Starting Over: Gush Katif refugees begin again

By Judy Lash Balint

They are people like Oshrat Assis and her husband, who are anxious to get on with the business of rebuilding the kind of purposeful Zionist enterprise they were forced to leave behind in Gush Katif. Until the Disengagement, the Assis family lived and worked in Tel Katifa, a tiny village that was located a few miles down the beach south of Gaza city,

Today, in the tidy, small living room of her caravilla in Shekef, Oshrat, the mother of five kids under 12, relates how they were the 9th family to settle in Tel Katifa. “It was exactly what we wanted after we got married,” says the tall, soft-spoken Oshrat. “We looked for a place that was young like us —we wanted to build something, to make a contribution and the expulsion of 2005 didn’t wash that out of us,” she asserts.  “That’s what we want now too,” Oshrat explains.

Like hundreds of other former Gush Katif residents, Oshrat and her family are waiting for their permanent homes to be completed at Mirsham-Neta so that they can move on and resume their productive lives.

In August 2005, those 9,000 Israelis displaced from homes and businesses they had proudly built over the preceding 30 years were scattered to “temporary” quarters all over the country where they have spent the past four and a half years shuffling from hotel rooms to high rises to flimsy pre-fab caravilla encampments. Through it all, a significant number of the families have managed to stay together with others from their former communities and all relate that this has been a major source of strength and support that has helped them overcome the difficulties of the past few years.

Today, it’s finally possible to see progress on the ground as the infrastructure for several new towns takes shape in the scenic Lachish region. Located some 25 miles south of Jerusalem, to the east of Kiryat Gat and north of Beer Sheva, the Lachish region is a fertile, historic area inside the Green Line that is sparsely populated by Jews.

The new communities of Bnei Dekalim (to be settled mainly by former residents of Neve Dekalim) and Mirsham-Neta (for former Kfar Darom and Tel Katifa families) will significantly change the landscape of the region.

As Ofeer Gazit, the energetic building project manager shows visitors around the hilltop that is rapidly taking shape as the new community of Mirsham-Neta, it’s hard not to be infected by his enthusiasm.  Waving maps and architect’s plans, the jovial Gazit points to the bulldozers crawling over the hills that are finally carving out the first phase of 60 homes that will form the nucleus of the new town.

Within a few months the infrastructure will be ready and soon after that work will get underway on the synagogue, schools, recreation and industrial areas that will make up one of Israel’s newest small towns.  From the hilltop, it’s easy to understand the strategic importance of the new community.  The security barrier is less than half a mile away, and the southern Hebron Hills rise in the distance.

The few old-established moshavim nearby welcome the influx of industrious and energetic new neighbors who have years of experience of community-building under their belts and who will help strengthen the whole region.

Nissim and Efrat Luzon can hardly wait to get to work on building Neta-Mirsham. The Luzons were among the pioneers of Kfar Darom where they lived for 15 years and raised 10 children. Since the disengagement the family lived for more than 4 months in hotel rooms in Beersheva — ”We almost lost our family togetherness there,” Efrat laments as she recalls how parents lost control over their kids who lived down the hall with nothing to do and mealtimes were no longer family occasions. From the hotel they were moved to a high-rise building in Ashkelon where they stayed for more than two years in miserable conditions for people used to freedom of movement and the intimacy of a small village where going outside didn’t involve a 10 minute wait for a dingy elevator. Finally, the Luzons and another 27 Kfar Darom families moved into a site adjacent to the entrance to Shomriya, the last stop in the temporary housing saga.

“It wasn’t that we didn’t like Ashkelon,” explains Efrat, “ but we felt like we were just existing there — we weren’t doing anything for the community, and we missed that terribly,” she adds. Today the Kfar Darom group lives together in a small group of caravillas and has quickly reestablished their former tight-knit community feeling as they prepare for the big move to Mirsham-Neta.  They’ve even attracted a number of young couples from other parts of the country that share their passion for settling the land and have joined them in the less than ideal conditions at the Shomriya interim housing site.

Among these new couples are Efrat Pupkin and Noa Davidi and their husbands. The Pupkins, in their twenties, are newly religious people originally from Kfar Saba and Mazkeret Batya. Along with the Davidis, they were deeply impressed by the dedication and idealism of the former Kfar Darom residents who are looking to recreate the spirit of Gush Katif in their new home. “It’s such an honor to be part of a group like this,” says Efrat.

A few hundred meters away from the Kfar Darom groups’ temporary home in Shomriya, a brand new school opened its doors to 500 students at the beginning of the school year. On the other side of the village, acres of vineyards have already been planted and contracts signed to send the grapes to the Barkan winery. A new community center recently opened in Shomriya to accommodate youth activities, family simchas and cultural events. Families from Atzmona, another destroyed Gush Katif community, have chosen to make Shomriya their permanent home and their children play happily on the new playground equipment.

The spirit of the people of Gush Katif has not been extinguished. The qualities that made the 22 Jewish communities of the Gaza Strip among the most productive and innovative in Israel were not wiped out when the physical structures were destroyed.

Despite the fact that government compensation and planning for the Gush Katif families has been sorely lacking, private individuals and foundations have seized the opportunity to be partners in the newest phase of the Zionist enterprise and continue to support Jews who want to make a difference and continue to build the state.

Questions or comments? Contact Judy Lash Balint at newsroom@thejewishstar.com