Gaza exodus 2005
Soon-to-be-evacuees coming to terms with evacuation. North Gaza settler says, ‘I am crying for the government that does this to its citizens. In any case, I will continue to proudly wave the Israeli flag, with the pain of a life that is no more’
This is how things look on the ground in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip just days before the pullout begins: Structures abandoned homes, deserted public buildings and empty parks.
Disengagement Authority Head Yonantan Bassi recently said he expects the real exodus to begin just a few days prior to the pullout - now it has begun.
Something about the Gush Katif settlers’ determination to battle the pullout has faded during this past week, when the first containers arrived. Many residents have already loaded their belongings onto the trucks and left their homes to the tractors.
If until recently the soon-to-be evacuees had discretely contacted the Disengagement Authority regarding their post-pullout housing solutions, now hundreds of Gaza settlers are arriving at their office in Sderot to examine different housing options and the possibility of receiving compensation.
IDF-marked boxes scattered everywhere (Photo: AP)
“It has been weeks since we have had a full night’s sleep,” Pe’at Sadeh resident Ella Amin says. “We sit together and cry.”
Gadi Damari, who has lived in Nisanit for the past 12 years, is now looking for a moving truck to help him transfer his belongings to Kibbutz Or-Haner.
“The heart breaks with each box that is packed and with every shelf that is taken apart,” he says.
“We do not know how to withstand this pain we feel for the home we have nurtured so much and that will soon be destroyed by tractors.”
IDF-marked boxes are scattered everywhere – the settlers are packing up their belongings en route to their new lives, somewhere else.
Near-empty supermarket in Neve Dekalim (Photo: AFP)
Ele Sinai residents, who have been negotiating with the Disengagement Authority since November 2004, claim they do not know what will become of them, as the mobile homes set to accommodate them after the pullout are not ready as of yet.
“We are in a state of complete uncertainty; we don’t even know what our temporary housing solution will be,” Kochi Revivio says.
Avi Farchan, one of the first to settle in north Gaza after he was evacuated from Yamit, says, “This entire area is our life’s enterprise. Now I look at Ele Sinai, Nisanit and Dugit and I tremble with shame and anguish.”
“I am crying for the government that does this to its citizens. In any case, I will continue to proudly wave the Israeli flag, with the pain of a life that is no more,” he says.
Say cheese! Settler children during group photo in greenhouse (Photo: AFP)
Many Gush Katif settlers have left and continue to leave to the Ashkelon and western Negev region. Until now some 30 settler families have independently rented flats in Ashkelon with money obtained from the Disengagement Authority, and the local municipality says dozens more are expected to arrive in the following days.
Settlers planning to continue working in agriculture have expressed an interest in moving to the Negev towns of Shlomit and Halutza, which belong to the Eshkol Regional Council.
Council official Toby Shor says that now that people realize the disengagement will soon start, settlers will begin to pour into the area.
“During the past year there have been continuous talks, but it has been entirely different in recent weeks; they (settlers) are already coming and expressing an interest (in moving to the area’s towns),” he says.
Child taking part in packing tasks (Photo: AFP)
Council officials say a group of Gush Katif hardliners is also negotiating a possible move to the area.
“The group wishes to remain unidentified,” one council official says. “We expect several dozen families to arrive. We are very optimistic.”
However, there are still those who plan to remain in Gush Katif and continue the ant-pullout campaign. On Thursday leaflets detailing the necessary preparations ahead of the evacuation were handed out.
“According to the plan, the IDF will close off the Gush (Katif) after the Tisha BeAv fast. Therefore, you must prepare stocks of supplies, including the following (partial list): Drinking water, dry food, cars with full tanks of gas, sweets for the children, diapers, first aid kits, flashlights and batteries, cash, insect repellent spray, candles and matches, a lot of spirit, faith and happiness.”
Ilan Marciano contributed to this report.
