I took a ride out to Gush Katif the other day. I wanted to speak to old friends, American immigrants, that like us, came to Israel in the early 70's. Roz has a degree in Latin from Barnard. Paul is an ordained Orthodox Rabbi, with two degrees from Yeshiva University. He used to be one of the editors of the Encyclopedia Judaica. They've been living in Netzar Chazani for 27 years, growing vegetables in sand.

They have eight kids, five of them boys who are in the army, holding high career officer positions vital to Israel's security. I've written an extensive article about them, taken photos. Hopefully,it will be published soon. I'll let you know where. Believe me, places like the New York Times have zero interest in an article about what will happen to the Jewish settlers in Gush Katif.

But what I wanted to tell you is this: All you have to do is go to Gush Katif and you'll understand what the real crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict is. The land in Gaza is sand. It is completely worthless. And yet, the Jews who were sent there by the Jewish Agency were given two dunams each. They were provided with an expert who taught them how to grow vegetables in sand inhothouses.

And so the Barnard graduates and Rabbis learned to grow tomatoes and lettuce and mint. There are 56,000 head of lettuce in one hot house alone, and the entire Jewish settlement blooms with hothouses, hundreds of them.

With the profits from their labors, the Jewish settlers added on to the little, simple houses built for them by the Jewish Agency thirty years ago. They planted gardens. Bikes lay out on the lawn.

They have a beautiful synagogue and a community center, and a rich communal life: piano lessons, art lessons, exercise classes, Talmud classes.....There has never been a recorded case of any Jewish settler going into Gaza and harming an Arab. The contrary. Thousands of Gazan Arabs are employed in the hothouses of Gush Katif.

Just over the wall, put up to keep out sniper fire, the Gazan Arabs live in abject poverty. They have committed innumerable acts of murder, shootings, bombings, and terrorist acts against their Jewish neighbors, the peaceful farmers of Gush Katif.

Any reasonable person seeing the contrast must ask himself why? With all the millions and millions of dollars given to the Palestinian Authority, why didn't they build little houses for theirpeople? Why didn't they give each one some land, and a hothouse, and teach them how to grow things? Why was it that the Jewish Agency paid Paul years ago to teach Palestinians in Gaza his growing methods( they repayed him by stealing his equipment)?

Why was the money used for guns and bullets, instead of sophisticated watering systems? Why was it that Yasir Arafat was on Forbes Wealthiest Men in the World list? And how can the United States, a country built by pioneers, demand that the farmers of Gush Katif to hand over their life's work to the people on the other side of the fence, people who have done nothing, and will continue to do nothing, to help themselves?