"Because A Friendship as Strong As This Will Never Let Us Forget"
Haim Guri

Edited by Malka Maor - Editor of "Al HaGush", Misgav Local Magazine

First Sergeant Arbel Reich (z"l), from Yuvalim in the Misgav Regional Council, son of Partnership 2000 Manager Yael Reich and husband Moshe, founding members of the community, and brother to Moran and Einav, an IDF NCO from the Recon Battalion, Elite Unit of the Givati Brigade fell during combat operations in the Gaza Strip, when an IED was activated against his unit in battle.

Arbel, aged 21 was eight months prior to his honorable discharge from regular army duty.

On Friday afternoon, July 13, 2007, under a hot sun, Arbel came to his final resting place in Misgav's regional cemetery. Thousands came to tearfully accompany him, pay their last respects and console the anguished members of his family to the sound of the heart-wrenching tears of his stunned young friends unable to comprehend the loss. But who could...

The photos he left behind show a fine young man. The eulogies said before his grave painted a picture of a humane, ideological, sensitive and caring person, one who loved life, his family and country, a young man who was dedicated to his service, and saw friendship as a supreme value.

The following are portions of the various eulogies said during Arbel's (z"l) funeral.