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The Philadelphia Jewish Voice |
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The Philadelphia Jewish Voice |
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Issue #3News & Op/Ed
Exponent
Watchpost
Community Free
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(Israel Information Center)
Removing the Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria means:
■ 42 day-care centers, 36 kindergartens, seven
elementary schools, and three high schools will be closed
■ 5,000 schoolchildren will need to find new schools
■ 38 synagogues will be dismantled
■ 166 Israeli farmers will lose their livelihoods - plus
some 5,000 of their Palestinian workers
■ 48 graves in the Gush Katif Cemetery, including those of
six residents murdered by terrorists, will be exhumed and moved
to Israel.
Disengagement will cost Israel an estimated $2 billion - about 3.5 percent of the 2005 state budget.
■ The cost of family relocation alone is estimated
to be nearly $1 billion. This will come from an annual state
budget of about $59 billion.
■ In addition, the IDF will spend some $500 million
to remove military bases and equipment from the Gaza Strip.
■ To cite just one example of the costs entailed, the
demolition and removal of rubble from some 3,000 homes and
public buildings will cost an estimated $25 million.
■ In the context of Israel’s 2005 state budget, the
estimated $2b. cost of disengagement is equivalent to about half
the country's annual health budget or approximately one third of
the budget for education.
Introduction
Establishing peace is a fundamental goal of Jewish tradition
and the declared policy of the State of Israel. Israel has long
sought peace with its Arab neighbors and particularly with the
Palestinians. The great challenge in making peace is that it is
a process that hopefully does not end just with the cessation of
hostilities between former enemies, but with the beginning of a
new relationship of coexistence. Israel’s
ultimate goal is to
establish good neighborly relations with a Palestinian state.
Against the background of more than four years of terrorist
bloodshed, Israel has initiated its Disengagement Plan in the
Gaza Strip and northern Samaria, both to enhance its security
and to put the peace process with the Palestinians back in
motion. For it to have a chance to work, the plan requires a
considerable sacrifice on the part of some 1,700 settlers and
their families, or about 8,000 people who must leave the homes
and livelihoods they have built over the course of several
decades.
In the short term, it is these settlers who are paying the greatest part of the price for peace. It is they who were encouraged by previous governments to settle barren land and turn it into homes, gardens, and farms, in the same pioneering spirit that built the State of Israel. They are now being asked to relinquish these accomplishments for the greater good.
Many of these pioneers came to the Gaza Strip, for example, as young couples - and are now facing the trauma of leaving their homes with their children and grandchildren, for whom Gaza has been their only home.
The following capsule descriptions of the 25 settlements included in the Disengagement Plan show what some of Israel’s pioneers are giving up for peace.
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The Gaza Strip Gush Katif Bedolah A moshav (freeholders’ collective) founded in 1986 as part
of the Hapoel Hamizrahi religious moshav movement and the Bnei
Akiva national religious youth movement, Bedolah has 33 families
and a population of about 220. Most of its members grow peppers,
tomatoes, and other vegetables in hothouses for the local market
and for export. In recent years a number of immigrants from
France joined the moshav, adding to its cultural diversity. Bnei Atzmon Founded in 1978 following the Camp David Accords, Bnei Atzmon
is a mixed collective/privatized religious moshav of some 70
families comprising more than 500 people. The settlement has a
well-developed educational system for some 550 pupils from
nursery school through high school. Bnei Atzmon has more than
5,000 dunams (1,250 acres) of field crops, 12 dunams (3 acres)
of turkey runs, a dairy, a construction firm, and a plant
nursery considered to be one of the most advanced in the region. Established in 1982 by a group of 22 Bnei Akiva (national
religious youth movement) families, Gadid now has some 60
families, with another 15 families from France staying at its
immigrant absorption center. Unlike the other agricultural
settlements in the Gaza Strip, Gadid’s original hothouses were
built alongside the residences. As the settlement grew,
additional hothouses were added beyond the residential area,
including ones operated by the Berbie family to produce
medicinal herbs. About 60 percent of the herbs exported by
Israel come from Gush Katif. Gan Or A member of the Hapoel Hamizrahi religious moshav movement,
Gan Or was founded in 1983 by graduates of the Bnei Akiva and
hesder yeshiva movements, the latter which combines yeshiva
study and military service. Most of its 50 families earn their
livelihoods from vegetable hothouses, with the rest belonging to
the free professions. The community, which recently completed
building a synagogue and adjacent events hall, also houses the
Tohar Girls College, which offers religious studies and
extension courses at the Open University and at Bar-Ilan
University’s campus at nearby Ashkelon.
