Taking Down the Caravilla

Taking Down the Caravilla*
by Sara Layah Shomron





My caravilla has been dismantled and trucked out of Nitzan now that my family has moved into a real house with real walls.

At first glance, the pre-fab factory built caravillas at the various Gush Katif DP camps look attractive on the outside complete with stylish terra-cotta red tile roofs, exterior yucko-stucco pre-fab walls, and lawns. They are tucked away into secluded neighborhoods. But a second look indicates it is all cosmetic.

They are powerful reminders of government deception.




Let’s look at the guts of the 90 meter caravilla*






*my camera’s dates were not properly set and are not accurate.

While Olmert Fiddles and Bush Dances A Jig

Ashkelon, a major Israeli city, is being attacked by the same Arab terrorists Olmert, Bush, Blair, Peres, Livni etc, want to reward with a well-endowed "country."

(IsraelNN.com) Arab terrorists in Gaza fired two Grad Katyusha missiles at southern Ashkelon late Wednesday afternoon, and one rocket scored a direct hit on a children's medical clinic inside a shopping center. Parts of the building collapsed, trapping four people for a half-hour. (complete article and picture credit)

Read this first person account--near miss:

Attention K-Mart Shoppers - Incoming Rockets

by Sara Layah Shomron

As I walked into the Nitzan caravilla site, my temporary home away from home - may Gush Katif be speedily rebuilt, I heard and felt a BOOM! Once in my crowded caravilla, I turned on the computer and learned that the earth shake underfoot were 2 rockets that had landed at the Ashkelon Hutzot mall on the health clinic floor from where I was returning.

I met my son at the Hutzot mall in Ashkelon who had traveled there from his Jerusalem Yeshiva specifically for a 5:15pm medical appointment at the Hutzot Mall. He arrived earlier than expected (3:30) on account of concern over traffic of Jerusalem roads caused by American President Bush's visit. I hadn't expected my son so early and was still at the caravilla when he phoned me of his Ashkelon arrival. I instructed him to go to the specialist's waiting room area where hopefully he could be seen earlier - I would be there shortly. Fortunately someone I knew stopped for me as I walked toward the highway to catch a bus headed for Ashkelon. As fate would have it, their destination was the same as mine.

We got him in to see the specialist, stopped in the pharmacy and were out at the bus stop to catch our respective buses - it was 5:15pm.

Had my son's scheduled appointment time been kept I fear ... there but for the grace of G-d go we.

May those injured have a speedy and complete recovery. May what
masquerades as our government quickly understand that George Bush is not the burning bush and act accordingly - with G-d's help fighting the war with a clear and unequivocal victory.

Now, honestly, do you think that US President Bush is a real friend of Israel? And do you think that Olmert and crew are doing what they should be for Israel?

A Tree Grows in the Nitzan Caravillas

A Tree Grows in the Nitzan Caravillas

by Shifra Shomron

My goodness, how I love acacias! Their dark-brown trunks smoothly rising from the ground, their slim dark-green leaves a dancing canopy against the sky. And they grow so quickly! It was these characteristics that made my family decide to plant them back in our garden in Gush Katif. True, our neighbors laughed at us for planting such wild weeds. But we cared not for their laughter – these were the only trees hardy enough to grow independently in the arid sand dunes of Gush Katif. However, to our dismay, we quickly discovered the secret of these trees survival. Their roots. Yes, indeed. Even when they are so young that only two tiny leaves have burst up from the sand, their roots are already two feet long. And those roots grow down deep and they spread out wide. And in the end, we were forced to uproot our acacias – because they were stealing the water from the surrounding plants; the grass and flowers were being sucked dry. And we replaced them with meek, tame, slow-growing trees.

And yet I continued to love acacias. How could one fail to love such a wild, beautiful, hardy tree? Theirs was the only splash of green in the Gush Katif sand dunes. They were the trees in which my siblings and I built our childhood forts. And it was their bright-yellow puff-ball flowers that yearly announced the coming of spring and…my allergies.

Since Disengagement, it only takes the sight of a stunted, dusty, road-side acacia to remind me of my destroyed home and of my lost land. And the Nitzan Caravilla site has very few trees.

My father refuses to invest much in our temporary Caravilla – or in the small adjoining patch of ground. My father was being pragmatic, logical and right. "Wait until we have a permanent home, Shifie. Then we'll make a nice garden," he said. But time passed. And no permanent house is visible on the horizon. My brothers planted mint, myrtle and a few other small plants. Eventually, my father agreed to water these plants when my brothers were away at Yeshiva. And one day, when we were walking through the construction site where Neve Dekalim hopes to rebuild our community, I noticed that one of the little piles of dirt was covered with small acacias.

I looked at them longingly. Dark green, silky leaves, tender shoots… "Aba, why don't we plant some acacias?" I slowly asked my father. He glanced at me, looked at the acacias, and the idea took root.

Well, we've done it. We've planted five nicely sized acacias around our Caravilla. Four have already produced new leaves. They will grow quickly and provide us with shade as well as with the aesthetic pleasure of seeing green outside the windows. Sturdy, hardy trees – they'll grow well even in our temporary Caravilla site. There is no grass around them, no flowers for them to bother. Their roots can spread as far out and as deep as they please. True, their life-span is short – about 5 to 7 years. But that's fine with us. That's approximately the amount of time we'll be living here in the Caravillas.



Shifra Shomron is the author of Grains Of Sand: The Fall Of Neve Dekalim, (2007), Mazo Publishers.
Travel back in time and revisit Gush Katif, Israel.
Shifra's website: www.geocities.com/nevedekalim