Mezarev, Zev

Born in 1927 in Damascus, the capital of Syria. In 1936 he immigrated to Israel with his family, who settled in Haifa. Ze’ev finished elementary school and began working in a ceramic factory in Haifa Bay and supported the family in his work. He continued to study in evening classes, read many books, especially those dealing with political problems, and joined the Hashomer Hatzair movement, where he reached the rank of counselor in the Dror clan. He was careful to uphold moral principles and before he demanded of his students, he demanded first of all himself, demanded and maintained. He also won the esteem of his colleagues and employers alike, and as a member of the workers’ committee, he was careful about the nature of the work and its conditions, taking into consideration the interests of both sides. As a trustee for the movement’s principles, he was drafted into agricultural training, but before he could acclimatize to agricultural work, he was forced to defend the homeland with all his training members in one of the battalions of the Palmach-Harel Brigade. He was injured in Sha’ar Hagai, but refused to waste time in the hospital and continued his service until he fell in battle on the way to Jerusalem, while repelling the enemy’s attack on one of the Sha’ar Hagai settlements on May 14, 1948. On the 11th of Adar 5702 (28.2.1950) he was laid to rest at the military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.