The Jewish population in Gaza wasn’t deported there, they were deported from there in 2005. But, before going any further on this subject, a brief history of the Jewish population in Gaza must be told.
Jews had lived in Gaza throughout history. As Gaza was included in the Palestine Mandate for a Jewish national home, the Jews continued to live there. In August 1929, however, the Arabs of Palestine, led by the Supreme Muslim Council, began a nation wide massacre against their Jewish neighbors. Instead of punishing the perpetrators, the British administration of Palestine, forced the Jews to leave Gaza as well as Hebron [located in Judea]. The Jews weren’t even allowed to go back to their homes in Gaza when the State of Israel was declared in 1948 due to Egypt’s illegal occupation of Gaza (1948-1967). It wasn’t until after the 1967 Six Day War, that Jews were allowed back home. Since then, the Jews have been accused of occupying ‘Arab land’, when in fact, the Jews who lawfully lived in Gaza, were forced out by the Arabs rioters, and not the other way around. This fact needs to be remembered.
In August 2005, the deportation of nearly 10,000 Jews, the whole Jewish population of Gaza, by their Israeli government occurred.
Respectively, August is a difficult month for the Jewish people. The First and Second Temples, the holiest places in all of Judaism, were both destroyed by invaders around the month of August. The Jews of England were expelled by King Edward 1 in August 1290 (Chabad). The Jews of Spain were expelled by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in August of 1492. (Chabad). The Jews were expelled from Frankfurt, Germany in August of 1614 and as mentioned, the Arab massacres of August 1929 in Palestine, caused the Jews to be expelled from Gaza and Hebron. So, as one can see, August is a very difficult month for the Jewish people. What is even worse, is that in August 2005, the Israeli government was added to the list of those who expelled Jews. The Israeli Jews of Gaza, who were expelled in 2005, were pioneers. Many were given long-term loans from the World Zionist Organization to cultivate the desolate sand dunes after the 1967 Six Day War. David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel, called Israel’s Jewish pioneers, ‘’our finest youth’’. Indeed, Israel’s national treasures, ‘’These pioneers’’, PM Ben-Gurion declared to U.S. Pres Eisenhower in a letter of March 8, 1957, ‘’our finest youth, have…gone to settle in the border areas, risking their lives in order to populate the wilderness.’’ They did. The Jews of Gaza, through hard work and dedication, were able to turn unfertile swampy land into an oasis of vegetation. Even through bombings and various terrorist attacks, the Jewish farmers of Gush Katif, Gaza, exported- of all of Israel’s total exports abroad:
- 95% of bug-free lettuce and greens - 70% of organic vegetables - 60% of geraniums to Europe - Of Israel’s total agricultural exports, Gush Katif made up 15% Not only was Gush Katif vital to Israel’s economy, but vital to Israel’s security. The Jews of Gaza, individually volunteered their lives to protect the lives of the whole state of Israel. Their presence in Gaza prevented invasions from Egypt. During the first Intifada (1987-1990), the Jews of Gaza were at the frontlines of the violence. Had they not have been there, the rest of the nation would have been under more terrorist attacks then it was. In the Second Intifada (Oslo War or Al-Aqsa Intifada), that began in September 2000, the residents of Gush Katif, were the targets of more than 6,000 mortar bombs and Kassam rockets. These residents served as a human buffer for their fellow Israelis. If the residents of Gush Katif were not there, then those 6,000 bombs and rockets would have hit mainland Israel. These courageous residents, Israel’s ‘’finest’’, also defended mainland Israel from ground infiltrations their own lives. In one instance, three Palestinian Arab terrorists, at the young ages of 14, 12, 8-10, infiltrated a Jewish neighborhood in Gush Katif and tried to stab unarmed Jewish children. Despite all these terrorist attacks, Gush Katif continued to flourish as a contributing community of Israel’s society. Being a vital contribution to Israel’s society was the purpose of Gush Katif’s founding and it stayed true to that. In fact, its purpose can be found in its name. The meaning of Gush Katif is ‘’Harvest Bloc’’. This harvest bloc was made up of 17 Israeli Jewish neighborhoods of which included: - Bedolah, meaning ‘’Crystal’’ - Gadid, meaning ‘’Picking of Palm tree fruits’’ - Gan Or, meaning ‘’Garden of Light’’ - ‘’Ganei Tal, meaning ‘’Gardens of Dew’’ - Kfar Darom, meaning ‘’Village of the South’’ - ‘’Morag, meaning ‘’Harvest Scythe’’ - Neve Dekalim, meaning ‘’Palm Tree Oasis’’ - Pe’at Sade, meaning ‘’The edge of the field’’ - Shirat Hayam, meaning ‘’Song of the Sea’’ - Katif, meaning ‘’Harvest, picking of flowers’’ ‘’Flowers’’ is really the word to use when describing Gush Katif. It was situated on the south-west edge of the beautiful Gaza coast line. It became abundant in Palm trees. The residents could wake up every morning to a soft sea breeze and watch the warm yellow sun rise to greet them. It truly was an oasis, sweet to the senses and soothing to the soul. Tali Hatuel, a mother of four could be described as a flower of Gush Katif. Her heart was as beautiful as her physical appearance. Tali was a social worker for the Gaza Coast Regional Council where she would comfort terror victims and their families. On May 2, 2004, Tali was driving her car to a rally against the government’s expulsion plan known as the ‘’Disengagement’’, with her four daughters. While on the Kissufim Road that leads to Gush Katif, two Palestinian Arab gunmen fired at Tali’s car. Her car then spun off the road. The gunmen then approached the car and shot each of her daughters at pointblank range. They also shot Tali at pointblank range even as she, a slender woman, was visibly eight months pregnant. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave the following accounts: ‘’The Hatuel’s car was riddled with bullets, and the carpet inside was stained with blood. The girls were killed hugging one another. On the car was a bumper sticker saying, ‘’Uprooting the settlements, victory for terror’’….Standing over the shrouded bodies of his wife and gaughters, David Hatuel asked for their forgiveness for spending time away from home lobbying against the plan to pull out from Gaza. ‘’On Friday the girls drew me a picture and wrote ‘’Daddy, we are proud of what you are doing for the home where we were born,’’ he said. ‘’You were my flowers and I will not forget you,’’ he said….’’ Tali was only 34, her four daughter, Hila, 11, Hadar, 9, Roni, 7, and baby Merav, 2. 
