Prayers in Migron synagogue
Prayers in Migron synagogueFlash 90

The eviction of Israeli families from Migron on Sunday brought back painful memories for many of the 9,000 citizens expelled from Gush Katif in 2005. Now Katif expellees are asking the government for just one thing: leave the synagogue standing.

“We, who seven years ago felt on our flesh the Israeli government’s decision to uproot our lives and our towns in Gush Katif, are pained and shocked today at the fact that the Israeli government is repeating the terrible mistake, and crime, of demolishing settlement and uprooting homes in Migron,” wrote Eliezer Orbach of the Gush Katif Residents’ Committee, in a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

“In Gush Katif, after much debate, it was decided not to destroy buildings of religious significance,” he continued. “After the fact, with the families evicted from Migron, we call to you to please not be part of the demolition of the synagogue and mikveh [ritual bath – ed.] in Migron.”

The Gush Katif synagogues were left standing, and were seized by Gaza Arabs, who desecrated most of them.

Orbach criticized the decision to evict families from Migron at all. “After most of the lands in the town of Migron were purchased from their Palestinian owners, justice – and common sense – dictated that the State Attorney’s Office should have been the one to go the Supreme Court and request to overturn the [expulsion] order,” he said.

In fact, the State Attorney’s Office supported expulsion even after the land purchase deal – despite having stated prior to the deal that they would change their opinion if there were a proper land purchase.

Orbach ended with an appeal to Netanyahu to make the expulsion from Migron the last one. “We call to you today to strengthen settlement in the land of Israel, and in Judea and Samaria in particular, as part of a Zionist outlook that reflects our right to the land,” he said.