I took a trip to Gush Katif. You should, too. You'll be amazed. Many buses are available throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza, although I was on a media tour (organized by David Bedein and the Israel Media Resource Center) with three international film crews.
I wanted to see it again before Prime Minister Sharon gives it away to the international terrorists. I wanted to give chizuk (strength and support) to the 8,000 men, women and children who live there.
Instead, they gave chizuk to me.
I remembered the Gaza Strip from a dozen years ago, when I went there with a group of new Ethiopian olim (immigrants) on Tu B'Shvat to plant trees on the sand dunes in our land. Today, the changes are extraordinary. Areas inhabited by Jews are green - Gush Katif means Block of Harvest. Everything else is empty. Miles and miles of empty.
You can see Gaza City on the Mediterranean from the road one mile to the east. It looks like a normal city, but it is probably a run-down slum, because the Arabs refused to allow the Jews to help them improve their living conditions. Their Arab brethren wanted them in festering slums (euphemistically called "refugee camps") to nurture their hatred against the Jews. Despite that, the Jewish presence did bring improved health conditions and jobs. Arabs worked on the burgeoning Jewish farms, until Yasser Arafat's terror gangs forced the workers to begin to kill their Jewish neighbors and bosses.
The Oslo Accords revived Yasser Arafat, resurrected him from exile, brought him back from oblivion in Tunis, where he had been exiled for causing the 12-year Civil War in Lebanon that killed 100,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs. Soon thereafter, his terror gangs who entered Gaza with him began to train, indoctrinate and brainwash the young men, and even children as young as three years old. Then, he armed them and sent them forth to kill. Gaza will be the perfect area for terrorists to train, receive weapons from the sea and from Egypt and launch major attacks against Israel.
Most people begin to count the deaths of Jews from the Rosh Hashana 2000 War (called the "intifada" by the Arabs and the world media). But there were countless terror attacks and murders before that, even before Oslo. However, since the Oslo Accords were signed on the White House lawn with President Clinton as the guarantor for America, as many as 1,500 Jews have been murdered by Arafat's hydra-headed terror organizations - with hundreds of thousands more wounded, many maimed for life, and many made orphans and widows.
Gush Katif was established by Labor and Likud governments. Some came to the area from the Sinai evacuation (by Gen. Ariel Sharon) after the Camp David Accords gave up all Sinai in 1979. Many came from within pre-1967 Israel and from the Diaspora.
We met several extraordinary individuals on our trip. Among them, a beautiful lady they call "The Granny of Gaza", Anita Tucker. Born in London as a refugee from Germany and Poland, she is now the matriarch of children and grandchildren born and raised on the sand dunes of Gush Katif. She met us in a football-field-sized greenhouse full of organic celery, which is only one of the many she has planted and harvested. Gush Katif has invented a method for growing bug-free produce - very important for the observant Jew, as kosher laws forbid the eating of bugs. We were invited to eat the celery and didn't even need to wash it. Delicious.
Anita Tucker spoke of the many media people who come to her year after year and ask: "What are you going to do? The government says you will have to evacuate." She tells them with a warm smile and a laugh: "Look, you come to me every year. Come again next year and we'll have this same discussion and I'll invite you to my house for coffee. I have lived here for three generations, 30 years. I don't think anyone can move me from my land. When we came, these were barren sand dunes. The local Arabs welcomed us and said: 'Take them. We don't want them.' So, we did. Now, we have hundreds of dunam of hothouses, growing vegetables, fruits - much of it organic - and flowers. We export millions of dollars worth of produce to Europe and even to America."
Furthermore, the Gaza Strip has a rich Jewish history as an inseparable part of Eretz Yisrael. Abraham and Isaac lived and farmed there, as did Samson. Jews settled in Gaza City, which was founded during the Hasmonean period, led a vibrant life during the Second Temple Period and following. Jewish settlement in the city continued almost without interruption for two thousand years, until the Arabs rioted and the Jews were ousted in 1929 from Gaza City, and from Kfar Darom by the Egyptians in 1948.
Settlement was renewed in Gush Katif shortly after the Six Day War in 1967 by the Labor government.
Since the outbreak of the Oslo War in September 2000, Gush Katif residents have been bombarded with more than 4,000 mortar shells, Kassam rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. On the morning of Tuesday, April 13, the day we visited, three squads of terrorists tried to invade Netzarim to lay bombs on the roads and in the greenhouses. The IDF killed two, the others ran off. Our route was diverted until the IDF was sure all was well. Should the Jews be forced out by George Bush and Sharon, the terrorists will pour into Gaza by the thousands, as they now do into Iraq.
A young woman, Dina, greeted us and apologized for the delay. She told us that she came to Netzarim because of Oslo. She said that normal life continued inside her farming community. It was just getting in and out that was difficult because of the attacks by the Arabs - and their frequent bombardments at 4:00am. Leaving and entering Netzarim had to be coordinated with the army. She was right. It was beautiful and peaceful inside the farming village, which had been attacked by terrorists that morning. The children and the flowers were blooming.
