The families who moved into the former artists colony, which is slated for expulsion under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan, were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome they received from all sides. Thousands of people were on hand to show solidarity with Sa-Nur.
“Toward evening, thousands of people helped erect the large tents the families will be living in, and welcomed them with song and dance,” Sa-Nur resident Akiva Smutrich told Arutz-7. “The new tent city has electricity, showers, and bathrooms to make life comfortable for the new residents.” A call has gone out for a new refrigerator, however, as the families are currently sharing one lone one.
Smutrich said the IDF even lent a hand, supplying a bulldozer to clear away a parking lot for the hundreds of vehicles that arrived at Sa-Nur for the festivities.
“We are not talking about ‘hilltop youth’ moving here,” Smotrich said. “These are large families, one of them with 12 children, and the rest with between six and eight children. These large families that moved, with great self-sacrifice, to this place – leaving their places of work and living with minimal accoutrements – were overjoyed that the public came out to welcome them with warmth and love.”
The highlight of the day, according to Smutrich, was the list of 200 people who, after seeing Sa-Nur and the joy on the faces of those moving there, want to make their home there as well.
“We are planning to enable their absorption in the near future,” said Smutrich.