Who is Ilan Eliav from The Source; a Novel and what is their importance?

Ilan Eliav is the administrator in control of the management of the dig at Makor. He is Jewish and works at a government ministry. One of his purposes is the protection of artifacts found in Israel. His wife was killed in the 1956 Sinai Campaign and he is engaged to Vered. Eliav spends a lot of time explaining Judaism and the Jewish culture to Culliname. He is the one that Culliname always questions. Eliav considers the animosity between the nations in the area to be part of a historical process. After the partition, he helps to defend Safed and then goes on to fight at Akka and Jerusalem.