Opening Old Wounds, Disengagement, Part 1

On Friday as part of the program I participated in with the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, we visited Nitzan, where there is a visitor's center which attempts to explain Disengagement. I wasn't the only English language blogger there. Click to read what Ilana wrote.

Notice that I wrote "which attempts to explain Disengagement." That's because that entire chapter of Israeli History is so awful and so inexplicable and can't be logically explained, certainly not in a nice way.

The area marked in Green is Gush Katif

One of the younger participants in the tour, which was for Begin Center employees, volunteers, retirees and their families, asked the perfect question. I can't remember her exact wording, but this is the gist of it:

"What was the reason for Disengagement?"

Our guide couldn't give an answer, so I just had to raise my hand. I prefaced my answer by saying that I'm probably the oldest person present, which wasn't countered by anyone. My husband, who is older than me, had decided to stay in the hotel and not join us.

With few exceptions, the other participants were a generation or two younger than me, so I began with a bit of history. After the 1967 Six Days War, besides Jerusalem, the only parts of the Land liberated which were settled by government decree were the Golan Heights, the Jordan Valley and Northern Sinai, which actually included what was later called Gush Katif. All of those areas/communities were for agriculture, not for Biblical, historic sentiment.

And in those days, when the Labor Party ruled, the business end of agriculture was a monopoly. Exports were only via Agrexco, which was closely entwined with the Labor Party. The big attraction of Northern Sinai and the Jordan Valley was their climates. Summer fruits and vegetables can grow there in the winter, a potentially very big money maker, especially since Israel is much closer to Europe than the competing agricultural countries in the Southern Hemisphere.

After the surprise 1977 change in the party ruling the government, when Menachem Begin's Likud took over, there were many economic changes. One of them the was end of the monopoly. Agrexco had competition, and the Left/Labor Party was not happy about it at all. The agricultural communities in Gush Katif were doing very well. As our guide told us, 10% of Israel's exports were from Gush Katif, and the numbers were growing.

That was the gist of my theory, and the guide listened and said she hadn't thought about it quite like that.

To continue with what happened here in Israel:

Apparently, the Left had something over Prime Minister Arik Sharon, and like the famous line in The Godfather, it was an offer he "couldn't refuse."

Sharon, the Bulldozer, announced that his government would destroy Gush Katif and hand the land over to the Arabs ruling Gaza. The campaign the residents and Moetzet YESHA organized was totally ineffective. 

Anti-Disengagement protests

Sharon even left the Likud with most of his ministers when the Likud's members voted against Disengagement in a referendum, which he had promised to obey.

The scars of the גירוש Girush, Uprooting, banishment, displacement, exile or whatever you want to use as a translation, are still very painful, even though most of the families have done their best to establish new lives and homes.

Most of the families, if I'm not mistaken, are now living in communities  with their former neighbors. I considered this a mistake then and haven't changed my mind.

Disengagement is in the same awful category of Israeli self-made tragedies, when the government pitted Jew against Jew, Israeli against Israeli as the horrendous Altalena Affair.

I have more to write about this, including a new idea that hit me when I was at Nitzan.

In the meantime, I'd like your reactions to this article. Please feel free to tell me in the comments, thanks.

Tel Aviv, יש"ע זה כאן YESHA Zeh Kan! YESHA is Tel Aviv!!

Of all the slogans ever put out by Israel's pro-Jewish Rights in All of The Land of Israel aka "the Right," my favorite has always been:

 יש"ע זה כאן YESHA Zeh Kan! YESHA is Here!!

Absolutely nothing summarizes the situation better than that simple statement. There is no real difference between Tel Aviv and Tel Zion, Gush Etzion or Gush Dan, Ma'ale Gilboa or Ma'ale Levona, Eli or Eilat. If anything we Jews have a richer, more extensive and easier to prove ties to YESHA than to Tel Aviv or Eilat or any of the other places the Israeli Left (and today's Center) take for granted the Arab enemy will allow to remain in the State of Israel after negotiations for the establishment of a State of Palestine sic.

Just look at how the Al Qassam website reported yesterday's Arab terror attack in Tel Aviv. (Hat tip IMRA)

At least ten Israeli settlers were stabbed Wednesday
morning on a Dan Line 40 bus on Begin Road in Tel Aviv near the Maariv
Bridge. (emphasis mine)

A wounded Israeli woman is treated at the scene of Wednesday's terrorist attack in Tel Aviv | Photo credit: Yehoshua Yosef

Leftist Israelis (and others) who live in pre-June, 1967 Israel try to distinguish between themselves and those of us who live in Land liberated in the 1967 Six Days War. They totally ignore the frequently proven fact that our Arab enemies make no distinctions, none at all. For them we are all the same. They aim to destroy the entire State of Israel. We can have no peace with them.

 יש"ע זה כאן YESHA Zeh Kan!

Moetzet YESHA Doesn't Represent Its Residents

Hat tip: IMRA

It's hard to figure out what Moetzet YESHA really is. Or more accurately, it's not very pleasant to admit it to myself. But one thing for sure, its policies don't reflect the feeling on the ground.

Pinchas Wallerstein, its present chairman, has finally retired from his role as head of my district, Mateh Binyamin, and seems to be trying to act "political." He has some convoluted proposal which will please nobody. He, who has no authority over the sic "outposts" is willing to transfer those built on "private Arab property" on the condition that the government unfreeze the building in YESHA.

Interestingly or ironically, in his own yishuv the very veteran Ofra, many of the houses, possibly even his own, are built on "private Arab property."

Now for "broken record" time:

You can't be a little bit pregnant.
If you think we Jews can't live in Hebron...
You can't be just a little bit pregnant.
And again...

