'We paid the price.' Farhan
Photo: Ronny Sofer
Gaza evacuee on Qassams: I told you so
Avi Farhan, an Ele Sinai evacuee who currently resides in Sderot, which is frequently targeted by Qassam launchers, says, ‘Palestinians are firing Qassams from our destroyed homes toward the homes we were evacuated to; I call Sharon to be the man that I knew 40 years ago. The nation is willing to fight to prevent the destruction of the Third Temple’
I warned that the disengagement would blow up in our faces, says Avi Farhan, a former resident of the Ele Sinai settlement in Gaza, which was evacuated last summer.
“The Palestinians are firing Qassams from our destroyed homes toward the homes we were evacuated to in the area surrounding Gaza,” Farhan says.
Terrorists have been firing Qassams from the Ele Sinai area toward Ashkelon, and Qassam attacks from Beit Hanun and Beit Lahiya have been targeting Sderot, Farhan’s current home.
'Nothing satisfies them.' (Photo: Ronny Sofer)
“I say to (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon that despite all the pain involved, you must attack neighborhoods from which the Qassams are launched. We must attack these neighborhoods with the Air Force and our artillery guns,” he adds.
“If they do not let us conduct a normal lifestyle, then they too must not be able to live.”
Farhan, 59, will go down in history as the man who marched twice with the Israeli flag over his soldier to Jerusalem: Once when he was evacuated from Yamit in 1982 and a second time during the 2005 Gaza pullout.
Now, with the continued Palestinian Qassam attacks, he is fearful for his third home as well.
“Sharon has given them all of Gaza, and we have paid the price – but nothing satisfies them,” Farhan says. “I know the next phase will be Qassam attacks on Lod and Kfar Saba.”
'I used to show them Ashkelon’s chimneys'
Farhan, who wears a beard ‘to commemorate the destruction of my Ele Sinai home,’ says regarding the current election campaign, “They (politicians) are fighting for Knesset seats while we are in the midst of a war for our existence.”
“I call Sharon to be the man that I knew 40 years ago. The nation is willing to fight to prevent the destruction of the Third Temple.
“The country’s leadership, with Sharon, (Likud Chairman) Benjamin Netanyahu and (Labor Chairman) Amir Peretz at the helm, must wake up before we all fall into the abyss. They must form an emergency government; we must unite the religious and the secular, the Ashkenaz and the Sephardic, the Kibbutznik and the West Bank settler – and together bring an end to the terror.”
Farhan bemoans the destruction of his Ele Sinai restaurant, which, before the intifada erupted, was frequented by the likes of Sharon and (Internal Minister) Gideon Ezra.
“I used to point out Ashkelon’s chimneys to them, and they understood that we must not withdraw from the area (Gaza), because Ashkelon would be targeted; at least they said they understood this, before they changed their minds. Now look at what’s happening,” he says.
“It is impossible to understand the logic of those who ceded this area to the Palestinians.”
