When I received the phone call the other day from the Gush Katif speaker's bureau, I quickly realized what was up. A journalist from Germany wanted to interview an "American Jewish settler" in Gush Katif.
"Are you available," I was asked.
"What ever is needed to be done, I'm at your service," I responded.
"Okay, she'll come to your home tomorrow at 10:30."
So, I thought, "What should I say to the young German journalist?" as I began to interview myself the day before her arrival. How about: "What did your grandfather do during the war?" No, I could not look her in the eye and say a thing like that.
I could set the tone and tell her about some of my neighbors here in my hometown of Gan Or. Take Suzy, for instance. Her father was married and had children before the Germans made other plans for them. With Zev, it was the same story; his father's wife and son were murdered and Zev's father had to begin a family again from scratch. Haim's story is even more chilling. Both his mother and father had been previously married with children (his father, three; and his mother, one), and both found themselves single and childless after WWII.
This would be a good introduction to the Hatuel incident. David Hatuel's pregnant wife and four daughters were mercilessly slaughtered two months ago by what I'm sure are called "Palestinian militants" or "fighters" (not Arab terrorists) in the German press.
My dear young German journalist, you want to interview me because I'm an American Jewish settler in Gush Katif. I know this is not going to be a human-interest story; not about the Jews, at any rate, because we Jewish settlers are already classified as inhuman occupiers the world over. This could be a great title for your article: "The Jews, 1934-2004: A German Perspective - From Subhuman to Inhuman."
So here you are, young German journalist. It's 10:30 in the morning; German precision, as always. You ask me why I came to Israel and to Gush Katif in particular. I tell you it is because I'm a Jew. But you insist, "Why Gaza?" and I tell you because there is more of a need here for another Jewish family than in Tel Aviv or even Jerusalem.
"Isn't it dangerous for you and your family? Aren't you putting your children in danger for your personal ideology?" she further inquires.
"We don't feel that we live in constant danger. Maybe a little bit more than in other places, but there are bombs going off in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well. There are miracles happening here everyday," I continue, "Over four thousand mortar shells have fallen on Gush Katif, and hardly anyone has even been injured. Last week people were killed in the city of Sderot in a missile attack, and Sderot is not in Gush Katif. Besides, this isn't just a personal ideology, it's a Jewish one," I add.
"Not all Jews think this way, I know religious Jews who don't agree with putting themselves in danger for the cause of holding on to land," she retorts.
She has done some homework, I think. "I know there are religious Jews outside of Israel, as well as inside, who find justification for their lives of convenience, but every part of Israel is a gift, and to throw it away is a slap in the face to the giver of that gift," I conclude. "I can guarantee you that every Jew who has immigrated to Israel and to Gush Katif is living a lower standard of living than he would otherwise have, had he stayed in the country of his birth," I tell her. "We are motivated by the love and fulfillment of doing the right thing and are willing to pay a personal price. No one can picture himself being put out of his home, having everything he dedicated his life to being reversed," I tell her.
From there, I take her for a tour of the area, and show her the beautiful vistas of Gush Katif, the Mediterranean Sea and three of the twenty-one communities. We pick up my youngest son and his friends from the neighborhood pool. She comments how the Arabs have a water shortage. As she is citing statistics, I am thinking, "Who gave her this homework assignment?"
I tell her that the Israeli population pays a lot of money for its water supply; the Arabs are pumping out water from local wells and are taking water for free. We pass by a sewage processing station, and I explain how all the sewage water in Gush Katif is recycled and used for irrigating the public gardens. "We do not waste water," I point out.
"Why do you carry a gun?" she inquires.
Now I know her homework was complete; she has the full picture: a pistol-toting American Jew playing cowboy in Gaza.
"I didn't always travel around with a gun," I tell her, "Ever since my neighbor Uri was murdered by his Arab employees, I never leave my house unarmed. I don't want to be the subject of someone else's interview," I sum up.
"If you could have five minutes alone with Prime Minister Sharon, what would you say to him?" I am asked.
I answer her: "I am so disgusted with him, that I could not look at him for five minutes, let alone speak to him. There is nothing I could tell him that he doesn't already know. We all here know what Sharon's reason for this plan is - if there was no investigation into his financial doings, there would be no political plan. But this is something I'm not willing to talk about with a foreign journalist."
