AFTERMATH

In 1995, Israel disengaged from 85% of Gaza and 100% of its population living there. The disengagement created the largest terrorist base in the world, led/harboured by PLO graduates of terrorist camps in Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon and Tunisia The disengagement was interpreted, by terrorists, as a retreat from the role-model of countering terrorism (Israel), and a reward to the role-model of terrorism (PLO/PA). It has inspired Islamic terrorism, which also threatens pro-US Arab regimes.

The day immediately after the disengagement, the nine thousand Jews from Gush Katif and Northern Shomron, found themselves scattered at random in hotels and youth hostels, with no idea of what their next steps would be. No strategy was planned to re-settle or re-integrate them. The compensation packages significantly undervalued their assets, and hardly covered basic living expenses during the lengthy period of unemployment. Most had to use some of the compensation monies to pay off their mortgages on their destroyed houses in Gush Katif!

The daily newspaper Haaretz wrote: “They have no pensions or jobs, and within a short time there are going to be tragedies here”.

For the first two years after disengagement, the unemployment rate among the evacuees was about 73%. A person who went through this trauma comes to the job market in an unconfident and emotionally unstable state. Many believed that they could not return to the work force. This is true mainly for those farmers in their 50’s and 60’s  who, through hard work and determination, built up state-of-the-art greenhouses in Gush Katif. Another crucial factor is the different know-how needed to farming on regular soil as opposed to sandy soil.

Former residents of Gush Katif prove that the extent of direct and indirect damage caused by the disengagement is a palpable, frustrating and stress-laden reality. Removed from their small-town or village comfort zone that they literally built with their own hands, many families from the Gush are still struggling: financially, maritally, and emotionally. Many claim their health has deteriorated and their lives are more stressful. The children and teens have discipline and learning issues in school.

Quite a few of the evacuees put the sums they were given for building new homes into dubious financial ventures. Some of them were victims of scams by crooks who took advantage of the naivete and lack of financial savvy of a group of people who were used to living in tight-knit communities.

Perhaps one of the biggest blows came from the Israeli population. The very government which had sent them there in the first place, and those in the “Rabin camp”, pointed their fingers in disdain at “those settlers”. They became second-class citizens. This “derogatory” term became part of everyday conversation. International media loved it. No longer did they have to talk about dead Jews, or even murdered Israelis. Now it was “the settlers”. When a woman and her teenage son were murdered, CNN referred to the deaths of two “settlers”.

Memories are deceptive. When Tel-Aviv was first built, the “settlers” were considered heroic pioneers, not to speak of the older kibbutzim which were “erected” overnight.

So easy to fail to identify with those who are different. They weren’t Israelis, only “settlers”. We didn’t lose one of ours, the Israeli heart consoles itself, we lost “a settler” which, by definition, suddenly became someone who chose to live in a place and get themselves murdered – I mean killed, of course. Sure, the Palestinians exploded the bomb, but who told “those people” to live there?”

This is the success of the Palestinians, who understand better than we do, that a divided Israel is an easier target. Attack a bus in Afula and the entire nation mourns. Target a bus in Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip, even a school bus, and people say, “well, why were they there?

 This is the failure of Israeli society.