They were entering battle already exhausted: many had stayed awake through the night before, too anxious for sleep.

It was just past midnight, and the men of the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade were heading toward no-mans-land, the swath of barbed wire and minefields and trenches dividing Jordanian-held East Jerusalem from Israeli-held West Jerusalem. That morning the Israeli air force had launched a preemptive strike against Egypt, whose leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, had moved his army to the Israeli border, blockaded Israels southern shipping route, and threatened the imminent destruction of the Jewish state. The Jordanian army had opened a second front in Jerusalem, shelling Jewish neighborhoods and hitting hundreds of apartments. Most residents were in shelters, all lights extinguished. Every so often a jeep or ambulance raced, without headlights, through the empty streets.