The Expulsion From Gush Katif

The Arutz Sheva website reports that the Deputy Minister of Pensioner Affairs visited the Gush Katif Museum and stated that every Israeli schoolchild should visit it to learn about this important chapter in the nation’s history.

To read the report, click here.

MK Danny Danon has called for the completion of the rehabilitation process of the former residents of Gush Katif. Danon, who heads the Child Rights Committee, was speaking at a meeting about the expellees.

To read more about this in an Arutz Sheva report, click here.

Anita Tucker, a former resident of Netzer Chazani, has issued the following special appeal:

Dearest friends,

I began writing to you all about what was happenning in Gush Katif 10
ago years , Hannukah 2000 ,when the confused understanding of what
“shalom” means led to terror as well as disenfranchising us
from our Arab friends and neighbors .

It is almost 2010 and here I am still crying on your shoulders.
Thanks for still being here for me.

Just came from a long meeting of our building committee with the
architechts we have engaged ,both for our homes and for the
community buildings that must be built anew. .
In honor of Chanukah we are working hard on finishing the plans for
our synagogue and public buildings of the Netzer Hazani that will be .

The horrors of the government building freeze these last weeks in
Judea and Samaria ,Israel’s heartland ,permeated a more significant
than ever atmosphere to us Gush Katifers that building anew is a must and as quickly as possible .

.
All that happened around the “building freeze ” that Israel’s
government announced ; seeing the picture of a Yassamnik (special
police) grabbing a mother and injuring her in a Judea town and many
similar photos on the internet aroused traumatic memories (as we
saw it being done to our own children who now live in these towns )
of what happened to us .

I feel motivated more than ever that we have to find the strength to
rebuild as fast as possible and as tastefully as possible so that
those behind these strange efforts to try to stifle the flourishing
of the spirit and values of Am Yisrael , Torat Israel and Eretz
Yisrael will see with their own eyes that they cannot really succeed
—

We had the Channukat Habayit(dedication celebration) of our home
built in Neter Hazani in Gush katif almost 35 years ago!

The destruction of our home and all of the Gush Katif homes was so final
Yet , new structures will arise to enable the spirit and values to
be able to have a base for flourishing anew!! The infrastructure in
the new town is now awaiting impatiently that we begin anew to build

. If there are further attempts to try to stifle building in other
places other solutions will be found —–but the spirit and values of
Israel and its people will not be destroyed ,as we have been promised
by our Prophets !!!

As we have seen miracles in those days so we have been privileged to
have seen miracles in these days .
As we have seen rededication ” in those days so it will be in these days” !

To me it is an absolutely amazing phenomena that G-d arranged things
that we of Netzer Hazani were unable to acquire the land to build
anew for agriculture without partnering with caring Jews from all
over the world .

Now this ” Hannukah ” again G-d has arranged things in such a way that
in order to be able to build community buildings anew for the
community we are forced to invite caring Jews to partner with us on
this.

Yes ,we are forced to share this Hannukah privilege of helping
towards this Channukat Habayit with those who care and understand.
How much simpler it would have been for us had we received
compensation to build anew exactly what we had in Gush Katif and we
would not have been dependent on anyone-.
Looks to me,clearly , that G-d saw an importance in this partnership
of Jews all over Israel and the Diaspora with us . We have no choice
but to flow with G-d and turn to you with this opportunity.

If you care, understand and choose to partner with us ,please see how
to do so in our website
http://www.netzerhazani.org/main.php?s=6&p=36 via secure
internet,mail or bank transfer.

Of course the more you are able to partner with us on this the faster
will be the channukat bayit of our new town and these community
buildings.
However, truly what is most significant is that your caring and help
will give us the strength to continue to meet the many challenges yet
ahead .

It really isn’t so much fun to have to write to you about this ,
but it is what has to be done if we all agree,as I am sure you do ,
that we each must do our part and cannot allow the spirit and values
to be destroyed .
Forgive us for not wasting funds on more shiny
pamphlets and for turning to you in this direct way .(please read below
as well.)

