What will happen to the flowers?
Disengagement experience vs. evacuation trauma
Hard times are expected for Gush Katif, both for the evacuees and the evacuators. Difficult, yet different times are expected for the residents of the Eshkol region.
It is the region that borders the southern part of the Gaza Strip from the east. Its residents are slated to be the shock absorbers, the bulletproof vests of all the evacuation’s troubles. And they are concerned.
Today, Friday, they are supposed to meet at the Magen Junction and hear all about the fate the military has lined up for them in the next couple of months.
Only one narrow highway, Road 232, connects them to the north.
Come days of disengagement, tens of thousands of people will use this road: military, police, demonstrators, journalists, trucks loaded with evacuated equipment.
The road will also be blocked from time to time.
One of the region’s residents said the military had spoken about 40 roadblocks, both permanent and mobile. Not to mention all the right-wing activists' attempts to block the road.
What's going to happen to my shipment of spices?
“What’s going to happen to my shipment of spices?” said one resident, who will probably be stuck at a roadblock instead of making his way to the airport. "What’s going to happen to the flowers?”
Kibbutz Beeri has a prosperous factory.
What’s going to happen, a kibbutz member asks, if they have an urgent order? How are they going to bring in and take out materials? In helicopters, apparently.
The small kibbutzim of the Eshkol region, which are poor on population and rich in territory, are gradually turning into military headquarters. The military needs buildings. The lands bordering the Gaza Strip were expropriated in favor of the new fence under construction there; codename: “hovers.”
The media need buildings
The media need buildings, too. The quickest to move in nearby moshavim (farming communities) have been renting out rooms and apartments to journalists. Those who are quick are less jealous.
The disengagement will go by like a hurricane. By August, it will be very difficult and very interesting. In September, everyone will disappear.
The Eshkol region residents will be left with the experiences. The Gush Katif residents will be left with the trauma.
