End of school in Gush Katif: Promises to return
Photo: Moran Zelikovich
An annual tradition in Israel: a major presentation at school's end
Photo: Moran Zelikovich
Children's artwork: keep us here; send me a scooter
Photo: Moran Zelikovich
Lesson in denial
At last end-of-year school party in Gush Katif, student asks God to ensure “they don’t expel us from Gush Katif, and I want to get a scooter
GUSH KATIF - (VIDEO) The next school year in the Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif will open as planned, despite the upcoming pullout, a school principal told students during an end-of-year party in Neve Dekalim.
Parents and children flocked to the neighborhood community center, with no one apparently daring to admit this would be the final party in the school’s history.
“Sweet children, we are at the end of the year, but are already preparing for next year,” Neot Katif school principal Yossi Krakover told the students. “We started registering students and purchasing textbooks.”
The children themselves, however, realized this was no regular party.
“The party is both happy and sad,” third grade student Rachel Cohen said. “I think it’s more than a little scary for me to leave home and live somewhere else. I’m also scared to see them (security forces) coming and telling us ‘go elsewhere’.”
‘No need for civil war’
However, another student, fifth grader Yair Hazut, sounded more optimistic.
“This is a happy party; we’re not thinking about the evacuation,” he said. “We are like the rock in the sea waves are crashing against: the residents are like the rock in the sea, strong and solid, with the waves crashing against it being the government.”
Meanwhile, Yair is already making summer vacation plans.
“Even if there’s an evacuation, I’d like to help out in the struggle,” he said. “I won’t raise my hand on someone, because there’s no need for a civil war, but I’ll certainly struggle.”
Outside the community center, students held an exhibition comprising drawings, poems, and prayers posted on walls.
Some of the messages written by students included “Gush Katif is mine forever,” while another student asked God to ensure “they don’t expel us from Gush Katif, and I want to get a scooter.”
Another note, however, asked God to make sure “we succeed in killing all the Arabs.”
