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Jan. 20, 2004
Slain soldier loved his job
David Rudge
St.-Sgt. Maj. Jan Rotzanski, 21, of Herzliya, who was killed in the Hizbullah anti-tank missile attack on an IDF bulldozer along the Lebanese border in Western Galilee on Monday, is to be laid to rest at the military cemetery in his home town on Wednesday. The time of the funeral will be announced after members of his family arrive in Israel from Russia.
Rotzanski immigrated to Israel some 14 years ago and settled with family in Herzliya. He was considered an outstanding student and an exemplary soldier. He served as a non-commissioned officer in the bomb disposal unit of the Combat Engineering Corps but, to prevent his parents from worrying, he did not inform them of the dangerous places where he served. It was only upon hearing the news of his death that his parents learned that he had been serving along the Lebanese border.
Michael Rotzanski, 18, told reporters that his brother greatly enjoyed his role in the army, and said it gave him a great deal of satisfaction. "He thought he would be in an elite unit. He loved it very much. He didn’t want to talk about his plans for life after the army, until he had finished his service," said Rotzanski.
Friends and relatives said Jan loved to work with computers since a very early age.
Rotzanski is also survived by his parents, Felix and Marina.
Another soldier was badly wounded in the attack and is being treated in the intensive care unit of Haifa’s Rambam Hospital to where he was evacuated by IAF helicopter immediately after the incident.
Hospital deputy-director Dr. Zvi Ben-Ishai said the wounded soldier had undergone a series of operations carried out by five separate surgical teams because of multiple shrapnel wounds.
"Now he is on a respirator in the intensive care unit, and his condition remains serious but stable, and we are waiting for a gradual improvement," said Ben-Ishai on Tuesday.
For residents of Western Galilee, the Hizbullah attack was a painful reminder of the past.
"We are all very upset," said Amram Peretz, a resident of Moshav Zarit, which is situated near the border and close to the scene of the attack. Despite the attack and the five separate strings of bombs that Hizbullah has planted alongside the security fence in the area in the past few months, Peretz said the Western Galilee has been enjoying one of its quietest periods for many years.
"Since the IDF pulled out of Lebanon [in May 2000]… we have been able to go about our lives as normal."
Such has been the relative peace and quiet that residents of Zarit are now pressing, with the support of the Ma’aleh Yosef Regional Council, to expand their small farming community.
"There have been more than enough people killed and wounded over the years,‘ said council Chairman Avi Karampa. ’I would like to hope that there won’t be any more."
He continued,"I have no doubt that Israel has to respond to Hizbullah’s latest attack… and I trust the IDF to decide on the questions of when where and how. I hope, however, that whatever is done will be carried out in such a way that it will not lead to a Hizbullah counter-attack and an escalation."Of course,‘ Karampa concluded, ’you can never know how Hizbullah will respond, although whatever is done, we will accept it."
In Memoriam
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