“Many people out there have been frustrated on the inside, but are not sure what to do,” Wollins told Israel National Radio's Eli Stutz and Yishai Fleisher Wednesday. “A lot of people have never been here, and by coming here they are able to see the wide variety of ways they can help out.”
Listen to the interview on Israel National Radio
Shortly after his move to Gush Katif, Wollins spoke with his friend Moshe Reichman and learned of his desire to visit Gush Katif, together with his wife and young child. They decided to organize a visit, and word spread among Reichman’s circle of friends. More and more people began to ask if they could join him, and so he decided to send out a message to English-language email lists in Israel. In no time, a busload of participants had signed up.
Young visitor enjoys an organic pepper grown in one of Gush Katif's many hothouses.
It happened this past Sunday. “The trip started at Anita Tucker’s greenhouses in Netzer Hazani,” Wollins said. “She showed us around her incredible agricultural facilities, working in her life’s story and the miracles those living in Gush Katif have experienced – all the while allowing us to munch on all the free celery we could eat.”
“We then went to N’vei Dekalim, having lunch at a pizza store there before going on to the famous Star of David-shaped yeshiva [the Yeshivat Yamit hesder yeshiva]. Various community leaders joined us for different segments of the visit. From there we went to the main synagogue, where [Yom Kippur War hero and terror victim] Moshe Saperstein spoke to us about how the community is feeling about the deportation plan.”
After that, the group visited the beach side Shirat HaYam community, made up of trailers and refurbished Egyptian bunkers located on the white sands of Gush Katif’s pristine beach. “Everyone took off their shoes and we walked down the beach there,” Wollins said.
“We ended the day in Kfar Darom – the city mentioned in the Talmud. They have an extraordinary museum and multi-media presentation there, which was produced by the students at the school there. It is all about the first settlers that came to the Land of Israel, to Tzfat in the 1800s; about all the earthquakes and hardships that they withstood to live there.”
Wollins, who has maintained a web site called IsraelReporter.com since his move, says that similar trips will happen each Sunday for the foreseeable future - and he and his guitar will accompany the trip every week.
He says the bullet-proof bus will depart at 8:30 every Sunday morning from the Jerusalem Convention Center (Binyanei HaUmah). The cost will be between 60 and 70 shekels – depending solely on how many people sign up each week; the charge is merely to pay for the bus. Participants can expect to arrive back in Jerusalem by 7:30 PM.
People living in Beit Shemesh, Be’er Sheva and Tel Aviv can arrange to be picked up on the way to Gush Katif.
The trip is not only for those who have never been to Gush Katif, but also for those who wish to go down for a day to help out with refurbishing the new Maoz Yam community there as well, located in the run-down Palm Beach Hotel.
Pictures from last week’s trip and more information can be found at SaveTheGush.com
To sign up to visit Gush Katif:
Email: moshe34@yahoo.com
Phone: 02 537 8492 (From outside Israel: 972-2-537-8492)