"Are you available," I was asked.
"What ever is needed to be done, I'm at your service," I responded.
"Okay, she'll come to your home tomorrow at 10:30."
So, I thought, "What should I say to the young German journalist?" as I began to interview myself the day before her arrival. How about: "What did your grandfather do during the war?" No, I could not look her in the eye and say a thing like that.
I could set the tone and tell her about some of my neighbors here in my hometown of Gan Or. Take Suzy, for instance. Her father was married and had children before the Germans made other plans for them. With Zev, it was the same story; his father's wife and son were murdered and Zev's father had to begin a family again from scratch. Haim's story is even more chilling. Both his mother and father had been previously married with children (his father, three; and his mother, one), and both found themselves single and childless after WWII.
This would be a good introduction to the Hatuel incident. David Hatuel's pregnant wife and four daughters were mercilessly slaughtered two months ago by what I'm sure are called "Palestinian militants" or "fighters" (not Arab terrorists) in the German press.
My dear young German journalist, you want to interview me because I'm an American Jewish settler in Gush Katif. I know this is not going to be a human-interest story; not about the Jews, at any rate, because we Jewish settlers are already classified as inhuman occupiers the world over. This could be a great title for your article: "The Jews, 1934-2004: A German Perspective - From Subhuman to Inhuman."
So here you are, young German journalist. It's 10:30 in the morning; German precision, as always. You ask me why I came to Israel and to Gush Katif in particular. I tell you it is because I'm a Jew. But you insist, "Why Gaza?" and I tell you because there is more of a need here for another Jewish family than in Tel Aviv or even Jerusalem.
"Isn't it dangerous for you and your family? Aren't you putting your children in danger for your personal ideology?" she further inquires.
"We don't feel that we live in constant danger. Maybe a little bit more than in other places, but there are bombs going off in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, as well. There are miracles happening here everyday," I continue, "Over four thousand mortar shells have fallen on Gush Katif, and hardly anyone has even been injured. Last week people were killed in the city of Sderot in a missile attack, and Sderot is not in Gush Katif. Besides, this isn't just a personal ideology, it's a Jewish one," I add.
"Not all Jews think this way, I know religious Jews who don't agree with putting themselves in danger for the cause of holding on to land," she retorts.
She has done some homework, I think. "I know there are religious Jews outside of Israel, as well as inside, who find justification for their lives of convenience, but every part of Israel is a gift, and to throw it away is a slap in the face to the giver of that gift," I conclude. "I can guarantee you that every Jew who has immigrated to Israel and to Gush Katif is living a lower standard of living than he would otherwise have, had he stayed in the country of his birth," I tell her. "We are motivated by the love and fulfillment of doing the right thing and are willing to pay a personal price. No one can picture himself being put out of his home, having everything he dedicated his life to being reversed," I tell her.
From there, I take her for a tour of the area, and show her the beautiful vistas of Gush Katif, the Mediterranean Sea and three of the twenty-one communities. We pick up my youngest son and his friends from the neighborhood pool. She comments how the Arabs have a water shortage. As she is citing statistics, I am thinking, "Who gave her this homework assignment?"
I tell her that the Israeli population pays a lot of money for its water supply; the Arabs are pumping out water from local wells and are taking water for free. We pass by a sewage processing station, and I explain how all the sewage water in Gush Katif is recycled and used for irrigating the public gardens. "We do not waste water," I point out.
"Why do you carry a gun?" she inquires.
Now I know her homework was complete; she has the full picture: a pistol-toting American Jew playing cowboy in Gaza.
"I didn't always travel around with a gun," I tell her, "Ever since my neighbor Uri was murdered by his Arab employees, I never leave my house unarmed. I don't want to be the subject of someone else's interview," I sum up.
"If you could have five minutes alone with Prime Minister Sharon, what would you say to him?" I am asked.
I answer her: "I am so disgusted with him, that I could not look at him for five minutes, let alone speak to him. There is nothing I could tell him that he doesn't already know. We all here know what Sharon's reason for this plan is - if there was no investigation into his financial doings, there would be no political plan. But this is something I'm not willing to talk about with a foreign journalist."