Uzi Narkiss

Uzi Narkiss (1959)

Uzi Narkiss ( Hebrew עוזי נרקיס; ) (Born January 6, 1925 in Jerusalem ; † December 17, 1997 ibid) was an Israeli general. He served as the commander of the Israeli army in central Israel during the Six Day War .

A picture that shows him together with the Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dajan and the Israeli Chief of Staff Jitzhak Rabin shortly after the conquest in the old city of Jerusalem became world famous.

Early career

Narkiss' parents were Polish immigrants. One of his first childhood memories is that he had to hide in the city during the Arab revolt of 1929 .

After visiting the Rechavia - School Narkiss began his military career in the age of 16 years Palmach . As a result, he was involved in Hagana actions against the British mandate power . In April 1948, Narkiss led an attack on Katamon and captured the Simeon Monastery, which was strategically extremely important.

After the British left the country and Israel declared independence , Narkiss was tasked with supporting the forces defending the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's old city against the siege by the Arabs. Narkiss was able to break through with a few soldiers at Zion Gate , but when troop reinforcements failed to materialize, he ordered his soldiers to retreat. The Jewish quarter fell to the Jordanian army .

Narkiss spent the time after the Israeli War of Independence in France, where he studied at the French military academy École de Guerre and was awarded the Legion of Honor . Narkiss then returned to Israel to continue his military career there. In 1965 he became the first director of the Israel National Defense College .

Six Day War

In June 1967 Narkiss was in command of seven brigades and was responsible for repelling a possible Jordanian offensive on Jerusalem. The capture of the old city was not originally planned, but after Jordanian attacks broke out on the first day of the war, Israeli forces occupied key positions in East Jerusalem . Narkiss decided to take the opportunity to bring all of East Jerusalem under Israeli control to make reunification possible. From Narkiss' point of view, he only continued with this action with which he had not been successful 19 years earlier.

Later career

Narkiss left the Tzahal in 1968 with the last rank of major general ( Aluf ) and took over high offices in the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization . He died in Jerusalem at the age of 72.

In 1992 he received the Yitzhak Sadeh Prize .