Another woman, a mother of six and six months pregnant, was our next guide. She showed us their greenhouses of organic cherry tomatoes. I have had big gardens with organic vegetables, including cherry tomatoes, but I never saw a technique like this. They string the plants from their sandy earth up to high long clotheslines. The plants grow at least 20 feet tall and the tomatoes hang in gorgeous and scrumptious clusters all up and down the vine that clings to the supporting lines attached to the high wires. Again, we could eat them without washing. What a treat.
Next we met the Deputy Mayor of N'vei Dekalim, one of the two cities of Gush Katif. He assured us they are not moving out so fast. Their population is now 8,000 and new families are moving in. Despite the 4,000 bombs that have fallen in this tiny strip, no one is leaving and, miraculously, there has been only one tragic casualty caused by the bombardment.
Then we met Rachel and Moshe Saperstein, whose frequent essays I have so enjoyed. Rachel and Moshe are seniors, grandparents of many, from New York. They made aliyah 30 years ago and moved to Jerusalem. They moved to Gush Katif because of Oslo, in 1997. Moshe is some kind of hero. His right arm was shot off in the Yom Kippur War. He was hit by a terrorist in February 2002, who shot off three of the fingers of his remaining left hand and damaged the sight in his right eye, scarring his face. But what a sense of humor - a bit trenchant and cutting, but he's got the facts and the right feelings to go with it.
Rachel told us that people are refurbishing their homes, painting and decorating, adding a second floor. New families are moving in. She said, "You can only attribute our survival under 4,000 bombs to HaShem and His miracles. There is no other explanation." She also said, "People aren't leaving. New people are arriving. We are truly living a miracle."
Now, tell me. Do you think the 8,000 and growing population of the 21 farming communities in Gush Katif are going to be uprooted? Or is Sharon going to lose his seat in office - as happened to everyone who tried to evict Jews from their homes?
If the Jews of Gush Katif aren't safe, if they are expelled and the Gaza Strip becomes a hothouse for international terrorism, how safe will Jews be in any city or town of Israel? How safe will Jews (or anyone non-Muslim) be in any place in the Free West? Remember Madrid, 3/11? Remember 9/11? They say they will strike us everywhere. They mean what they say; and they say what they mean. I believe them. Like Hitler, they have written their Mein Kampf. And - remember? - we didn't believe Hitler. In fact, anyone who doesn't believe the Arab Muslims when they say they want to eradicate Jews from Israel has no respect for them and is, therefore, a racist.
I wanted to see it again before Prime Minister Sharon gives it away to the international terrorists. I wanted to give chizuk (strength and support) to the 8,000 men, women and children who live there.
Instead, they gave chizuk to me.
I remembered the Gaza Strip from a dozen years ago, when I went there with a group of new Ethiopian olim (immigrants) on Tu B'Shvat to plant trees on the sand dunes in our land. Today, the changes are extraordinary. Areas inhabited by Jews are green - Gush Katif means Block of Harvest. Everything else is empty. Miles and miles of empty.
You can see Gaza City on the Mediterranean from the road one mile to the east. It looks like a normal city, but it is probably a run-down slum, because the Arabs refused to allow the Jews to help them improve their living conditions. Their Arab brethren wanted them in festering slums (euphemistically called "refugee camps") to nurture their hatred against the Jews. Despite that, the Jewish presence did bring improved health conditions and jobs. Arabs worked on the burgeoning Jewish farms, until Yasser Arafat's terror gangs forced the workers to begin to kill their Jewish neighbors and bosses.
The Oslo Accords revived Yasser Arafat, resurrected him from exile, brought him back from oblivion in Tunis, where he had been exiled for causing the 12-year Civil War in Lebanon that killed 100,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs. Soon thereafter, his terror gangs who entered Gaza with him began to train, indoctrinate and brainwash the young men, and even children as young as three years old. Then, he armed them and sent them forth to kill. Gaza will be the perfect area for terrorists to train, receive weapons from the sea and from Egypt and launch major attacks against Israel.
Most people begin to count the deaths of Jews from the Rosh Hashana 2000 War (called the "intifada" by the Arabs and the world media). But there were countless terror attacks and murders before that, even before Oslo. However, since the Oslo Accords were signed on the White House lawn with President Clinton as the guarantor for America, as many as 1,500 Jews have been murdered by Arafat's hydra-headed terror organizations - with hundreds of thousands more wounded, many maimed for life, and many made orphans and widows.
Gush Katif was established by Labor and Likud governments. Some came to the area from the Sinai evacuation (by Gen. Ariel Sharon) after the Camp David Accords gave up all Sinai in 1979. Many came from within pre-1967 Israel and from the Diaspora.
