Kleibner, Amichai (Ami)
Son of Sarah and Joseph. He was born on the September 28, 1926 in Ben Shemen, where he received his elementary education at the school in Rechovot, where the family moved from Ben Shemen, but because of his strong inclination to agriculture,he came to Ben Shemen to work during the school holidays. He moved to the agricultural school “Kaduri”, where he excelled in his studies, at work and in society. He assisted in his parents’ auxiliary market in Rechovot, and held responsible positions in the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement. He was soaked with the love of the land. He enlisted with his comrades in the Palmach and participated with his company as a squad leader in various activities. On 18 Sivan (16.6.1946), the “Night of the Bridges”, Palmach planned to blow up eleven bridges of roads and railways in eight places in the country, to disengage from the neighboring countries. Amichai went with a Palmach unit to blow up two bridges, the railway bridge and the road bridge, which rested on Nachal Akhziv. The unit encountered fire and the fourteen men were killed including Amichai, when the fire hit the explosives they were carrying, and the bridge was destroyed by the soldiers who took cover. He was laid to rest in a mass grave in the cemetery on the Carmel coast. He left two parents and two brothers. In 1968, the remains of the thirteen men were transferred to a grave that was dug in the heart of the monument erected in memory of the fallen. The family and the Sulam Tzur Council contributed grants and scholarships in memory of Amichai. The family also decided, after the fall of their son, to change their name from Kleibner to Amiad.
