Abandoning a Home

Among the Disengagement victims-refugees there are two groups. There are the ones who left before the communities were actually invaded by the military, forcing the residents to abandon their homes, and there are the ones who stayed until there was absolutely no choice, no chance of reprieve. Rachel Saperstein explains it very movingly. In Nitzan, the "carravilla" site, she is getting to know and understand the former neighbors she had resented these past few difficult months. She now includes those former neighbors among the recipients of the financial aid she distributes.

Living togerther, they are attempting to heal the rift, and G-d willing they will succeed.

This is not always easy. Almost sixty years after some northern kibbutzim temporarily abandoned their homes, the issue is still painful, and they are mocked by other kibbutzim.

As battles raged during the Israeli War for Independence, two kibbutzim, Shaar Hagolan and of the nearby Kibbutz Massada, felt endangered and abandoned by their comrades. They expected the Syrians to invade and murder them all.

First they evacuated the children, and then the adults left, too. They were away for a year, and during that time, the Syrians destroyed everything, like the Arabs did in Gush staff. The big difference is that nobody told the kibbutz members to leave, and to this day there are arguments as to whether it was really necessary.

Young members, born decades afterwards report being mocked as "chicken," cowards, since their grandparents left the kibbutz under fire. Kibbutz members who were there stress that there was a battle going on, and no reinforcements arrived to help. The official Ministry of Defense records claimed that there was no reason for the kibbutzim to have been abandoned. This "mark of shame" has followed the kibbutzim all these years.

Only now, the kibbutz members are trying to make peace with the past and have the records corrected.

Disengagement was much worse. The government, for no reason--that what unilateral means--forced thousands of law-abiding productive citizens out of their homes and communities. The government destroyed their business and educational institutions. They told our enemies, the Arab terrorists to live in the land that Jews, Israelis developed.

What scars will our nation suffer for Disengagement, and how long will it take to fully heal.

PS On the TV news, the same kibbutzim which had supported Disengagement, not caring that Gush Katif was being bombed by the Arabs, are now demanding that the government do something to stop the same Arabs from launching rockets against them.