Next week will be the 8th anniversary of the expulsion of Israeli citizens living in Gush Katif. Over 8,000 Jewish residents were forcibly removed from their homes and land. Twenty-one communities made judenrein..[free of Jews]. Beautiful homes, manicured gardens, field of produce, schools, community centers and Beit Knessets were all destroyed on orders of the Israeli government.
And today, do we have the peace that was promised by abandoning our land? The answer is NO NO NO.... all we have is missile terror, kassams, mortars and grads. Our beautiful land is now used as terror camps by Hamas. By abandoning our land, we gave the terrorists the opportunity to come closer and fire rockets deeper into the South of Israel. Some peace...right!
A few days after the disengagement, I wrote a poem called Gush Katif.
Gush Katif
Gush Katif
paradise on earth.
In one week
destroyed and no more.
This beautiful land
so full of Kaddosh
With honor and bravery
the residents settled the land.
Over thirty years ago,
our brave IDF
reclaimed our land
in a victory so bold.
"It's the law
I'm just following orders,"
our soldiers told the residents.
"You need to leave right now,
or we will move you out
one by one."
As the proud residents were being carried out
tears from both soldiers and residents
flowed all around.
On some yishuvim
one last mincha was recited in the Beit knesset
and with dignity, tears and heads held high
they temporally said good-bye.
The expulsion was the law
of a cruel government.
When Moshiach will come
our beloved land
will be in our hands once again.
The expulsion was the law
of a cruel government.
When Moshiach will come
our beloved land
will be in our hands once again.
Netivot, August 2005.
I would like to recommend a very special book that is very appropriate for this anniversary.
Shifra Shomron, who at the time of the expulsion, was a teenager living with her family in Neve Dekalim, put her thoughts and feelings on paper and wrote Grains of Sand: The Fall of Neve Dekalim.
Reading this book you smile, laugh and cry. You feel the author’s pain. This book should be a reading requirement for every high school student.
The story starts off introducing an everyday family, parents, 2 teenage children living in Neve Dekalim going about their daily lives before there was any talk about disengagement. We learn about the mortar, kassam and rock throwing terror the families had to endure and when the first rumors that P.M. Sharon wanted to expel Israeli citizens out of Gush Katif. Life becomes an emotional merry-go-round..no one wanted to believe such a horrible deed could ever happen.
The one line in the book that I’m sure was on every child’s mind..the teenage boy in the story asked his father, if the expulsion really happens, what is going to happen to us, where will we go, how will we live? This fear, I’m sure was worse than any fear of missiles.
Shifra, thank-you for writing this marvelous book...I'm only sorry that because of an Israeli government this is a true story and not a figment of your imagination.
Until next time, feel free to comment and share.
Miriam
Some analysts are saying that Hamas is finished. They supported the wrong side in Syria and now the Muslim Brotherhood has been taken down in Egypt. They say they have no one left to support them. I'm skeptical, but wouldn't it be nice if it were true?
ReplyDeleteWe gave away precious pieces (of land) for an illusive peace."
ReplyDeleteSara
Miriam, reading your poem takes me back to those days of intense emotion due to Arab terror, the threat of Disengagement, and the eventual Disengagement with its aftermath. Let me applaud you and all who stood with us, Gush Katifnics.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Shifra,
http://myvoiceinisrael.insightonthenews.net/?page_id=42
Miriam, reading your poem took me back to the times of heightened emotions due to Arab terror, the threat of Disengagement, and the eventual Disengagement with its aftermath.
ReplyDeleteI would like to applaud you and all who have stood with us.
Shifra
http://myvoiceinisrael.insightonthenews.net/?page_id=42
Well some peole never learn. Erev Tisha B'av is the scheduled expulsion from Amona. The "benefits" will be similar.
ReplyDeleteI just saw your post on anglobeersheba and the comments of the foolish academic who says that giving Hamas launch areas "is not Beer Sheva material."
ReplyDeleteRemarkable how stupid some people can get from spending time in universities.
Truth is though, we really do not remember. I have an orange Gush Katif t-shirt which I wear every Tisha BeAv. My young Jerusalem neighbors in shul look at me as somewhere between quaint and weird.
Israel P
ReplyDeleteI replied on the list...
I guess the grad missiles that were fired at Beer Sheva from Gush Katif missed your house....lucky you! My grandson was born at Soroka while the siren was wailing and missiles were striking near the hospital.
We all have a delete button, if the blog is not your cup of tea, delete it!
MIRIAM
Remembering Gush Katif and Northern Samaria.
ReplyDeleteWhile the number of Jews expelled from their homes was much less in Northern Samaria, we gave away more land and for poorer reasons.
We cannot forget how we abandoned Northern Samaria despite the reduced prestige.
Josh
Shalom!
ReplyDeleteThe land in the Northern Shomron on which four Jewish communities stood, and someday, G-d willing will stand, remains under Israeli military control. The Northern Shomron has not turned into a Hamas stronghold as the Gaza Strip has. The Homesh Yeshiva still meets in Homesh and families with children still march to Homesh to show that they have not forgotten their homes. Some years families light a menorah in Homesh during Hanukah and camps have been held for the children. Also in April of 2013 a group of students entered Sa Nur in a guided tour. I couldn't find a link in English. I'll give one in Hebrew at the end. It's hard to enter Gush Katif, any part of it, even in a tank. What happened to the Northern Shomron is very different from what happened to Gush Katif.
http://www.inn.co.il/News/News.aspx/254507
Hadassa DeYoung, K'far Darom/Elon Moreh
Here's more about Homesh in English: http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-visit-chomesh-as-part-of-five-year-rally/
ReplyDeleteOnce again, beautifully written.
ReplyDeletePhyllis
I can feel your tears through your words. We learn in pashat "Chukat" that somethings are not for us to understand, just to accept them because they are Hashems will.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why Jews were expelled from our sacred land or why davkah the horrible date of 9'b'av was chosen. I don't know why the beautiful shuls in Gush Katif were destroyed and I don't know why so many families from babies to elderly were made to suffer. I don't know why our chayalim were forced to fight with their brothers, parents, friends or emotions but I do know that HKBH is a G-D of mercy that loves his children. What happened 8 years ago was a horrible decree from an evil left government led by a traitor to his own people. "He" is living his punishment from a hospital bed, in a deep coma.
We have to accept that what happened, must of been for a reason beyond our capability of understanding.
Bezrat Hashem the time will come when Gush Katif and the yishuvim in the Shomron will once again be setteled by Jews ,this time forever!!
All we can do, is pray that the "right time" will come soon.