Gaza settlers didn't flee

Gush Katif residents were hit by more than 6,000 Qassam rockets and mortar shells, in addition to the many terror attacks at communities and on roads that exacted a heavy human toll.

Yet as opposed to their Sderot neighbors, former Gaza settlers not only refrained from fleeing in all directions, but rather, continued their dangerous daily routines quietly and with determination while continuing to grow and develop their communities.

Needless to say, the financial temptations offered by the State, which were much more generous than Gaydamak's gifts, failed to move them. It was when they were involuntarily evacuated to relatively safe areas that we found them broken, crying, and despaired, just like Sderot residents these days.

'Where there is no vision, the people perish'

What is the root of this difference, and why do we see such opposite reactions by the two communities? King Solomon's timeless declaration in the Book of Proverbs, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," stands at the base of the difference between Sderot and Neve Dekalim.

Both communities indeed coped with the same risks and fears, yet while Sderot residents view themselves (and rightfully so) as sitting ducks, Gush Katif residents saw themselves as soldiers at the front realizing a vision.

Despite the harsh attitude by many Israelis to Gush Katif residents, the latter naively believed they were the people's emissaries as well as those of the nearby Sderot. Therefore, it is no wonder that the shattering of this vision and faith that accompanied their banishment to a safe location broke their spirit and undermined their mental strength.

The beaten and desperate residents of Sderot, and in fact, all Israeli residents, can become no less stubborn and determined if only they were faced with a vision of creation, responsibility, and struggle. Regretably, the Kadima government was established based on the "Olmert vision" of a country that is fun to live in, and both Sderot and the Lebanon war are a result of this childish, miserable vision.

Distinguishing truth from lies

The only vision that can capture the overwhelming majority of this people is the vision of the Jewish people fighting for its principles; it is a 3,500-year-old vision centered around Tikkum Olam (repairing the world); a vision that lives the present based on the Jewish people's glorious past; a vision that declared to the world the existence of one, moral God that selected his people to spread the vision of Tikkun.

It is also a vision of pride for belonging to the Jewish people, which contributed so much to human culture. A vision that is able to see the great miracle in the young Jewish State's exceptional achievements even before its 60th birthday.

A vision based on learning from the people's suffering-filled past; a vision able to distinguish between truth and lies – the truth of the Jewish people's eternal existence and its inalienable right for its historic country, in the face of the blatant lie regarding the apparent Arab right for the Land of Israel, even though there was never any Arab country here, and a Palestinian people that did not even exist 50 years ago.

This vision is not about big words, but rather, a spiritual, moral, and social platform that thousands of Jewish children grew up upon for thousands of years and that the State of Israel was established upon. This isn't a religious vision of becoming newly religious, but rather, a national vision of a heterogenic people where both religious and secular are united in the face of the challenges and dangers facing their nation.

In the face of the lack of action and direction we can see at every corner, it is important to recall and remind ourselves the basic values and ancient vision – those were not born yesterday at some reality TV show, they are not yet another PR spin by a politician, and they are not "fun and pleasant"; they are simply eternal values of truth that constituted the ideological infrastructure upon which thousands lived and died. Their obvious absence is what stands at the base of the current chaos in which we find ourselves.