Eliakim Atzani, one of the innovators of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria and in Hebron in particular, was laid to rest yesterday in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron, in the Yishai Lands neighborhood of Tel Rumeida.
Atzani was buried next to the grave of his wife Tzipora, who died about four years ago.
Hundreds accompanied him on his last journey, including many of his friends from the right, the former chairman of the Yesha council Israel Harel;
MK Orit Strock, resident of Hebron; friend of the family and the settlement in Hebron, Major General (Res.) Uzi Dayan; former chairman of the Shomron Regional Council, Benny Katsober;
Also the Minister of the Interior Ayelet Shaked and the Chairman of the Religious Zionist Party MK Bezalel Smotrich.
In the presence of his loved ones and fans, Eliakim Atzani was laid to rest, Photo: Gershon Allinson/Flash90
His son, the headstrong Beaz, told about the beginning of his father's journey, as a child in Nazi Germany, in the school where they studied "race lessons", and where he argued with his Nazi teachers and was beaten and cursed.
"That's where his operating system was designed," the son described.
"Afterwards, father also rebelled against his commanders in the Haganah, when they demanded that he participate in the 'season', and was exempted from this. Father was seriously injured by a mortar shell that fell in Jerusalem during the War of Independence and underwent a long rehabilitation," said the son.
Atzani Jr. described how, immediately after the Six Day War, his father feared that the public and the State of Israel would miss the opportunity that fell into their hands in the "War of Jesus", as Atzani called the Six Day War, and decided to settle in Hebron and dedicate his life to promoting settlement in Judea and Samaria.
His son Nadav testified to his father's integrity, who "did not make concessions to himself or his family members".
He told how he helped the immigrants in the transition where he moved to live for a whole year, and how he fought against the corruption of Pa'i and its hatred in the first years of the state.
Nadav Atzani paid tribute to his father: "He made no concessions to himself or his family members", photo: Gershon Allinson/Flash90
The son also dedicated words to his father's good relations with some of the Arabs of Hebron, in the first decades of the settlement there.
"He respected those who were not against us," he said.
His son Yishai read Naomi Shemer's famous poem, "Ish Moser", a love poem for the settlers and their settlement enterprise.
"It is said that the song was written after Shemer's tour with his father in Judea and Samaria," said Yishai Atzani.
Sara Al-Hatsani, the granddaughter of Eliakim Al-Hatsani, who is currently the head of the "My Israel" movement, addressed her grandmother in her words and said: "Aliakim, my grandfather, we followed you in the desert in an unsown land, and today it is sown and flourishing. The sense of loss does not go away even when a person like you dies at a young age 96. You left us a whole world, and we promise to continue to fulfill it."
Another grandson, Itay, the son of the stubborn Baaz, called his grandfather a "pillar of fire" and a "beacon of values and Zionism."
Itai Atzani said that on his advice he turned to establish his home in northern Samaria, "to strengthen a unit that was relatively weak in the settlement."
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, described how I encouraged him and his friends to act in order to return to Chomesh in northern Samaria, after the expulsion from there, during the secession.
Dr. Avshalom Kor paid tribute to Atzani and said that thanks to Atzani he also has descendants in Hebron, and for that he owes him a great debt of gratitude.
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