A SHATTERED DREAM

On January 12^th 2005 a terrible tragedy struck our family – our beloved son-in-law, Simcha’s husband Gideon, was murdered by terrorists. Since the Israeli Defense Forces were responsible for the defense of settlements in the Gaza strip, Gideon had been driving in an army jeep to determine where to build a security fence at one of the settlements - Morag. While they were traveling in the area of the greenhouses around which the fence was scheduled to be built, the jeep was suddenly blown up by a roadside bomb which was detonated by two terrorists. Gideon, who was driving, was killed outright and the vice battalion commander who was sitting next to him lost his leg. The two young 19 year-old soldiers sitting at the back were miraculously physically unharmed but severely traumatized. Gideon’s oldest son, Nir, who worked together with his father and was supposed to be with him at the time, was held up and didn’t accompany him to Morag.

To compound the tragedy, in August of the same year 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip, expelled its Jewish population thereby destroying all the Jewish communities there - 22 thriving settlements  in all. The families were forced to abandon all they held dear and pack up all their belongings – some of which they had to leave behind. The 8,000 residents (plus children) of the Gush not only had to leave behind their houses in which their children and grandchildren were born but also their livelihood – their state-of-the-art greenhouses which had brought in millions of dollars worth of exported flowers and vegetables, a good percent of which went to strengthen the Israeli economy.

The Economic Cooperation Foundation, which is funded by the European Union, agreed to purchase the greenhouses for $14 million and transfer ownership to the Palestinian Authority, to boost the economy of the Gaza Strip, as well as keeping on the 4,000 Palestinians employed to work in them. Former head of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn, contributed $500,000 of his own money to the project. The rest was contributed by a group of prominent Jewish philanthropists. They bought the irrigation systems and other moveables, because, according to Zuckerman: "without those, the Palestinians would not be able to make a go of running the greenhouses”.

The Palestinians were jubilant over Israel leaving the Gaza Strip, but the celebrations turned chaotic. After IDF troops had left the Strip, thousands flocked to the abandoned settlements, shooting in the air and raising flags. In some places, synagogues were torched, destroyed and looted, as were the greenhouses that were left behind. The day after the pullout was completed, Palestinian police blocked off the settlements in an attempt to impose order, but the forces were overwhelmed and the looting continued. This picture shows Palestinians burning a synagogue in Netzarim early on September 12, the day that the last Israeli soldier left the coastal enclave.