An annual event marking the destruction of Gush Katif, the expulsion of its 8,000 Jewish residents and the burning of the synagogues there, in what was euphemistically called the "disengagement" from Gaza by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, was held on Sunday evening.
The event, organized by the Komemiyut movement and the Gush Katif Museum, was held in the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City. Komemiyut chairman Musa Cohen told Arutz Sheva that Sunday’s date was chosen for the event because it was on this day seven years ago that the IDF “abandoned the territory to the Palestinian enemy and on this night the synagogues in Gush Katif burned.”
He noted that the event takes place in the Hurva Synagogue because this place symbolizes the return to places that were uprooted. The Hurva Synagogue was rebuilt after it was destroyed by a Jordanian shell.
“Hopefully we will return to Gush Katif and then we will not have to hold this memorial day,” said Cohen.
The director of the Gush Katif Museum, Shlomo Wassertil, echoed Cohen’s words and said, “I decided to mark the destruction of Gush Katif here in the Hurva Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, because it was rebuilt after being desecrated. We believe that shortly we will see the synagogues in Gush Katif being rebuilt.”