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The memorial was erected to honour the fallen of the 84th Division, who, under the command of General Israel Tal, conquered the Rafiah area during the Six-Day War, advanced along the northern and central axes of the Sinai peninsula and reached the Suez Canal.
The memorial was designed by Israel Godowitz and stands on a 4-acre site. At its centre is an 80-foot high tower constructed of five semi-cylinders surmounted by a balcony which looks out over the country around. Encircling the tower are 300 concrete columns, each topped by part of an armoured vehicle or weapon.
The columns forming the central motive of the memorial represent the "Pillar of Fire" which went before the camp: "and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light" (Exodus 13,21)and recall the symbolism of the pillar in Judaism: "You are the pillar of the world" (Midrash Rabba); "my teacher is like a tall pillar, a light unto the nations" ('Wisdom of the Fathers").
At the entrance to the tower is a memorial room containing a number of bronze tablets on which are inscribed the names of the 164 fallen, from the various units making up the division. The memorial was originally erected on the 5th June 1979 in the town of Yamit and was designed to serve eventually as its central square. After the evacuation of Sinai and the dismantling of Yamit in 1982, it was transferred to its present site in the Besor Region.