(Gush Katif Greenhouses)
(Gush Katif Hothouses, photo: Wikipedia)
The Israeli authorities responded to the Hatuel family killing by raiding a Hamas radio station that incites violence against Jews, and no one was hurt in the raid. The station was also operating in violation of the Oslo Accords. However, the Voice of Palestine, a media outlet controlled by the Palestinian Authority, quoted a senior PA official as calling the raid a ‘’cowardly act by a war criminal’’. (Jnewswire.com). The anchor of the Voice of Palestine, then continued to portray the terrorist gunmen who murdered Tali and her children as ‘’heroic martyrs’’ as reported by media analyst Michael Widlanskyi, quoted Jnewswire.com. Jnewswire.com also reported that the mainstream Arabic satellite network Al Jazeera simply refered to the Hatuel family Killing as a ‘’resistance strike.’’ While their killers were honored, Voice of Palestine called Tali Hatuel and her daughters ‘’terrorists in its Monday morning broadcast, Widlanski noted, Jnewswire concluded on its May 4, 2004 report. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Fatah, Palestinian Authority’s ‘’armed wing’’ and Islamic Jihad claimed joint responsibility for the Hatuel family murder. It is yet another reminder, how the Palestinian Authority views gentle innocent unarmed pregnant women and their small children as ‘’terrorists’’; while viewing their cowardly murderers as ‘’heroes’’. It is this same Palestinian Authority, who inherited the Hatuel family’s home of Gush Katif when the Israeli government chose to expel the Jews from Gaza in August 2005. Some say that a Jewish presence in Gaza angered the Palestinian Arabs which then caused more terrorism. On the contrary, terrorism was not isolated only to Gaza Jews, but to Jews all over Israel. In fact, the PLO was established in 1964, when there were no Jews living in Gaza. When Palestinian Arab terrorism strikes Tel Aviv, or Haifa, should the whole Jewish population in these two cities be expelled also in hopes that terrorism would stop? This question has already been answered by the Jews living in Sderot and Ashkelon. Their answer is: NO. Terrorism has only increased since the Jews were expelled from Gaza. A year before the Israeli government expelled the Jews, the PLO minister Farauk Kaddoumi, stated in an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Arab, on April 22, 2004: ‘’If Israel wants to leave the Gaza Strip, then it should do so. This means that the Palestinian [Arab] resistance has forced it to leave. But the resistance will continue. Let the Gaza Strip be South Vietnam. We will use all available methods to liberate North Vietnam.’’ ‘’All available methods’’, include sniper-shooting Jewish baby girls in the head, human bombers, and mainly longer-range rockets. As of late 2008- early 2009, Hamas proved that it can fire rockets more than 40 kilometers from Gaza on to major southern Israeli cities that had never been hit before. For the first time, the large Israeli city of Beer Sheba was struck by Hamas rockets that exploded onto kindergarten schools (INN). Sderot is no longer alone. Ashdod (population, 200,000), Ashkelon (population 120,000) and Beer Sheba (‘’capital of the south’’) are now in easy reach of Hamas rockets, soon Tel Aviv and its neighboring towns will also be in easy reach of Hamas’ rockets. Hamas openly, and almost on a daily basis, states that it’s goal is to ‘’wipe Israel off the map’’ and it will do everything in its power to do so. ‘’The PRC’’ (Popular Resistance Committee, the ’armed wing’ of Hamas) said that the group is preparing for an ‘’all out war’’ against Israel, CNN reported on its Thursday broadcast of August 14, 2008. Again the answer to the question that asks: does expelling whole Jewish populations from Israeli cities decrease terrorism, is: NO. The Expulsion… In short, it, the Disengagement, started on August 15 and ended on August 22. It only took 7 days. It was conducted in a dignified and sensitive manner; and that was that. Well, this is the Israeli government’s version of Gush Katif’s final days. The clean, neutral, politically correct word that is ‘’Disengage’’ or ‘’Disengagement’’, is completely void of what it truly represented. ‘’Disengage’’ sounds more like a technical term that an aircraft pilot would use. Israel Prime Minister Sharon specifically selected this word, ‘’disengagement’’, because it has no reference to the words ‘’forced homelessness’’ or ‘’expulsion’’. Sharon planned and expulsion, but didn’t want to use that word because maybe more Israelis would have been more reluctant to agree to it. Think about it, does someone ‘’disengage’’ from their home or garden? It is such an odd term to use, especially when an innocent homeowner is physically dragged from their home. As for Gush Katif’s last days- on the first day, August 15, the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that: ‘’The IDF and the Israeli Police [will] provide residents of the communities all the required assistance in order to enable them to complete the evacuation process with the appropriate dignity and sensitivity.’’ The day before the last expulsion day, on August 21, the Ministry published PM Sharon’s statement he made at the weekly Cabinet meeting: ‘’I want to praise their [the IDF and Israeli Police] restraint and sensitivity. I ask IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and Israel Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi to convey our deep appreciation for the implementation, for their conduct, for the sensitivity and for the exceptional ability.’’ As part of this dignified and sensitive conduct the Ministry and the Prime Minister revered, the Israeli soldiers and Police didn’t bring their guns. They didn’t bring their batons or their bullets. Perhaps, the reason for not carrying weapons was that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Public Security Minister Gideon Exra, under PM Sharon, didn’t want the residents of Gush Katif to assume that they would be looking at the end of a loaded gun for disobeying the expulsion orders. The Israeli soldiers and Police, also wore patriotic cymbals, such as the Israeli flag, perhaps to remind the residents of Gush Katif that these were not foreign enemies, but Israelis coming to expel them. After all, it is very easy for a Jew to picture Romans, Arabs, Germans, or Spaniards expelling them form their homes, but not their own people. But times have changed, now a Jew can picture fellow Jews expelling them from their homes. Now, in the 21st Century, Israel can join the international phenomenon, that is the expulsion of Jews from their homes. One picture in Gush Katif is of two women hugging tightly with their arms wrapped around each other; their eyelids quenching shut as tears squeez out from their eyes. One of the two women is middle-aged, while the other is in her twenties. They’re possibly mother and daughter or aunt and niece; or close neighbors. Their faces are both turned to the side and their cheeks are pressed together as one as one glances at the soldiers walking through her home. During the expulsion, some residents called the soldiers and police, ‘’Nazis’’. The soldiers and police were obviously offended for being compared to those who murdered six million Jews. On the other hand, the residents were being forced out of their homes, jobs, synagogues and communities; against their will onto buses that would deport them completely from the area. They were deported solely on the basis that they were Jewish. Comparatively, the Nazis did forcibly remove the Jews from their homes, jobs, synagogues and communities; against their will onto trains that would deport them completely from the area. Comparatively, they were deported solely on the basis that they were Jewish. The soldiers can’t completely deny the reference even if it is offensive. The soldiers themselves, took part in offending the residents of Gush Katif. All of the memories and pictures, will never be able to quite convey the feeling one has of having strangers come onto your private property, unwelcome, and telling you that they will physically force your family onto a bus for an unknown destination. The soldiers invaded private homes. To invade is to violate. This feeling can never be truly conveyed. If it could be conveyed, then the soldiers would not have invaded. If the roles were reversed and the soldiers’ homes were being invaded, wouldn’t they protest? Wouldn’t anybody protest who legally purchased their home? An individual works hard all their life through tedious tasks and labors, so that one day that individual can start a family and make a home. A home is security, shelter, protection, warmth, comfort love strength, support, confidence, reassurance, dependable, reliable, safe, a foundation, joy gratification and dignity; knowing that he/she can provide a home for his/her family. This is a universal feeling, felt by every living being. Some residents, mostly youths, were brought to throwing eggs and burning tires in the middle of the road, in hopes of deterring the soldiers. Streets and front yards, that for 30 years, lay clean and pristine, were left in smoke and ashes. What would move a proud dignified home owner to destroy his own property? Complete and utter despair. Every feeling of dignity, were stripped off and yanked out by the soldiers and police. What is an individual left with, without these, the feelings of one’s identity? A person is only left with weakness, doubt, fear, depression, humiliation, anxiety, stress, hopelessness, sadness, no confidence, no self-esteem, ashamed, failure, desperate, unsure, insecure, and unsafe. What is a person without a home? Homeless. What is a person without a job? Jobless. When the soldiers and police didn’t react with force when hit with eggs or water, it wasn’t a sign of dignity or sensitivity, because at the end of the day, they made people homeless and jobless. Even when the soldiers quietly stood for hours, listening to pleading homeowners in living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms, before forcing them out, the soldiers still didn’t exercise conduct of dignity and sensitivity. At the end of the day, the soldiers and police, forcibly made innocent people homeless and jobless. There is absolutely no dignity or sensitivity in physically forcing people into homelessness and joblessness. Let it be clear- there is absolutely no dignity or sensitivity in physically forcing people into homelessness and joblessness. There is nothing dignifying or sensitive in destroying the homes of innocent people. Some soldiers and police have to believe that what they did in Gush Katif, had some dignity and sensitivity, even in the smallest form. What might have been some of the thoughts in the soldiers’ minds as they were approaching Gush Katif? Maybe some of the soldiers were wondering how the residents would react to them. Maybe some soldiers were having second thoughts about what they were about to do. Maybe some were indifferent, or maybe some even strongly agreed with the expulsion. Among all these thoughts, perhaps they knew that there was no dignity or sensitivity in what they were about to do. If they were civilians, then they wouldn’t be in this predicament, but they were there under military service. Maj. Yitzhak Nachmani, one of the company commanders, went around and patted each soldier in his company on the shoulder to reassure them. (Washington Post). As their military service in Gush Katif, was not a mission of defending, liberating, delivering, rescuing, healing, unifying, protecting, recovering, retrieving or safeguarding; the soldiers needed to be reassured. After all, they were on a military mission of destruction, and needed a pat on the back. Their leaders in the military to the Prime Minister’s office knew this as well, and that’s why they gave the soldiers a pat on the back. Was this military mission a service to the country or a service to a Prime Minister who was detached from his country’s welfare? Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, independent from the Israeli Cabinet, Knesset Parliament, and the Israeli people, wrote in a letter to U.S. Pres. George Bush of the ‘’Disengagement’’ plan [to ‘’disengage from Gaza]. PM Sharon, wrote the letter to Bush during his Washington D.C. visit on April 14, 2004. At the same time, Pres. Bush, upon receiving Sharon’s letter, wrote a return letter officially accepting Sharon’s ‘’Disengagement’’ plan. In this exchange of letters, Sharon assumes Israel’s commitment to the United States and in turn, the United States accepts this assumed commitment from Israel. To re-emphasize, Sharon solely assumed Israel’s commitment to the U.S. without any approval from the Israeli Cabinet or Parliament. Sharon acted alone and grossly abused his power. Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, Chairman of the National Security Council and one of the Disengagement’s chief architects commented in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz on June 1, 2006, ‘’When I was tasked with planning, it [the Disengagement], all that existed was the word ‘Disengagement’ used by Sharon at the Herzliya Conference…I was given four months to plan, but Dov Weisglas [Sharon confidant and Disengagement architect] was already committing to the Americans….’’ (INN). PM Sharon made America- a foreign country, a priority over his own country of Israel. On August 15, 2005, PM Sharon spoke before the citizens of Israel in a nationally televised address and explained the decision behind the ‘’Disengagement’’ plan: ‘’We tried to reach agreements with the Palestinians which would move the two peoples towards the path of peace. These were crushed against a wall of hatred and fanaticism. The unilateral disengagement plan, which I announced approximately two years ago, is the Israeli answer to this reality.’’ PM Sharon said word for word, that the ‘’answer’’ to PA hatred and fanaticism- meaning terrorism, is to give into that PA hatred and fanaticism by giving up Israeli land. PM Sharon said himself, that there was no agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs. Essentially, PM Sharon then set the Israeli army against it’s own citizens because there was no agreements! It is incomprehensible, but yes, Sharon’s excuse for setting the army against it’s own citizens is because he couldn’t come up with an agreement! Respectively, a feather has been proven to hold more weight in an agreement with the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA), but Sharon’s excuse is dangerously irrational and insane. It is more than dangerously irrational; it is treasonous. It is treasonous to set an army against it’s own citizens in Myanmar (Burma) and it is treasonous to do so in Israel. When a government sets its military against its citizens, it becomes a totalitarian government. Sharon altered the structure of Israel’s government. It changed from a democracy to a totalitarian. A democratic government is set in place by the people, for the people and of the people. The voices of the citizens of Israel are equally important to the voice of a single Prime Minister. Their voices hold up the ‘’checks and balances’’ needed in a democratic government. These are the voices of the citizens of Israel as reported by Israel National News: Public Figures Express Regret For Disengagement by Ezra HaLevi (IsraelNN.com) The Yesha Council of Judea, Samaria and Gaza communities has published a collection of statements by public figures who supported or helped implement the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria and have since expressed regret. The following are some of the statements: Ron Ben Yishai, senior journalist for military affairs: The fact that they mixed the IDF up with the Disengagement, that the army was forced to do the job of the police, was a heavy blow to motivation. Not to mention that the IDF didn’t train for an entire year, during which it dealt only with evacuations. We have to put the IDF back in uniform. Hillel Halkin, Author and political commentator: Indeed, splitting the Likud was a bad thing. But so, it is necessary to say two years later, was disengagement. Those who were for it, like myself, were wrong. Those who were against it, like Mr. Netanyahu, were right...At great economic cost and at the price of a deep inner rift in Israeli society that still has not healed, 8,000 Jewish settlers were uprooted from their homes in return for supposed benefits, none of which has materialized. Gaza has become more, not less, of a military menace to Israel; Palestinian politics and the Palestinian street have become more, not less, radicalized; Israel's public image as an occupying country has not significantly improved in the world; and further unilateral disengagement in the West Bank as a possible way of solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has turned out to be a chimera, in large measure because of the failure of what was supposed to be its Gazan first stage. