Gush Katif A Mistake?

"The tragic mistake was settling Gaza in the first place", writes Hillel Shuval.

He continues:

I also pointed out that according to Halachic authorities, Gush Katif was never considered part of historic Eretz Yisrael...the withdrawal from Gush Katif was not a “tragedy.” The decision to settle there in the first place was the tragic mistake.

Mistake?

In 1970 when Kfar Darom was reestablished?

In 1946 when Kfar Darom was Kfar Darom was founded on land purchased in 1930.

In 1625, whem Israel Najara died and was buried in Gaza's cemetery?

Going to Gush Katif

The Land of Israel loyalist groups, re: Daniella Weiss, are planning a March to Gush Katif for Pesach.



It'll be on the third day of the Intermediate Days of Passover, Sinday, April 12th.

Going Back to Gush Katif?

This poster has gone up with a simple message:

The real response is reestablishing Jewish community life in Gaza's Gush Katif. That's historic justice. And that's a better way of protecting and guarding the residents of the South.

If you're interested, there are two phone numbers there and it's sponsored by the Eretz-Yisrael Loyalists, which, I think, is Daniella Weiss' group.

Second Thought; Second Chance

The disengagement was an error.

It erred in the simple task it was supposed to do and created a huge humanitarian crisis among thousands of Jews who have been suffereing financially, psychologcially and spirtitually and now, with the inadequate protection at places like Nitzan, physically, as well.It erred by creating a precedent of forced expulsion of Jews from their land without an agreement of either security or peace.

It erred in that it did not provide Israel a respite from terror.

It erred in permitting Hamas to rule.

And now what?

This development:

'We lost our homes for nothing,' says reservist from former Gaza settlement

Three years after being evacuated from settlements in the Gaza Strip, some of the evacuees are now returning - in uniform. Aharon Cruz, a paratroops officer, lived in Netzarim for two years before the disengagement. On Sunday, he and his unit, to which he had been recalled a mere day after his wedding last Thursday, were back at the settlement's ruins in central Gaza.

"On one hand, there's a feeling of 'what did we leave for?'" said his father, Rabbi Ze'ev Cruz. "On the other hand, there's joy that he is returning to a place he knows."

..."It's a very difficult feeling," said Ami Shaked, former chief security officer of the Gush Katif settlement bloc, whose son is a paratrooper. "This is the first war in which my son is defending me instead of me, him."

But beyond that, "everything we said then has come true. What is happening today reopens the wounds. The thought arises that perhaps we shouldn't have given in; perhaps we should have been more insistent, ratcheted up the struggle another notch. But that's history."

Yossi Neuman, a reserve officer in Southern Command who once lived in Neve Dekalim...His son Itai, a tank commander, called him yesterday from the ruins of Netzarim.

"It's a destructive feeling," Neuman said. "I'm here on an emergency call-up and my son is fighting for what we once had. We said missiles would haunt Ashkelon and they said we were delusional. We lost our homes and our lives for nothing...

...the son of Zvika Bar-Hai - a West Bank settler who was one of the leaders of the fight against disengagement - was seriously wounded on the first day of the ground operation.

...Itzik Vazana..."We've made a big circle, and in the end, we're returning to Netzarim. Tomorrow morning we won't return to the settlement, but it's a process that will ripen slowly."

"It's a stab in the heart," added another, Eliyahu Ozen. "Today it is clear that when I lived in Netzarim, I was the country's flak jacket. Today, I live with the feeling that I did my job. Too bad they didn't want it any more."

I Challenge Miriam Shaviv

I am acquainted with Miriam Shaviv, a former Jerusalem Post book review editor. She now writes for the Jewish Chronicle.

I spotted this and it bothered me:-

why is no one agitating on their [the Gush Katif expellees] behalf? Certainly inertia, and emergencies such as Iran, have played a role. But it seems to me, more fundamentally, that they are being used as political pawns.

The right, though theoretically sympathetic, has a vested interest in keeping them unsettled. A two-state solution will depend on evacuation of some West Bank settlements. But as long as the Gaza settlers remain neglected, no one can expect settlers from Judea and Samaria to leave their homes for "Israel proper", on the basis of a few government promises.

Miriam, may I challenge you on this? Political pawns? Really, now.

MKs from the right-of-center parties have been desperately attempting to lobby the various government ministries, Knesset committees, the press, etc. to get these people into permanent homes, regular employment, etc. And they have had some minor successes.

A woman from my home of Shiloh went down to the Nitzan Caravilla site to serve as school principal. Other social workers have volunteered beyond the normal services extended to the expellees. The press has been bombarded with stories with the object of getting things aright. Monies have been donated. Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimmon of Alon Shvut has set up a Gush Katif employment agency, JobKatif and was recognized by President Shimon Peres.

There is much more I could detail but I really think you erred on this one. We are not like the Arabs who have kept their "refugees" in camps for 60+ years. One success, Maskiyot, for 20 families from Shirat HaYam even made headlines (albeit due to the location of the new community).

You were wrong on this and misleading. Why you penned this viewpoint is beyond me.

Reconsider?

Gush Katif

The movie Israel's media won't show.