PROFESSOR

ARIE LOVA ELIAV

Lova Eliav immigrated to Israel from Moscow when he was four years old. In his 83 years of life he has done what most of us would need two lifetimes to accomplish.

We will mention a few of his major undertakings. He served in the Haganah, the Aliyah Bet Movement and the Mossad. He supervised Operation Tushia which rescued the Jews of Port Said. He completed his military service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in history and science. Lova Eliav is a teacher and a sociologist, teaching abroad as well as in Israel. He was a fellow and lecturer on International Affairs at Harvard University and Trinity College.

He served as a Knesset member for 18 years, serving in industry, trade and immigration. He ran a huge rehabilitation project in Iran in a region that had been destroyed by an earthquake and he also headed Israel's rehabilitation mission to earthquake stricken Nicaragua. He was the first person to start a dialogue with members of the PLO and he was close friends with Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. He is the author of fifteen published books and has written numerous research papers and reports. In addition to all of this, he has won over twenty prizes for his contribution to humanity, peace, town developments and other important issues.

With the exception of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first leader and prime minister, Lova Eliav has probably done more than any one person in helping to develop the Negev. He founded the town of Arad in the eastern Negev and was responsible for developing Lachish and Kiryat Gat. Finally in the 1980's, he had an idea to turn the sand dunes of Nitzana in the Western Negev into a youth village. He saw that the south was greatly lacking in facilities for the youth.

A few shacks on the hillside was all that could be found in the Nitzana area at that time. Eliav and his wife came and set up camp along with a planning team. They were not exactly spring chickens at this point in their life but their pioneering spirit, determination and foresight won out.

Uri Gordon who at that time was responsible for the Jewish Agency's Youth Aliyah Program was brought onto the scene. With his help and that of Eli Amir, who was Director-General of Youth Aliyah, Lova Eliav's plans for Nitzana were soon coming to pass. Under the careful guidance of directors such as Zeev Zevan and David Palmach, the dream has been watered and nurtured.

Today Nitzana is so much more than a youth village. A better term would be a campus, but even this word does not entail all of the projects and events that take place here.

At present, Lova Eliavs' vision for Nitzana continues. He visualizes a town built around the campus that would supply employment for the growing number of people who would like to live here and is adamant in his belief that the Negev is the future of Israel.

BACK HOME