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the first to float Ariel Sharon's Disengagement plan to the media: It must be said that that the experience we had in Lebanon and Gaza are not encouraging. We completely withdrew from Gaza, and every day they fire Kassam rockets on Israelis. These voices of the citizens of Israel publicly declared that Sharon’s ‘’Disengagement’’ was a crime. It was a crime to train the Israeli army against its own people. It was a crime for the government of Israel to destroy the lives of its own people. The Israeli government’s role is to be for the people, not against the people. Likewise, the Israeli army, as Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Yiftah Ron-Tal said, is a ‘’peoples army’’; a army for the people by the people and of the people. The Israeli army, the people’s army, cannot go against the people of Israel. It is treasonous to do so. In this instance, the Israeli army, the people’s army, was used against the people of Israel, which brings up the question again: was this military mission, a service to the country or a service to a Prime Minister who was detached from the welfare of the country? Respectively, prime ministers come and go; their terms in office are relatively short compared to a nation’s lifespan. In Sharon’s case, he is presently in a coma, lying in a hospital bed and unaware of the longterm damage he unleashed as a result of his Disengagement. While he is unconscious, Israel has quickly become crippled from the Lebanon war of 2006 as the soldiers were trained for his Disengagment for one year instead of training for the war. Israel has quickly become crippled under financial losses from the cost of his Disengagement, which in turn, crippled Israel further into terrorism. Israeli State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss found the connection between Sharon’s Disengagement costs and increased terrorism. Lindenstrauss found that the Sharon government estimated the Disengagement to cost 4.5 billion shekels (2.25 billion) so far. At the same time, the Lindenstrauss report, Israel National News reported, ‘’criticized the IDF for failing to stop Kassam rockets from being fired from Gaza, and for failing to find a solution to the smuggling tunnels….The report recalls that 1,025 rockets landed in the western Negev in 2006. ‘’Although the threat of the Kassams was identified at the end of 2001, the IDF didn’t develop a strategy to combat the threat quickly enough, and by the end of 2005 there was still no clear strategy,’’ the report said.’’ The IDF released a statement in response to Lindenstrauss’s findings. Israel National News reported, ‘’According to IDF officials, a 30 million shekel system that detects the tunnels has been developed, but is only operational in 10 percent of the areas in which it is needed, due to budget limitations [emphasis added]. Regarding the bombardment of Israeli targets with Kassams, the IDF report explained, ‘’Budget cuts [emphasis added] and delays in receiving approval have made it difficult to formulate a longterm plan for the formation of an IDF force in particular regarding the prevention of high trajectory fire.’’ The Sharon government made his initial assumed commitment to U.S. Pres. Bush to ‘’Disengage’’ from Gaza- expelling 10,000 innocent Israeli Jewish residents, more important, than solving the problem of rocket fire and smuggling tunnels. Sharon used Israeli taxes to finance his Disengagement, rather than finance a solution to save the lives of those same Israeli taxpayers. Similarly, Sharon took the Israeli army away from saving the lives of Israelis from terrorist rocket fire, in order to expel Israelis off their land. Given a choice between preventing their death from terrorist fire or expelling their own people, Israelis would choose to prevent their death from terrorist fire. Likewise, given a choice between the Israeli soldiers’ safety and Israeli soldiers being kidnapped, Israelis would choose the safety of their soldiers. The next time Israelis are faced with this choice, they need to choose the safety of themselves and their soldiers over expelling their own people. If they don’t choose correctly, then there will be Israelis lying in their graves from terrorist rocket fire and kidnapped soldier, as has happened since Sharon’s Disengagement. ‘’IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit’’, Israel National News reported, ‘’was abducted by Gaza terrorists who used a [smuggling] tunnel to approach his position on the Israeli border with Gaza and to escape following his capture.’’ Had Sharon put the finances and training into solving the tunnel smuggling problem as he did in his Disengagement, IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit would not have been kidnapped for two years. As is clearly evident, Israelis are still reeling more than three years after Sharon’s Disengagement. In addition to the number of Israelis who have been murdered from terrorist rocket fire and the terrorist tunnel smugglers who kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, expelled the residents of Gush Katif are still living in inadequate living conditions. 28 months after Sharon’s Disengagement, the Gush Kaif Residents Committee released a report on the status of the expelled families. The report found that almost all, 85% of the expellees are still, 28 months later, living in temporary quarters. Israel National News printed the Committee’s report, which also discovered that the future for the expellees is very bleak: ‘’The [temporary] caravan sites were built to last 2-4 years, but it is now clear that they will be in use for much longer- at least 6-8 years. To add insult to injury, ‘’Unemployment among the expellees is still high- 23%. While nearly 2,000 people are working, well over 800 are still out of work. Among the latter, 317- many of whom owned and ran thriving agricultural businesses- have despaired of finding work because of their age or their lack of professional training. Some of them never received unemployment or funds to help them adopt, while for the others, these funds have long ran out.’’ Families, who didn’t need to worry about putting food on the table before Sharon’s Disengagement, now worry about it all the time. Israel National News explained: ‘’The widespread unemployment that was extant until now and which continues in many families, ate and eats into the compensation monies that were to have paid for permanent housing. Out of 180 non-agricultural small businesses in Gush Katif, only 80 have returned to operation. Bureaucratic difficulties and holes in the Compensation law are largely responsible for the other 100, as well as for lack of compensation for the losses incurred in transferring to businesses. Only 50 farmers, out of 400, have received land- and only a small portion of them have actually begun to produce.’’ The Committee’s report concluded: ‘’There is no doubt’’, the report states, ‘’that the picture depicted here testifies clearly of tremendous failures and faulty action by the State. The period of residency in temporary sites is extending well beyond the period originally designated by the State, and it appears that none of the government ministries or offices have a real working plan for the coming period.’’ Toppling over all of the Gush Katif Residents Committee’s findings, is that the expelled residents still have to continue paying off debts and mortgages for their destroyed property. In April 2008, Israel National News published an article revealing that the Knesset Laws Committee did not give the required legal protection expelled the residents needed to erase their debts in the 2005 Evacuation- Compensation Law. The debts were the result of long-term loans that the pioneers of Gush Katif were given approximately 30 years ago from the World Zionist Organization to farm the land. In 2004, the Knesset Finance Committee agreed to erase the debts, but now the expelled residents are facing the Supreme Court with little legal protection. The Disengagement maybe over for Sharon and his supporters, but it goes on everyday, and probably everyday for the rest of the expellees’ lives. Everyday, kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit lives and will live for the rest of his life with the consequences that Sharon’s Disengagement caused. Choices have consequences. One can’t make a decision to alter the course of a nation without consequences. Everyone has a choice. From the Prime Minister’s office to the lowest ranked IDF soldier in the field, and every Israeli in-between. Then-IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon, made a choice to not command during Sharon’s Disengagement. This choice did cost him his job, but Moshe Ya’alon did not choose the choice that kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, the Israelis who suffered from the 2006 Lebanon war, the Israelis who live under daily rocket attacks and the expelled Israelis are paying the price for. Its scary to lose a job, but jobs can be replaced, lives can’t. Times have changed, and its not simply enough to go with the flow of a single Prime Minister’s choices without every Israeli weighing the very real ong-term consequences. When a Prime Minister’s term in office is over, it is Israelis who are left with the long-term effects of those prime minister’ choices, as is the case with Sharon’s Disengagement. Did Israelis across the country question how the Disengagement might effect the dynamics and character of their country? Have Israelis across the country, questioned these effects after the Disengagement? Are Israelis proud of the Disengagement and the effects it caused? Do Israelis want another Disengagement and the effects it will cause? Maybe Sharon’s Disengagement sounded like a plan to some Israelis. Maybe it sounded like a quick solution to some Israelis who thought: ‘’If we give up some land, then we will get some peace’’. The answer to this thought is a question: What peace is there since the Disengagement? Is there peace? There is no peace; there is only pain. Every Israeli should ask themselves these questions with their fellow Israelis in mind who were expelled from Gush Katif: - Is it ‘’peaceful’’ to be made homeless? - Is it ‘’peaceful’’ to watch your home destroyed? - Is it ‘’peaceful’’ to have your life’s business taken away from you? - Is it ‘’peaceful’’ to have your children’s education destroyed? - Is it ‘’peaceful’’ to see your children urinate in their clothes from nightmares of soldiers snatching them away from their home? There is only pain in uprooting a family from their home and it certainly isn’t in the direction of peace. How does causing pain create peace? It doesn’t and it would be backwards logic to think so. It is not forward thinking, but only backward thinking. 
(Beautiful Tali and her little girls (mfa.gov.il)
In another picture, residents of Gush Katif have filled a synagogue in hopes of seeking sanctuary and refuge. In another picture, a mother, holding her little girl on her lap is sitting in her kitchen. At her side, is a stroller with her other little girl asleep in it. Her husband is sitting to the side of her with his back facing the soldiers. He is looking into his wife’s eyes with a helplessness that he can’t protect his family from the intruders. Across from the husband, sits his father, an old man, who looks with a long face upon the little girl- his granddaughter, asleep in the stroller, pondering on what her young fate will be.