Gadid
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Ganei Tal This religious moshav was founded in 1979 by Bnei Akiva
graduates. Most of its 65 families make their living from
hothouses where they grow agricultural produce, including
organic vegetables, flowers, seeds, house and garden plants, and
spices. Ganei Tal also prides itself on its wide range of
cultural activities.
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Katif Ten veterans of the Bnei Akiva movement and the IDF
established Katif in 1985 after undergoing Established in 2001 by five families in an abandoned orchard
between the settlements of Bnei Atzmon and Morag, Kerem Atzmona
today numbers some 15 families with a population of about 60. It
members work in education and the professions. Kfar Yam This tiny settlement on the shore west of Neve Dekalim was
established by two families in a derelict Egyptian Army resort
in 1983. Its population increased by a third family in 1985 and
a fourth in 1996. It is classified as a "settlement of
individuals."
agricultural training at nearby Moshav Bnei Darom. Today the
moshav numbers more than 60 families and has a population of
about 330, some 220 of them children. In addition to its many
other educational institutions, its members founded the Katif
Yeshiva for Marine and Desert Environmental Studies, which
combines religious and environmental study. Katif operates a
dairy and manufactures fabrics and hothouse equipment, while its
own hothouses produce vegetables for export.
Kerem Atzmona
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Taking care of horses at
Pe’at Sadeh
Moshe Milner / GPO
Morag The southernmost of the Gush Katif settlements, Morag began
as a Nahal outpost in 1972 and became a religious moshav in
1983, affiliated with the Hapoel Hamizrahi movement. Most of its
29 families work in agriculture, growing tomatoes, leafy
vegetables, spices, and other produce in hothouses. Despite
coming under constant terrorist attacks, Morag recently added
seven more families and completed building a central structure
for use as a synagogue. Originally established as a Nahal settlement in 1973, Netzer
Hazani was founded as a civilian moshav by 12 religious families
in 1997. Today most of its 70 families make their living from
hothouse agriculture, growing organic vegetables and a wide
variety of spices for export, as well as breeding fish in
fishponds. This religious communal settlement of some 500 families
(population about 2,600) is the largest in the Gaza Strip and
serves the other settlements as an administrative and service
hub. Neve Dekalim maintains the offices of the local council,
religious and health services, a commercial and industrial
center, a wide variety of religious educational institutions and
youth movements, cultural activities, a community center, and
the regional library. Established as a temporary settlement in 1989, Pe’at Sadeh
moved to its present location on a hill overlooking the sea in
1993. Its 20 families comprise 110 inhabitants, 70 of whom are
children. The residents of this communal settlement are a
mixture of secular, traditional, and religious. Most engage in
agriculture, with the remainder in the professions.
Netzer Hazani
Neve Dekalim
Pe’at Sadeh
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Rafiah Yam This mixed secular/religious communal settlement was
established at a temporary site in 1984 by young couples from
various parts of Israel and moved to its present location in
1991. Most of its 25 families (population about 100) make their
living from advanced hothouse agriculture, while community
seamstresses manufacture clothing for Israel’s leading fashion
houses. Founded in 2000 in response to the terrorist bombing of a
schoolbus at nearby Kfar Darom, the settlement on the seashore
has 16 families with 26 children. Most residents work in
agriculture, with the remainder in the professions. First established in 1980 as a Nahal settlement, Slav began
functioning after the Sinai withdrawal in 1982 as a staging camp
for settler groups and as the site of the Midreshet Hadarom
college. Today three families live in one part of the
settlement, while the rest serves as a Border Police base. Founded a few months before the signing of the Oslo Accords
in 1992, the settlement has 15 families, most of whom make their
living from agriculture with a view to developing the seaside
location - which boasts a natural lake - for tourism.
