Center of Kibbutz Revadim
Terror Attack Place:
Nahal Amaziahu
Commemoration Site:
Kibbutz Revadim
Area:
Central Israel
Type:
Monument
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On Thursday, Iyar 5758 (14.05.1948), the day the State of Israel was established, Kibbutz Ravadim in Gush Etzion fell into the hands of the Arabs and its fighters were taken prisoner by the Jordanians. Reuven Meiri, nicknamed Vivi, remained in captivity for nine months, until he was released with the last of the prisoners and returned to Israel on 28.02.1949. He joined his Ravadim friends, and with them he worked on the restoration of the kibbutz and its reestablishment in the Judean Lowlands.
On Passover 5759 (April 1949), many travelers began to tour the Negev regions. The Negev had just been fully liberated, and after the armistice agreement with Jordan (03.04.1949), many believed that the region was safe. Vivi, who had been in captivity two months earlier, went on a trip to the Negev with his girlfriend, Rachel, and two of his kibbutz friends. They were in Ein Husov (now Ein Hatzva), in the northern Arava, and in the early morning they were looking for a ride.
Miriam Ginter, 20, also set out that day with her friend Yoska Pichersky and another couple from Kibbutz Revadim for a trip to Eilat. They hitchhiked on the same truck. Nitzan Rabaun and her good friend Ruthie Meisner also hitchhiked to Eilat. Nitzan was about to be drafted at the time, and Ruthie was a soldier on leave. They hitchhiked on the same truck.
On Tuesday, April 20, 1949 (April 19), 12 travelers, including Vivi and his girlfriend, were gathered and hitchhiked in a supply truck headed for Sodom. The truck traveled north and entered a section of road surrounded by the Havre Hills, located about ten kilometers north of Ein Husov. A squad that had crossed the border from Jordan ambushed them, with its members disguised as Bedouins, and opened fire on the truck from positions prepared about 30 meters from the road.
Also murdered in the ambush were soldiers Israel Moshe Hass, 20, Meir Trachtenberg, 34, and the truck driver Laslo Auslander, 23, who had arrived in Israel only three months earlier.
A report on the incident was written by Avi Navon, some of the information here is taken from the aforementioned report.
Photos by Shimon Cohen from Facebook