Best wishes for a meaningful and sameach Hannukah , sincerely hoping
to hear from everyone of you to whom this letter reaches and feel free to forward this to others that you feel should receive it.
Anita
Ein Tzurim
DN Sde Gat
79510 , Israel
tel.972-547775268

PS a few examples of the projects for which the gov’t participation
covers only about a third of the cost of putting up each building.

The community center in memory of Itamar Yefet H.Y.D. (Itamar was 18
yrs old when he was murdered by Arab terrorists in GK in 2001 -5761as
a result of the so called “peace initiatives ” . His parents were
successful herb farmers and through their efforts a beautiful
community center was built in Netzer Hazani in 2004 and was destroyed)

Beit Midrash learning center adjacent to synagougue in memory of Rabbi
Yitzchak Arama HYD. This beloved and honored scholar, Rabbi of Netzer
Hazani, was shot down byArab terrorists dressesd as IDF soldiers before the
eyes of his wife and six children in 2003 =5763 . this will not be not covered by any
government funding ,nor will the beautiful wooden tables and chairs we had and need for
learning here and bookshelves,and smaller woodcarved aron kodesh that
were all ruined in storage.

Ezrat Nashim women’s section mechitza and seats in memory of Esther
(Etti ) Pachima H.Y.D.who was murdered by Arab terrorists leaving her
injured husband and four children with our community . The beautiful
mechitza and wooden velvet covered padded seats of womens section of
synagogue that Gabi ,her husband and their families generously donated
were destroyed in the extensive storage by Government offices in
inappropriate conditions for extensive time and no compensation was
received to replace this.

Bnei Akiva building for the childrens activities . In Netzer Hazani
this building educated our youth to the values that enabled them the
fortitude and faith which they demonstated during the most challenging
of times.

Youth center in memory of Yochanan Hilberg –this was a building in
Netzer Hazani that was put up by our familiesi as a comfort to this
family of our community whose son was killed in duty as an IDF Navy
Seal by the Hizbolah in Lebanon . For this building we have not yet
received any compensation and it still being debated in appeals and
it is not known how much and in how many years these funds will be
received . Our amazing youth need this youth center as their focus
point of the values that were symbolized by Yochanan’s life of modesty
and devotion to Israel. The.Hilberg family who had to uproot and
reinter Yochanon’s remains have since had two other younger children who also
served in special Navy units , deserve again this dynamic form of
comfort that they had chosen to memorialize their son.

Basketball Court and Soccer field –Training in our Netzer Hazani
basketball court in Gush Katif enabled the youth to win the regional
tournament 5 yrs. consecutively . They yearn for a serious field in
order to return the lost basketball glory to our community. The gov’t
compensation does not providefunds to enable any such facilities.

Mikva –womans .In Netzer Hazani we invested large sums of funds from
families donations in order to enhance the building with beautiful
tiles and appropriate facilities. .There has been no compesation for
this . The regional council to where we will move will generously help
us on the basic building but all else must be again funded by us .

Mikva-men. In Netzer Hazani we had a men’s mikva according to custom
which was destroyed . No compensation was received for this . We hope
that a way will be found to enable this to be again built for those to
whom it is important .

The beautiful stained glass and wooden sactuary – Aharon Kodesh
,Bimah-prayer stand ,wood paneling ,light chandeliers , wooden
cushioned pews -seats ,bookshelves and many other symbolic ,meaningful
and expensive items were all ruined in the Ministry of Defence
shipping containers while first being stored in temperatures reaching
90 decrees C. and later dumped into a damp shed by the Ministry for
Religious Affairs until a new town is built . All these must now be
acquired anew while we have received no compensation for these .In an
attempt to repair this injustice we must sue in court at great
expense while not at all clear what exactly will be the results after
the many years that such cases take .

Playgrounds ,park benches and other landscaping items in parks and
around town must be built anew with no funding to replace them..

We ,of course, will be honored by any requests for dedications of any
partial or total buildings and equipment etc. as well as small
donations as an expression of partnership in this dedication anew..

(If ,by miracle, we find more partners than needed to build and equip
these structures any additional funds will be used to help reestablish
greenhouses that were not compensated for sufficiently ).

If you want to view pictures of structures that were destroyed
between 2000 and 2003 visit our site www.netzerhazani.org

–
Anita Tucker