Shirat Hayam
Slav
Tel Katifa
Synagogues
of Gush Katif
Neve Dekalim
Nathan Alpert / GPO
Katif
Bnei Atzmon
Amos Ben Gershom / GPO
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The
North and Central Gaza Strip
Dugit Founded in 1990, Dugit is a seaside communal settlement of
about 20 families (70 people) who make their living from
fishponds and tourism. After living in caravans since Dugit’s
establishment, several families received permission to build
permanent homes. Elei Sinai Founded in 1983, in part by settlers forced to leave Sinai
under the peace treaty with Egypt, Elei Sinai is a secular
communal settlement of some 85 families with a population of
about 350. Most of its members are professionals who work in
nearby Ashkelon, some 15 kilometers away. The largest settlement in the northern Gaza Strip, Nisanit
has some 300 families and a population of about 1,300. Founded
originally as a Nahal settlement in 1980, it became a civilian
communal settlement in 1993. A secular community, its mostly
professional residents work in nearby settlements or in the city
of Ashkelon. This historic religious moshav had its origins more than 70
years ago, when a man named Tuvia Miller purchased some 260
dunams (65 acres) there for a fruit orchard. His holding was
destroyed during the Arab riots of 1936-39, but the Jewish
National Fund bought Miller’s land in 1946, when it was
settled by a group of religious kibbutzniks. During Israel’s
War of Independence, Kibbutz Kfar Darom held out Following the Six Day War, Kfar Darom was reestablished as a
combined military/agricultural settlement by the IDF’s Nahal
Corps and reverted to civilian status as a religious settlement
in 1989. Today Kfar Darom has some 65 families and a total
population of about 400. Its Institute for Torah and Land seeks
solutions for special problems posed by modern agriculture and
religious law, and its members earn their livelihoods from
agriculture, education, and the professions. Its industrial
section houses a regional packinghouse and among its educational
facilities is a Center for Child Development. Netzarim Founded as a Nahal settlement in 1972 by a group from the
secular Hashomer Hatzair movement, Netzarim became a civilian
religious settlement in 1984. Several years later its members
decided to dissolve the kibbutz and change Netzarim into a
communal settlement. Its 60 families (population 400) operate a
welldeveloped economy that includes hothouse agriculture
(tomatoes for export, mangos, leafy vegetables), a chicken run,
and a quarry. Some of its members work on neighboring
settlements.
Nisanit
Kfar Darom
against the invading Egyptian Army for nearly three months,
until the IDF ordered its defenders to abandon it in the summer
of 1948.
Due to the security situation, Netzarim’s children study at
Bnei Atzmon. However, three years ago a hesder yeshiva was
established in the settlement with 20 soldier/students.
Northern
Samaria
Ganim This secular communal settlement was established in 1983 and
has 30 families. Planned for an eventual population of some 300
families, Ganim was intended to be part of a string of
communities across northern Samaria. Homesh A mixed secular/religious residential community, Homesh began
in 1978 as a Nahal settlement and became civilian with 30
families in 1988. Its location on the highest hilltop in the
area affords it a panoramic view of its surroundings and was a
security factor in its planning. Kadim This secular residential community was first established as a
Nahal outpost in 1983, then became civilian the following year
with the arrival of 25 families. It was planned to comprise 200
families. Sa-Nur Originally settled by the Dotan core group in 1977, this
religious communal settlement changed its name to Sa-Nur in 1987
after serving as an artists’ colony since 1984. It has 15
families and was planned for 80.