I've said it before and I guess I have to say it again:

If you don't recognize Jewish rights to all of Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, then you're endangering the entire country. We have more historical and moral rights to Shiloh, Hebron, Shechem and Jerusalem than we have to Tel Aviv!

Orange--Losing Its Luster

I still wear my orange bracelet, which shows me as someone who considers Disengagement a great tragedy. Orange became the protest color against Disengagement.

Orange became the euphemism for the leadership of the Gush Katif communities.


My orange bracelet is no longer bright orange. And it's starting to split. And I have no doubt that some day soon, in another few days, weeks, or maybe even months, I'll suddenly notice that it's gone.

Now, will I try to replace it? Should I already be looking to buy a new one?

No, I won't. It's not that I've changed my mind about Disengagement. It's simply because my suspicions about the "orange leadership" are getting stronger. I haven't trusted the "political judgement" of Moetzet YESHA for years, actually ever since they began their "camp out" protests during the anti-Oslo times. I even wrote an article in Hebrew opposing it, insisting that they were making a game out of our possibly being homeless, making it look too easy to leave our homes. I refused to even visit those protests.

Then during the anti-Disengagement protests, I was firmly against the slogan "Ten l'Am L'hachlit," "Let the People Decide," which demanded a referendum, rather than protesting the principle of destroying Jewish communities and giving our Land to our enemies.

It seems more and more true that the orange leadership and Moetzet YESHA have/had been working together. That's hard for me to accept. And it's even harder for me to show any sign that I may support that very same leadership.

When this bracelet falls off, it won't be replaced by another. It symbolizes their mistakes. I will have to find another way of expressing my feelings.

Big Question!

Will Avi Ro'eh fulfill his campaign promise to be different from Pinchas Wallerstien. Pinchas preceded him as head of the Benjamin Regional Council, and now Pinchas heads Moetzet YESHA.

Mateh Binyamin voted against the removal of Migron and the deal the government offered. Moetzet YESHA voted in favor of the deal. Not only did they vote in favor with any true debate. According to the press, it was unanimous. That proves that Moetzet YESHA is no more than a rubber stamp for the government and all of Adi Mintz's claims of a "new Moetzet YESHA" are the lies I accused him of when he was campaigning against Avi Ro'eh.

I ended up voting for Avi Ro'eh, not that I considered him my ideal candidate. So far I haven't seen any real improvement, nor the changes I was hoping for. This is his chance to show leadership and idealism. G-d willing, but humans have free will, so it's up to Avi.

"Battling" On The Roads

Those of you who read my husband's blog know that he frequently posts about posters he sees in Jerusalem, especially the chareidi neighborhoods. Well, I don't wander those same streets. We have a different genre where I hang out waiting for rides.

At Givat Asaf, the t-junction to Beit El, and at the "ride stop" outside of Ofra, the latest posters concern Moetzet YESHA, Council of YESHA Communities. Many people are totally disgusted with its activities.

It has been years since Moetzet YESHA has been involved with actually establishing new communities, or even neighborhoods. They headed the totally disastrous, F for Failure campaign to cancel Disengagement.

Now they've been busy negotiating with the government about the destruction of Jewish communities, shades of the Judenrat. I know that many people don't like it when modern Jews are compared to such people, but you can't deny the parallels.

Pinchas Wallerstein, former head/governor of Mateh Binyamin, the Benjamin Regional Council, is now head of Moetzet YESHA. Recently there were reports of opponents damaging his car. This first poster decries the act. A slew of rabbis signed the "emotional" letter.

This second poster claims to have the actual agreement between the government and Moetzet YESHA.
This entire issue of whether or not Moetzet YESHA is doing what it should be doing for yishuv HaAretz, settling our HolyLand, is one of the reasons why the youth has no respect for authority. The phenomena began during the Disengagement protests and has continued. Personally, in all honesty, I must admit that I admire them and am embarrassed that we adults cannot offer them the leadership and role models they deserve.

Does this say:

... that Moetzet YESHA is a "tool" of the government?

From what I understand of this article, the Moetzet YESHA demonstrations were "kosher" while all the others, the Bayit Le'umi and unaffiliated demonstrations were a form of "rebellion," not the pained voice of patriotic dissidents.

Read these paragraphs:

"The focus of the trial [against the Bayit Leumi] was to differentiate between protests," prosecutor Dan Bahat said. "The [Jerusalem Magistrates] court concluded that the aim of the [Bayit Leumi road-blocking] demonstration was not a protest but to foil a government policy. Sderot residents also blocked roads during their protest but their aim was to focus public attention to their plight. The aim of the respondents was to silence the state and to physically prevent the implementation of the Disengagement."
The three respondents -- Shai Malka, Adiel Sharabi and Ariel Vangrover deemed the leaders of the National Home [Bayit Leumi] movement -- were acquitted of sedition and incitement against the government for planning a mass road-blocking in May 2005.
Jerusalem Magistrates Court Judge Rachel Shalev-Gertal ruled on Sept. 2007 to acquit the three on the grounds of selective prosecution. The state prosecution appealed the decision.
"We are asking for the annulment of the selective prosecution [decision]. If there's a conviction, we want imprisonment," Bahat said on Feb. 12 at the Jerusalem District Court."
Bahat said the protest campaign was planned solely by the three defendants -- in contrast to Jewish settlement leaders who sought to avoid unrest*. Bahat said the highway shutdown plan, a method often used by Israeli labor unions, marked a revolt against the government. (*emphasis mine)

"Jewish settlement leaders" are the government paid/backed Motetzet YESHA

Now, this job of their was/is to "avoid unrest." That's a very interesting euphemism, isn't it? That's why the government-paid official rabbis have been working so hard to sedate their followers with talk of "G-d's will," etc.