Kalfa, administrative director of the local ulpana (girls’ high school) and head of the N’vei Dekalim secretariat, was arrested today, together with several other active protestors, on charges of trespassing. They had begun to unload several tents that they wished to erect in a park in Netivot, just outside Moshav Beit HaGedi. The police detained them, and confiscated the equipment.
Gaza Coast Regional Council spokesman Eran Sternberg explained the purpose of the tents: “We have to prepare for ‘the day after.’ The government wants to cruelly expel all the residents of N’vei Dekalim, and refuses to allow us to move together as a group. Instead, it wants to disperse us in rented apartments in different cities. But we demand to stay together, as psychologists have said is of critical importance, and so we started building these tents.”
Sternberg had harsh words for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: “He refuses to give us a proper solution, and even uses his ‘private’ police force here in Netivot to stop us.”
Sternberg noted that the Netivot municipality, which originally filed the complaint against Kalfa and the others, has already withdrawn the trespassing charges. “But this hasn’t stopped the police from detaining them,” he said.
Other residents of Gush Katif have begun preparing for ‘the day after’ in other ways. A group of Ganei Tal residents have signed a paper saying that they wish to move together as a group if in fact they are expelled from their homes. One of them, Moti – a 27-year-veteran of Gush Katif - explained as follows in an open letter:
“If, Heaven forbid, we reach the day in which soldiers arrive at our homes to take us out, we will already be in a situation of brain and heart damage. In order to minimize the damage, we must be able to go somewhere together – because only together will we be able to find some respite and comfort… The days have passed, and unfortunately we see that no only has the government not come to help us, but actually tries to scare us and threaten us that if we don’t sign before a certain date we won’t receive a caravilla [60 square meters for a small family, 90 for a larger one – ed.], and if we remain in our homes 48 hours after the date of the expulsion we won’t receive per-year compensation, and more and more. We could have been expected to think that our MKs and government ministers would have enveloped us with love and concern for our future – but the opposite occurred, and we realized that we had to take things into our own hands.”
“No one can judge the heroes of Ganei Tal,” wrote Rabbi Azriel Ariel of the Binyamin region. “No words of praise and admiration will suffice to express what we all owe them for their strong stand. However, I still have two comments [on the above approach]: One is that the headlines that this story caused were very bold and noisy… and the second is that it is not good to divide up Gush Katif, and it would be better if the leading community in Gush Katif in many ways would carry the flag of unity – even at the expense of living in tents, and not go it alone.”
It is hard to find someone in Gush Katif who will openly condemn those who adopt the Ganei Tal approach. Eran Sternberg himself, a resident of Ganei Tal who has has not joined up with this initiative, said that he respects the above-mentioned Moti and has no words of criticism or judgement. “Who can demand of anyone else that he remain under such uncertainty, with so much at stake?” he said.
Gaza Coast Regional Council spokesman Eran Sternberg explained the purpose of the tents: “We have to prepare for ‘the day after.’ The government wants to cruelly expel all the residents of N’vei Dekalim, and refuses to allow us to move together as a group. Instead, it wants to disperse us in rented apartments in different cities. But we demand to stay together, as psychologists have said is of critical importance, and so we started building these tents.”
Sternberg had harsh words for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon: “He refuses to give us a proper solution, and even uses his ‘private’ police force here in Netivot to stop us.”
Sternberg noted that the Netivot municipality, which originally filed the complaint against Kalfa and the others, has already withdrawn the trespassing charges. “But this hasn’t stopped the police from detaining them,” he said.
Other residents of Gush Katif have begun preparing for ‘the day after’ in other ways. A group of Ganei Tal residents have signed a paper saying that they wish to move together as a group if in fact they are expelled from their homes. One of them, Moti – a 27-year-veteran of Gush Katif - explained as follows in an open letter:
“If, Heaven forbid, we reach the day in which soldiers arrive at our homes to take us out, we will already be in a situation of brain and heart damage. In order to minimize the damage, we must be able to go somewhere together – because only together will we be able to find some respite and comfort… The days have passed, and unfortunately we see that no only has the government not come to help us, but actually tries to scare us and threaten us that if we don’t sign before a certain date we won’t receive a caravilla [60 square meters for a small family, 90 for a larger one – ed.], and if we remain in our homes 48 hours after the date of the expulsion we won’t receive per-year compensation, and more and more. We could have been expected to think that our MKs and government ministers would have enveloped us with love and concern for our future – but the opposite occurred, and we realized that we had to take things into our own hands.”
“No one can judge the heroes of Ganei Tal,” wrote Rabbi Azriel Ariel of the Binyamin region. “No words of praise and admiration will suffice to express what we all owe them for their strong stand. However, I still have two comments [on the above approach]: One is that the headlines that this story caused were very bold and noisy… and the second is that it is not good to divide up Gush Katif, and it would be better if the leading community in Gush Katif in many ways would carry the flag of unity – even at the expense of living in tents, and not go it alone.”
It is hard to find someone in Gush Katif who will openly condemn those who adopt the Ganei Tal approach. Eran Sternberg himself, a resident of Ganei Tal who has has not joined up with this initiative, said that he respects the above-mentioned Moti and has no words of criticism or judgement. “Who can demand of anyone else that he remain under such uncertainty, with so much at stake?” he said.