This was sent to me. The author requests to remain anonymous.
I read your latest blog.
Here's an idea for a blog: Contrast what the expellees from the Northern Shomron are doing with what the expellees from Gush Katif are doing. Most of the expellees from the Northern Shomron are either in a more southern region of the Shomron or are in Darom Har Hevron. I think that most of them moved to settlements in groups, which is what I think that the expellees from Gush Katif should have done, and actually still could. Doesn't "The Katif neighborhood of Karnei Shomron" sound nice? How about "The Neve Dekalim neighborhood of Elkana"? The neighborhood could even include a small building for private meetings/events. (The plans for the "permanent" settlement of Nitzan are similar to this. Each settlement has its own area.) There are many settlements in Yosh that are not far from the "Green Line" and therefore do not involve passing through areas heavily populated by Arabs. After all of the mortars and other terror many from Gush Katif are not interested in dealing with the Arabs again. As for the threat of a second expulsion, what's worse, the threat of expulsion or definitely rotting in a rotting caravilla that costs a fortune to heat or cool?
It's still my hope that as the "permanent" settlements in Lachish, Nitzan etc. seem farther and farther away more expellees will join the ones who have moved to Yosh. People want to stay together, and I can understand that.
Moving to Yosh does not mean breaking up communities! Moving as a group may be difficult, but what's to stop 20 families from moving one by one to a particular settlement?
Concerning the idea of recreating Gush Katif in Gush Lachish (no, I didn't coin that), I think that people thought that the new settlements in Lachish would be built at a reasonable pace and that there was some settlement value in blocking the spread of Bedouin villages. Also a few of the planned settlements are extremely close to the "Green Line" and are considered to be helping settlements close by on the other side of the "Green Line" by increasing Jewish presence in the area. For years the government had plans for settling Lachish and the only reason why they're dragging their feet now is to make life miserable for the expellees. Perhaps the"leaders" did not realize that Sharon, Olmert, Bassi and others are nothing like Begin. Begin, though wrong in destroying Yamit, did not have an independent goal of crushing the expellees as much as possible. For the amount of money that the Sharon government wasted on caravilla sites and hotels, permanent houses could have been built.
What do the Jews and Arabs of the Gaza Strip have in common?
Their leaders want them stuck in refugee camps.
3 comments:
Your anonymous auther is "blaming the victims."
The residents of Gush are still waiting for what their own government promised them: financial compensation and housing.
How can they move, when they don't have the funds? Many still don't have jobs.
No yishuv is offering them housing for free...
Families can just cut their losses and start over. But, they will have lost everything: their homes, their communities and their financial investments.
Maybe it's time they do just that. Since no one seems to care if they rot in those make-shift homes forever...
The last point of the anonymous writer is certainly food for thought....
rivka, the author is a disengagement expellee and disagrees with the decisions of the majority.
The caravillas cost them money, non-refundable, every month. That same money could have been used to buy/rent new homes and viable futures and should have been.
Moving to areas without employment options was a big mistake, but their leaders and rabbis led them into a maze, and the vast majority are having immense problems trying to escape.
Rivka, I'm the author. It tore me in two to leave my community to move to a settlement in Yosh, but it was better than rotting in temporary housing with crumbling walls. Living on a caravilla site is not cheap and the schools are not what we're used to. I also felt that our presence was needed in settlements. I'm not alone. A large group from Netzarim is in Ariel. About half of Morag is in Tene-Omarim. Tens of other families are scattered around Yosh. We keep in touch. Many others discouraged by the long wait for "permanent" housing are itching to return to settlement life. Some are looking for a settlement and I would not be surprised if at least a few families move this summer. Many former neighbors of ours who don't feel that they have the strength to move support us.
Don't forget that Gush Katif received many families - Atzmona, Alei Sinai, Neve Dekalim - after Yamit and it was with the government's blessing. We are not getting the same treatment.
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