Amos was born Abd el-Majid Hidr in a small Bedouin village in 1920.

When he was 16 years old, an internal strife caused him to flee his village and seek refuge elsewhere. He arrived at a Jewish community where he was sheltered and made connections in the Haganah through the help of his friend, future IDF Chief-of-Staff Moshe Dayan.

During Israel’s War of Independence, Abd decided to tie his fate to the Jewish people; he changed his name to Amos Yarkoni (Hidr is Arabic for green, as is Yarkoni) and joined the IDF. Yarkoni fought in a number of different places before settling down in the Herev Battalion, a battalion compromised of non-Jewish minorities, mostly Druze and Bedouins.

In 1953 Amos graduated from the IDF Officer’s Course and went on to become the Commander of the Herev Battalion. Several years later, he was recruited by the Commander of the Southern Command Rehavam Zeevi to head the Shaked Unit, an elite counter insurgency unit.

In 1959, Amos was wounded while commanding an operation and lost his right arm. Two years later after his rehabilitation, he resumed command of Shaked despite his injury. He went on to command Shaked for a number of years until his retirement from the military in 1969.

Amos was a recipient of the Medal of Distinguished Service, one of Israel's most prestigious military decorations, as well as three other military citations. He passed away on February 7, 1991, after a prolonged battle with cancer.

May his memory be blessed.