- Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
MKs
Date of birth = birth date and age |1936|2|12
Year of Aliyah = 1950
Date of death =
Knesset(s) = 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th,
17th (current)
Party = Labor
Former parties = Yachad, Alignment,One Israel
Gov't roles = Minister of National Infrastructure
Minister of Defense
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister of Communications
Minister of Housing & ConstructionBrigadier-General (Res.) Binyamin "Fouad" Ben-Eliezer ( _he. בנימין "פואד" בן אליעזר; _ar. بنيامين بن إليعازر, born
12 February 1936 ) is anIsrael i politician and former soldier. He was the firstIraqi Jew to lead the Israeli Labour party. On4 May 2006 , he became Minister of National Infrastructure in theKadima -led coalition government.Biography
Born in
Iraq , Ben-Eliezer immigrated to Israel in 1950. He entered theIsraeli army in 1954, and became a career soldier. A native and fluent Arabic-speaker, he earned the nickname "Fouad" while in the army. He served as a Commander in theSix-Day War and theYom Kippur War , and was wounded in theWar of Attrition . In 1977, he was appointed First Commanding Officer inSouthern Lebanon , serving as the army liaison between the LebaneseChristian militia s and Israel. He was Military Governor of theWest Bank (1978-81) and was Government Coordinator of Activities in theIsraeli-occupied territories from 1983-84.Elected to the
Knesset in 1984, Ben-Eliezer was the Minister of Housing and Construction, the Minister of Communications, the Minister of Defense, and the Deputy Prime Minister. He is currently a member of the Labor-Meimad parliamentary group.Ben-Eliezer is considered a hawk on
foreign policy and was one of the main architects of the invasion of Lebanon as well as a strong proponent forOperation Defensive Shield inJenin . He has advocated halting peace talks withPalestinians until there is an end to violence against Israelis, although he believes once their leadership is able to put a stop to "terrorism " and abandon it as a political tool there should be "compromise" in final status talks with thePalestinian Authority .He lives in
Rishon LeZion and is married with five children.In Labor Party elections on
9 November 2005 Ben-Eliezer placed third in a vote to determine the party leader. He received 16.82% of the vote which caused the previous leader,Shimon Peres , to narrowly lose the election toAmir Peretz .In March 2007, Ben-Eliezer was forced to cancel a trip to
Egypt after being warned byEgyptian intelligence that he could be arrested, when an Israeli documentary implicated him in the massacre of 250 EgyptianPOW s during the Six-Day War. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6419471.stm Egypt anger over 1967 'massacre'] BBC News 5 March 2007]References
External links
* [http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/11/Benjamin%20Ben-Eliezer Binyamin Ben-Eliezer] Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
* [http://www.elcorresponsal.com/modules.php?name=ElCorresponsal_Biografias&req_bio_id=35 El Corresponsal de Medio Oriente y África] es icon
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