In another picture, a father is sitting down, holding his young daughter. She’s crying and screaming, while pulling away her arms from the grip of the soldiers’ hands. The father is bowing his head to the ground, to look away from the soldiers encircling him. He is unable to hold on to his daughter any longer as the soldiers as the soldiers tighten their grip on his arms.
In another picture, the soldiers have filled the streets, crowding into the front yards of every house on the bloc. A young married couple stands with their baby girl at the front entrance of their yard. The couple attempt to block off the soldiers from entering their house with their stance, but the soldiers have already opened the small front yard gate.
In another picture, a young woman is held up in the air by her arms and legs. Several soldiers are carrying her up towards the expulsion bus as if she was a piece of furniture. In another picture, a house sits empty, its inhabitants are gone. On the back wall that faces the back yard, a bicycle stands next to a children’s slide. On the wall, reads in children’s handwriting: ‘’Bye Bye My Home I love you so much Gush Katif’’.
Soldiers yell out expulsion orders to families
A father asks a soldier, Why are you doing this?
Residents are physically deported from their homes
Forced onto deportation buses from their homes
Dragged onto the deportation buses from their homes
Girl cries, cling to her father's picture as soldiers come to force her family from their home
Beautiful homes are turned into rubble by bulldozers
newly built beautiful home is destroyed
Many of Gush Katif’s residents will have these pictures sketched in their memory. Memories of men and women in uniform with the cymbals of Judaism and Israeli patriotism coming to take them away. Coming to their door, rounding them up, deporting them onto crowded buses, kicking and screaming. There were scenes of adult men, crying, begging and pleading, not to be forced from their homes onto crowded buses; scenes of whole families were being forced against their will with little or no belongings with them onto buses, never to see their homes again.
Maj.-Gen (ret.) Yiftah Ron-Tal, IDF ground forces commander at the time of the Disengagement: In the year preceding the Disengagement, the army trained mostly for dismantling communities, and that prevented it from preparedness for the war in Lebanon. The training for the Disengagement not only prevented preparedness for such a war, but dragged it away from the consensus as a people’s army. It is nearly certain that the excitement of those who led the decision and implementation of this is directly tied to the big failure in Lebanon…I still cannot understand how Israel gave up parts of its land willingly and with abandon, and how the residents connected to that land were turned into criminals, instead of raising their dedication as a banner of preserving the Jewish identity of the state of Israel.
- Kfar Chabad weekly, October 6, 2006
Ilana Dayan, Journalist, Host of Popular ‘Uvda’(Fact) Program on Channel 2: How come nobody is standing up and asking where this rain of Kassams is coming from? Why didn’t we ask the deep questions? Why didn’t we wonder whether this was the right way – even for those of us who wanted to divide the land? Why did we only examine the Disengagement when ‘orange’ youth (anti- Disengagement protestors) burned tires in the street? Why did [Sharon confidant and Disengagement architect] Dov Weisglas not tell us there would be a rain of Kassams on Sderot? Because this wasn’t popular and because there was a strong prime minister [Ariel Sharon] with a firm hold on the central hubs of the media.
- address at B’nai Brith journalism prize ceremony, June 22, 2006
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, Chairman of the National Security Council and one of the Disengagement’s chief architects: There was no forward contemplation. The Disengagement contributed nothing to a solution to the conflict…There was no discussion of its merits. When I was tasked with planning it, all that existed was the word ‘Disengagement’ used by Sharon at the Herzliya Conference…I was given four months to plan, but Dov Weisglas was already committing to the Americans and leaking details of the withdrawal plans to the press…The paradigm of two states for two nations is not implementable. Perhaps the whole world agrees to it, but on the ground, it simply cannot be done.
- Haaretz, June 1, 2006
Avri Gilad, broadcaster and TV personality who supported Disengagement: I supported the Disengagement. I was mistaken. The way it was carried out was a crime.
-Maariv, January 23, 2007
From a practical perspective, pragmatic and seeing the situation for what it is – the orange public(anti-Disengagement protestors) was right…Large segments of the public supported the plan out of general ideological reasons.
-Army Radio, HaMilah Acharona, June 26, 2006
Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Moshe Ya’alon, IDF Chief of Staff at the time the government decided to carry out the Disengagement: “There is no escaping the fact that the background leading to the decision was a political crisis – the decline in support for the prime minister, and added to that was a personal crisis – the investigations into corruption…Examining the Disengagement in hindsight opposite Israel’s interests, it was the worst possible…Israel withdrew from every millimeter, including evacuating settlements, received nothing in return, and thus created a very problematic precedent.”
- Maariv, February 24, 2006
- Army Radio, Ma Boer, February 14, 2007
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, a major backer of the Disengagement: The more we take the army out of the territories, the more terror nests develop.
- Address to the Center For Local Government, January 4, 2007
Professor Aaron Ciechanover, 2004 Nobel Prize Laureate for Chemistry, vocal Disengagement advocate: I supported the idea of Disengagement last year, which seemed to me an act of unilateral volunteerism toward the Palestinians. I hoped our kindness would be returned, but I was mistaken. After our unilateral withdrawal we received only terrorism and more terrorism. The unilateral idea is bankrupt and along with it the party soap bubble of a party that was established on its basis.
