Mitzna, Amram

(1945- )

   Israel Labor Party leader from 2002 to 2003. Born on Kibbutz Dovrat, Mitzna was raised in Kiryat Haim near Haifa, graduating from the prestigious Reali military boarding school. He holds degrees from Haifa University; he also completed the graduate program in public administration at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1963, serving mainly in the Armored Corps, and rising from tank commander to divisional commander. As a brigadier general, he criticized Defense Minister Ariel Sharon's handling of the Lebanon War (1982). As commander of the West Bank from 1986 to 1990, he was responsible for dealing with the early stages of the intifada, including implementing Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin's order to "break the bones" of the demonstrators. In 1990, Mitzna was appointed head of the IDF planning division, and in 1993, he retired from the IDF with the rank of major general.

   In November 1993, Mitzna was elected mayor of Haifa and was reelected to a second term (in November 1998) with a majority of 65 percent of the votes. On 19 November 2002, in the Israel Labor Party leadership primary, Mitzna defeated Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to become party chairman, taking 54 percent of the vote. He campaigned for the election to the 16th Knesset on the platform of withdrawing unilaterally from much of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. However, in the election on 28 January 2003, Mitzna and One Israel were soundly defeated by Sharon and Likud, with Labor taking only 19 seats compared to 37 for Likud. In May 2003, Mitzna resigned as Labor Party leader. In early November 2005, he was appointed by Interior Minister Ofir Pines-Paz to serve as acting mayor of Yeruham, a town in the southern Negev region.