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