- Yediot Acharonot, October 27, 2006
Yoel Marcus, left-wing commentator for Haaretz and ardent Disengagement supporter: To my great sorrow, it now seems that the extremist and pessimistic settlers were those who were right. The Palestinians do not wish to recognize Israel and have not accepted its existence. And now, with the election of Hamas, they again are not missing any opportunity to miss an opportunity…They turned the communities of Gush Katif into launch sites against residents of the Negev and particularly the town of Sderot. The warnings of Ariel Sharon and Dan Halutz that ‘If they will fire Kassams after Gaza is evacuated, Israel’s response will be harsh’ has not really frightened them.
-Haaretz, November 21, 2006
-New York Sun, May 29, 2007
- Interview with Chinese media, January 8, 2007
Yaron London, Ynet commentator and host of Channel 10 London & Kirshenbaum Show, supported Disengagement: Nothing was built on the (Gush Katif)rubble except for terrorist training camps…The wall(security fence) does not guarantee quiet: Kassams fly over it and terrorists dig under it.
- Ynet, June 26, 2006
Meirav Michaeli, TV anchor and radio personality identified with left-wing and feminist activism: The Disengagement left thousands of families without a home, escalated the situation in Gaza and did not advance the security situation at all.
- Ynet, February 19, 2007
Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, Oslo Accords architect and withdrawal proponent: The Disengagement idea is over. There will not be a repeat in Judea and Samaria of the Gaza withdrawal. There will not be a massive evacuation of settlements…Public opinion is against the idea of another unilateral Disengagement. Therefore, this won’t occur, at least in the next five year, or even the next decade.
- Yediot Acharonot, September 8, 2006
Yehoshua Sobol, author and prominent left-wing spokesperson and proponent of left-wing refusal to serve in the IDF: Nothing is being built there [in Gaza] these days. Nothing – nothing but destructive activities. This assumption, that it is enough or us to leave territory in order for the other side to stop its attacks has proven false…I do not want to see a situation where we once again fold, in Judea and Samaria, and the next day Kassam rockets begin to be fired on Kfar Saba, Raanana and Herzliya.
- Reshet Bet, July 27, 2006
Shabak (General Security Service) chief Yuval Diskin: The Disengagement was first and foremost a process of uprooting. There is in Israel a Laundromat of words. They call it an evacuation or all sorts of other things, but there was an uprooting here.
- Lecture at the pre-army academy in Eli, February 6, 2007
IDF Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh: I claimed from the beginning that there was not [a single] security consideration in the Disengagement. This was a purely political decision whose motivations will perhaps someday be investigated.
- Maariv, April 19, 2007
Yair Lapid, popular TV personality and commentator: The Disengagement was not carried out despite the settlers but because of them. It never had anything to do with the Palestinians, with demographics, with a peace agreement, with the IDF or with any of the other explanations given and reviewed over and over. The drive was one thing: to teach the settlers a lesson in modesty. The Disengagement is now examined with other tools – political, strategic and demographic – and it doesn’t stand up to the test, especially while Kassams are falling on Sderot and Ashkelon.
- Yediot Acharonot, October 13, 2006
We left Lebanon and the Hizbullah attack us from Lebanon. We left Gaza and the terror groups attack us from Gaza. The region that is most quiet right now is Judea and Samaria. Even the biggest leftists are faced with the creeping heretical though: perhaps it wasn’t the occupation?
-Yediot Acharonot, column
MK Amira Dotan (Kadima), head of the Knesset committee for Gush Katif evacuees, supported the Disengagement: In hi-tech, when you do something, you examine it fully before you say it is OK. Here, we did something without examining what would happen afterward. There was no working model created beforehand.
- HaTzofeh, August 6, 2006
Absorption Minister Ze’ev Boim, who supported the Disengagement as Deputy Defense Minister in the Sharon government and left the Likud to join Kadima: From the beginning, the plan had some question marks which, after the fact, became clear were serious defects in the plan. We lost the Philadelphi Corridor [between Gaza and Egypt, though which weapons and explosives are smuggled –ed.]. It was a mistake to give up control of Philadelphi.
-Jerusalem Conference address, March 20, 2007
Senior TV newsanchor Dan Margalit, a strong supporter of Disengagement: Ehud Olmert has lost the mandate for a withdrawal from Judea and Samaria that he received when elected on the platform of such a withdrawal. When such a withdrawal is once again presented, I will think again before choosing it at the ballot box.
- Maariv, July 28, 2006
Maj.-Gen. Gershon HaCohen, who commanded the Disengagement and expressed his public agreement with it prior to implementation: What happened last year was a crime, and I was part of this crime against the Jewish nation. What is happening now – the Second Lebanon War – is the punishment for what happened last year.
- on visit to bereaved family, August 24, 2006
