SHIFRA SHOMRON stands in her family’s living room in the Nitzan Caravilla Park with photos of the family’s life in Gush Katif hanging on wall and her unpacked life scattered around her.
Two years later, Gaza evacuees still unsettled
By Marcy Oster
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NITZAN, Israel (JTA)—Stuart and Anita Tucker’s 970-square-foot prefab on an artichoke field in Kibbutz Ein Tzurim looks like home.
Paintings and pictures hang on the walls of the living and dining rooms. Colorful magnets hold up flyers and pieces of notepaper on the white refrigerator. A new air conditioner hums in the background.
Though many of their friends surround themselves with photographs of their former life in Gush Katif in the Gaza Strip, the Tuckers display not one picture of the home that the couple lived in for 29 years in what was commonly known as “the Gush.”
“I’m a forward person, not a past person,” Anita Tucker says.
But in a nod to the past, the nameplate on the front door of the temporary dwelling is draped with a single orange ribbon—the symbol of the struggle for Gush Katif.
This month marks two years since Israel’s disengagement from the Gaza Strip in an operation that removed more than 8,000 Jewish settlers from their homes—some of them with force by Israeli soldiers and police.
It was hailed as a watershed moment, the first time Israel had withdrawn unilaterally from territory seized during the 1967 Six-Day War. But now, with last year’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon and this summer’s Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, many Israelis are skeptical about the prospects for peace.
Of the more than 1,600 families who were forced from their homes, most families do not have a permanent housing solution, more than a third remain unemployed and many worry that the government continues to discuss further withdrawals in the name of peace.
While some families are staying positive about the future, with a small number having successfully moved on, others are in dire straits. Dror Vanunu, the international coordinator for the Gush Katif Committee that represents the residents of the former communities and coordinates relief efforts, says his organization is working with the government, as well as with organizations such as the United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Agency for Israel, to address the needs of the evacuees.
The UJC, the umbrella of the North American federation system, has allocated some $4.5 million to help those in need. Funds have gone to an array of programs.
After the expulsion, Vanunu says, most private support came from Orthodox Jewish individuals and institutions. Even now, he says, “many people cannot believe that after two years Israel has not been able to cope. They think the problem has been solved.”
According to the Gush Katif Committee, the 1,667 families who left Gush Katif are scattered in 20 housing locations around the country. Their goal is to resettle together in 26 new communities, mostly in southern Israel.
In a report this month, the committee says that only 12 families have begun construction of their permanent homes.
Contracts involving the state, the residents and the communities have been signed on only seven of the 26 areas slated for permanent housing. In some cases it is the residents, seeking better terms, who have held up the contract. In other cases it is the community trying to renege on the agreement.
“Government neglect” is how former Neve Dekalim resident Rachel Saperstein describes the holdup. Neve Dekalim residents who plan to build in Lahish, near Ashkelon, delayed signing until the government agreed to permit 40 long-term renters to build in their permanent communities.
Environmental protesters are now asking the government not to allow the community to build because it will reduce the amount of green space. Many of the Gush families have received an advance on their compensation checks while the final amounts remain in dispute.
Families were supposed to receive between $200,000 and $250,000 from the government, depending on the size of their previous property and how long they lived in Gaza. Many families say they have received only partial payouts.
Most of those who have received funds have had to use the money for everyday expenses rather than putting it toward their future homes.
Saperstein began Operation Dignity while living at the Jerusalem Gold Hotel with dozens of other evacuated families. With unemployment among the evacuees at 37 percent, according to the Gush Katif Committee report, Operation Dignity helps families with immediate needs. Saperstein has also established the “Orange Gallery,” including the purchase of a structure, to employ the many artists and artisans from the Gush Katif communities.
Still, 850 evacuees—350 of whom are in retraining courses—are looking for jobs, according to the report. Another 400 older than 50 or with job skills specific to Gush Katif are having a difficult time finding employment.
Among the 400 evacuees who were farmers, 33 have received land from the state for new farms. The farmers were not compensated for the loss of equipment, and they also had to find new markets after a two-year absence.
Saperstein says many of her neighbors today feel a sense of shame that they allowed themselves to be evacuated.
“We should have fought physically. We should not have allowed the army to take us out,” the grandmother of 12 says, her voice rising. “We wanted to be decent people.
“I think this is why we hate ourselves.”