By Dov Gilor Jewish Press October 11, 2005

The Gush Katif fact-finding mission of Rabbi Pesach Lerner, the executive vice president of the Young Israel National Council, next took us to our last stop of the day, to the Alon Shvut Yeshiva in Gush Etzion where fourteen young families from the Shirat Hayam settlement were living in the dormitory.

The plight of the young is particularly heart breaking, as we had heard at previous stops. Atzmona, for example, had welcomed many young families two years ago in order to ensure a next generation of settlers. According to the eviction law, however, those living in Gush Katif for less than three years will receive no compensation whatsoever, no matter what they invested. Many of the young settlers from Shirat Hayam are not eligible for compensation. Even the married children who grew up in the settlements are not eligible as separate family units.

Yossi Chazut, the spokesman for the group, explained that even their minimum needs are not being met. It is only thanks to the warm generosity of the Alon Shvut Yeshiva that they receive room and board. Yossi mentioned that they were evicted from their homes with just the clothes on their backs and their possessions dumped into large containers. In the desert heat of Shirat Hayam they had spent their days in shorts and sandals. In the hills of Alon Shvut it is too cold to dress that way. The families, however, are unable to get their winter clothes from the containers because they would have to commit to pay 14,000 NIS to Zim Lines (who rented the containers to the government), a fee most of them cannot afford.

Yossi worked for the local council in Gush Katif. The government forced all of the cooperatives into dissolution so that the workers can no longer cash their paychecks. The law also states that employees of the cooperatives are not entitled to any severance pay. Not being able to cash their paychecks and not being eligible for severance pay and not being eligible for compensation of any kind can crush even a strong spirit.

Yossi, holding his baby daughter in his arms, was very emotional when he spoke of the traumatic effects of the expulsion from his home. He echoed some of the other refugees we had heard from when he explained that the trauma was so severe that it was difficult for them to even contemplate doing simple tasks like going to the mini-market to purchase groceries. In addition, being unemployed induces additional stress for these young families.

The Shirat Hayam settlers had willingly sacrificed a comfortable life in a city for the sake of settling the land of Israel. “It is easy to sacrifice material comforts but it is difficult when the government rips out your soul.” Yossi and his neighbors would like to set up a new settlement in the Negev or in the Golan. The government will not even talk to them as long as they remain as a group. The government will only talk to individual families.

We visited a dormitory room and were saddened by the bleak surroundings and the frustrations of the Gush Katif refugees.

During the time we spent traveling between the various refugee groups that had been spread as far away from each other as the government could send them, we discussed the general situation with Anita Tucker and Maayan Yadai, refugees of the eviction from the Netzer Chazani settlement who accompanied us on this mission. One of the more difficult predicaments they are in is having to continue to pay the mortgage on a house that was demolished by the government. No work, no unemployment pay, no compensation, but mortgage payments must be paid.

After a short debilitating stay in a hotel, the desert dwellers of Netzer Chazani were shipped off to the Golan community of Chispin. The government arranged for the children to learn in Mercaz Shapiro in the south but that would have split the children from their parents. An arrangement was made for several families to stay in Shoresh (nearer to the school) but when the parents heard that the arrangements were only good for three weeks they decided to enroll many of the children in the Chispin schools. Some families did arrange to move to Kibbutz Ein Tzurim so that they could send their children to the Atzmona tent city school, but houses will only be ready for them after the holidays.

Those families living temporarily in hotels have 150 shekels a day deducted from their eventual compensation, and as of October 1, it went up to 300 shekels a day, even though they have had no community option offered to them.

Today, several weeks after our visit, the situation is still a disaster. Many volunteer organizations are scrambling to try to help the refugees with food, warm clothes, and toys for the children. Others are raising funds to help them restart their lives in new settlements.

History may not remember this tragedy because the victors write the history, but we who lived through it will never forgive Sharon nor ever forget the senseless expulsion of Jews from their homes.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 16th, 2005 and is filed under opinion.