Meir Har-Zion

Meir Har-Zion was born in 1934 in Herzliya

Har-Zion was born Meir Horowitz in Herzliya in 1934. His family moved to Rishpon when he was 3, and his sisters Shoshana and Rachel were born there. When he was 14 his parents divorced, and he moved with his father to kibbutz Ein Harod.

As a youth he hiked widely, sometimes across the borders. In 1951 he and his sister Shoshana were captured on the Syrian side and held in Damascus. They were released after a month through UN mediation.

He enlisted in the Nahal in 1952 and in 1953 joined Unit 101, taking part in many of its raids. After the unit merged into the 890th Paratroop Battalion, he commanded its reconnaissance platoon. In 1955, after his sister was murdered in the Judean Desert, he and companions killed Bedouin across the Jordanian border, were held for 20 days, and were released without charge.

He was badly wounded in 1956 during Operation Jonathan and left the army as a captain. He fought as a reservist in 1967 and 1973. In 1959 he founded Ahuzzat Shoshana, and in 1969 he published his diaries. He died in 2014.