We met several extraordinary individuals on our trip. Among them, a beautiful lady they call "The Granny of Gaza", Anita Tucker. Born in London as a refugee from Germany and Poland, she is now the matriarch of children and grandchildren born and raised on the sand dunes of Gush Katif. She met us in a football-field-sized greenhouse full of organic celery, which is only one of the many she has planted and harvested. Gush Katif has invented a method for growing bug-free produce - very important for the observant Jew, as kosher laws forbid the eating of bugs. We were invited to eat the celery and didn't even need to wash it. Delicious.
Anita Tucker spoke of the many media people who come to her year after year and ask: "What are you going to do? The government says you will have to evacuate." She tells them with a warm smile and a laugh: "Look, you come to me every year. Come again next year and we'll have this same discussion and I'll invite you to my house for coffee. I have lived here for three generations, 30 years. I don't think anyone can move me from my land. When we came, these were barren sand dunes. The local Arabs welcomed us and said: 'Take them. We don't want them.' So, we did. Now, we have hundreds of dunam of hothouses, growing vegetables, fruits - much of it organic - and flowers. We export millions of dollars worth of produce to Europe and even to America."
Furthermore, the Gaza Strip has a rich Jewish history as an inseparable part of Eretz Yisrael. Abraham and Isaac lived and farmed there, as did Samson. Jews settled in Gaza City, which was founded during the Hasmonean period, led a vibrant life during the Second Temple Period and following. Jewish settlement in the city continued almost without interruption for two thousand years, until the Arabs rioted and the Jews were ousted in 1929 from Gaza City, and from Kfar Darom by the Egyptians in 1948.
Settlement was renewed in Gush Katif shortly after the Six Day War in 1967 by the Labor government.
Since the outbreak of the Oslo War in September 2000, Gush Katif residents have been bombarded with more than 4,000 mortar shells, Kassam rockets and rocket-propelled grenades. On the morning of Tuesday, April 13, the day we visited, three squads of terrorists tried to invade Netzarim to lay bombs on the roads and in the greenhouses. The IDF killed two, the others ran off. Our route was diverted until the IDF was sure all was well. Should the Jews be forced out by George Bush and Sharon, the terrorists will pour into Gaza by the thousands, as they now do into Iraq.
A young woman, Dina, greeted us and apologized for the delay. She told us that she came to Netzarim because of Oslo. She said that normal life continued inside her farming community. It was just getting in and out that was difficult because of the attacks by the Arabs - and their frequent bombardments at 4:00am. Leaving and entering Netzarim had to be coordinated with the army. She was right. It was beautiful and peaceful inside the farming village, which had been attacked by terrorists that morning. The children and the flowers were blooming.
Another woman, a mother of six and six months pregnant, was our next guide. She showed us their greenhouses of organic cherry tomatoes. I have had big gardens with organic vegetables, including cherry tomatoes, but I never saw a technique like this. They string the plants from their sandy earth up to high long clotheslines. The plants grow at least 20 feet tall and the tomatoes hang in gorgeous and scrumptious clusters all up and down the vine that clings to the supporting lines attached to the high wires. Again, we could eat them without washing. What a treat.
Next we met the Deputy Mayor of N'vei Dekalim, one of the two cities of Gush Katif. He assured us they are not moving out so fast. Their population is now 8,000 and new families are moving in. Despite the 4,000 bombs that have fallen in this tiny strip, no one is leaving and, miraculously, there has been only one tragic casualty caused by the bombardment.
Then we met Rachel and Moshe Saperstein, whose frequent essays I have so enjoyed. Rachel and Moshe are seniors, grandparents of many, from New York. They made aliyah 30 years ago and moved to Jerusalem. They moved to Gush Katif because of Oslo, in 1997. Moshe is some kind of hero. His right arm was shot off in the Yom Kippur War. He was hit by a terrorist in February 2002, who shot off three of the fingers of his remaining left hand and damaged the sight in his right eye, scarring his face. But what a sense of humor - a bit trenchant and cutting, but he's got the facts and the right feelings to go with it.
Rachel told us that people are refurbishing their homes, painting and decorating, adding a second floor. New families are moving in. She said, "You can only attribute our survival under 4,000 bombs to HaShem and His miracles. There is no other explanation." She also said, "People aren't leaving. New people are arriving. We are truly living a miracle."
Now, tell me. Do you think the 8,000 and growing population of the 21 farming communities in Gush Katif are going to be uprooted? Or is Sharon going to lose his seat in office - as happened to everyone who tried to evict Jews from their homes?
If the Jews of Gush Katif aren't safe, if they are expelled and the Gaza Strip becomes a hothouse for international terrorism, how safe will Jews be in any city or town of Israel? How safe will Jews (or anyone non-Muslim) be in any place in the Free West? Remember Madrid, 3/11? Remember 9/11? They say they will strike us everywhere. They mean what they say; and they say what they mean. I believe them. Like Hitler, they have written their Mein Kampf. And - remember? - we didn't believe Hitler. In fact, anyone who doesn't believe the Arab Muslims when they say they want to eradicate Jews from Israel has no respect for them and is, therefore, a racist.