On Tu B'Shvat, I travelled from Kiryat Arba to join the Women in Green in Gush Katif ? the ancient Biblical Jewish Gaza area renewed since l967 with 21 Israeli settlements. After crouching in the army protected "Safari" truck, we planted trees in Netzarim and Kfar Darom, concluding the tour in N'vei Dekalim, the town built to continue the Zionist message of Yamit.
The synagogue in N'vei Dekalim has a "Yamit Wall", which depicts the city of Yamit before and after its destruction in l982 as a concession by the Israeli government to Egypt's President Sadat.
Standing before the Wall, I began my journey back in time to l982, to the beautiful city by the sea, Yamit, before and during its destruction.
Together with my family, and hundreds of others from Kiryat Arba, I joined the group of about 3,000 people from Israeli towns and settlements who went to live in Yamit for a few months as part of the campaign "Stop The Withdrawal From Sinai". My husband, Yigal, o.h., a tourist guide, brought tourists to Yamit. One daughter did her National Service there, and our younger girl joined the Yamit Religious High School for Girls, whose pupils were from many other Ulpanot in Israel. My job in Yamit was to assist the Campaign's resident Spokesman, Avi Farhan, as the spokesperson to the foreign media.
For three months, I revealed to the journalists the "other face" of Yamit; not the emptying houses and the despondency and disillusionment accompanying those leaving because of the threat of evacuation, but the support of the 3,000 newcomers, who, with Yamit "old timers", carried on the municipal services in an atmosphere of unity, hope and purpose. Photographers were encouraged to film attractive houses, gardens, happy children and communal Purim and Pesach preparations, instead of concentrating on soldiers posed with rifles.
Four consecutive units of soldiers sent to be ready to disperse future evacuees felt unable to carry out the task. The fifth unit was expressly forbidden to "fraternize with the natives", in order to harden the soldiers for this mission.
It was on a hot, humid day in April, 1982, just before Israel's 34th Independence Day, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin's government endorsed his decision to evacuate families from the Yamit area. And it was Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who ordered the destruction of the settlements.
People who barricaded themselves in their homes, as my family did, were forcibly dragged onto buses by soldiers. Campaigners defending themselves on top of buildings were thrown into cages, like animals, and pulled down from the rooftops. Bulldozers crumpled the houses like matchboxes, tore up gardens and children's play centers. Despite the government promise to save the synagogue, it, too, was desecrated and destroyed as a special "peace" trophy to Egypt.
I was with Avi Farhan when he took the Israeli flag down from his home - which he had built and which was destroyed - to take with him on his four-day march to Jerusalem, to present it to the Rabbi of the Western Wall as a pledge to await the rebuilding of Yamit.
The "divided" city of Yamit lies in her "graveyard of broken buildings".
22 years later, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatens Gush Katif residents with evacuation as a "peace" concession to the Oslo War instigators. Now, once again, Gush Katif residents and campaigners are concluding their four-day march to Jerusalem to protest the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gush Katif. Please G-d, we will stop the withdrawal from any of the settlements in Israel, including from my hometown, Kiryat Arba.
I looked at the Yamit Wall in N'vei Dekalim and told this story. A young woman pulled me aside and thanked me.
She said, "I am 22 years old and I came especially from America to see this Wall. Until today, I never fully understood why my parents named me Yamit."
The synagogue in N'vei Dekalim has a "Yamit Wall", which depicts the city of Yamit before and after its destruction in l982 as a concession by the Israeli government to Egypt's President Sadat.
Standing before the Wall, I began my journey back in time to l982, to the beautiful city by the sea, Yamit, before and during its destruction.
Together with my family, and hundreds of others from Kiryat Arba, I joined the group of about 3,000 people from Israeli towns and settlements who went to live in Yamit for a few months as part of the campaign "Stop The Withdrawal From Sinai". My husband, Yigal, o.h., a tourist guide, brought tourists to Yamit. One daughter did her National Service there, and our younger girl joined the Yamit Religious High School for Girls, whose pupils were from many other Ulpanot in Israel. My job in Yamit was to assist the Campaign's resident Spokesman, Avi Farhan, as the spokesperson to the foreign media.
For three months, I revealed to the journalists the "other face" of Yamit; not the emptying houses and the despondency and disillusionment accompanying those leaving because of the threat of evacuation, but the support of the 3,000 newcomers, who, with Yamit "old timers", carried on the municipal services in an atmosphere of unity, hope and purpose. Photographers were encouraged to film attractive houses, gardens, happy children and communal Purim and Pesach preparations, instead of concentrating on soldiers posed with rifles.
Four consecutive units of soldiers sent to be ready to disperse future evacuees felt unable to carry out the task. The fifth unit was expressly forbidden to "fraternize with the natives", in order to harden the soldiers for this mission.
It was on a hot, humid day in April, 1982, just before Israel's 34th Independence Day, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin's government endorsed his decision to evacuate families from the Yamit area. And it was Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who ordered the destruction of the settlements.
People who barricaded themselves in their homes, as my family did, were forcibly dragged onto buses by soldiers. Campaigners defending themselves on top of buildings were thrown into cages, like animals, and pulled down from the rooftops. Bulldozers crumpled the houses like matchboxes, tore up gardens and children's play centers. Despite the government promise to save the synagogue, it, too, was desecrated and destroyed as a special "peace" trophy to Egypt.
I was with Avi Farhan when he took the Israeli flag down from his home - which he had built and which was destroyed - to take with him on his four-day march to Jerusalem, to present it to the Rabbi of the Western Wall as a pledge to await the rebuilding of Yamit.
The "divided" city of Yamit lies in her "graveyard of broken buildings".
22 years later, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon threatens Gush Katif residents with evacuation as a "peace" concession to the Oslo War instigators. Now, once again, Gush Katif residents and campaigners are concluding their four-day march to Jerusalem to protest the proposed Israeli withdrawal from Gush Katif. Please G-d, we will stop the withdrawal from any of the settlements in Israel, including from my hometown, Kiryat Arba.
I looked at the Yamit Wall in N'vei Dekalim and told this story. A young woman pulled me aside and thanked me.
She said, "I am 22 years old and I came especially from America to see this Wall. Until today, I never fully understood why my parents named me Yamit."
