Amos Yarkoni Lieutenant Colonel Amos Yarkoni ( ) ( born 1 June 1920 — died 7 February 1991 ) , born as Abd el - Majid Hidr ( , ) was an officer in the Israel Defense Forces and one of six Israeli Arabs to have received the IDF ' s third highest decoration , the Medal of Distinguished Service . He was the first commander of the Shaked Reconnaissance Battalion of Israel ' s Southern command . Service in the IDF . Early years . Yarkoni was born Abd el - Majid Hidr ( , ) in the Bedouin village of Na ' ura ( east of Afula , in the Gilboa region of northern Israel ) . His family were Muslim Bedouin of the Mazarib tribe . In 1936 , at the age of 16 , he joined a band which sabotaged the TAP Line , an oil pipeline running from the Iraqi oilfields to Haifa while Palestine was under British Administration ( " after Israeli independence , the Tapline was redirected to Sidon , Lebanon " ) . Due to an internal disagreement within the band , Abd el - Majid fled to a Jewish area of Palestine , where he was sheltered by Jews . There , he made contacts in the Haganah through Moshe Dayan . Abd el - Majid kept in touch with Dayan up until the War of Independence . In December 1947 , as the war raged , he placed his destiny with the Jews , joining the nascent IDF and changing his name to Amos Yarkoni . Yarkoni served in a number of units during the War of Independence , eventually settling in the Minorities Unit , and proved himself to be an excellent tracker and patrolman , continually astounding his fellow soldiers with his abilities . In 1953 , Yarkoni passed the Officer ' s Course ( his main concern being that the exam was in Hebrew ) , and went on to become the Commanding Officer of the Minorities Unit . Shaked . In 1955 , the frequency and effectiveness of Fedayeen attacks being launched from the Egypt ian - controlled Gaza Strip and the Jordanian - controlled Hebron Hills area against isolated Israeli civilian communities increased , and the IDF searched for new ways to eliminate the threat . Rehavam Zeevi , then a senior officer in the Southern Command and in charge of securing the isolated towns of the Jordan Valley , recommended Amos Yarkoni for the task . Yarkoni and Zeevi had met some years earlier , when serving in a joint minorities / Jewish unit , and remained close friends for the rest of their lives . Yarkoni accepted the recommendation , and the IDF tracking and counter - terrorism unit was formed under his guidance and command . The unit was named " Shaked " ( , meaning " almond " ) . " Shaked " was also an acronym for שומרי קו הדרום ( " Shomrei Kav ha Darom " , " Guardians of the Southern Border " ) . The unit fielded both Jews and non - Jews , yet when it came to Bedouin recruits , Amos was careful to accept only Bedouins from northern Israel ( rather than the south of the country ) , so that they would not have to fight against their tribal brethren . Yarkoni was based in the Negev for many years , and was involved in countless operations . He was wounded many times , and his body was peppered with bullet and shrapnel wounds . He lost his right hand in combat in November 1959 , and was badly wounded in the leg in an explosion . In 1961 , after his recovery , Yarkoni was re - appointed as Commanding Officer of the Shaked Battalion . At the time , the Military Commander commented that " " if Moshe Dayan could be the Ramatkal ( Chief of General Staff ) without an eye , we can have a Battalion Commander with a prosthetic hand " " . Even by this stage , many Israelis did not know that Amos Yarkoni was not Jewish : most simply assumed he was a Jew from an Arab country . A running joke among those who did know was " " Fouad the Jew and Amos the Bedouin " " , referring to the two lead officers of counter - insurgency in the Jordan Valley : " Fouad " Ben - Eliezer , an Iraqi - born Jew with an Arabic name , and Amos Yarkoni , a Bedouin with a typically Sabra / Israeli name . During the Six - Day War ( 1967 ) , Yarkoni served on the Sinai front . After years of distinguished service , Yarkoni retired from the IDF in 1969 . Death . Yarkoni died on February 7 , 1991 , after a prolonged battle with cancer , aged 71 . His old friend , Rehavam Zeevi , requested that the IDF bury Yarkoni in a military cemetery , despite the fact that as a retired soldier , he was technically ineligible for a military burial . Both then - Minister of Defense , Moshe Arens , and the Head of Manpower for the IDF approved the request . In a mark of respect to Yarkoni , and going against military tradition , Yarkoni ' s coffin was carried by soldiers of a higher rank than him : six Brigadier General s – his former commanding officers – carried his coffin . Behind the coffin marched the President of Israel , Chaim Herzog , political and military leaders , and ordinary Israelis from all walks of life . Also included in the cortège were former members of the Shaked Battalion . Legacy . Streets in several towns are named for him ( including in Beer Sheva and Haifa ) . Burial controversy . Because Yarkoni was not Jewish , there was a problem with burying him in the Military Cemetery at Kiryat Shaul . ( According to Orthodox Jewish burial law , Jews must be buried among Jews . ) There was an outcry over the unseemliness of the impediment to burying a hero of the stature of Amos Yarkoni in a Military Cemetery . The matter was resolved quickly when Rehavam Zeevi , Yarkoni ' s lifelong friend and comrade , purchased a grave in the cemetery for himself , allowing Yarkoni to be buried at the end of the row , and therefore " technically " not in the Jewish part of the cemetery . The incident over Yarkoni ’ s burial , and the increasing numbers of non - Jewish soldiers ( especially after the influx from the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s ) has seen the system of burial for non - Jews in Jewish military cemeteries streamlined .