A sad parting ceremony was held Wednesday in the southern Gush Katif community of Pe'at Sadeh, marking the end of the 16-year-old town. Many of the residents plan to leave Thursday.
The leavetaking ceremony was marked by a presentation of residents' memories of their beloved town, speeches by IDF Southern Commander Gen. Dan Har'el and Gaza Coast Regional Council Deputy Director Itzik Ilia, children singing HaTikvah, and many tears.
Only 23 families remain in Pe'at Sadeh as of its closing days. Its large houses and lavish lawns conceal the heart-rending saga that happened in this town since Prime Minister Sharon announced his disengagement plan some 20 months ago.
Almost all of the families signed several months ago with the Disengagement Authority, agreeing to join up with and move to Kibbutz Mavkiim, just four kilometers north of the Gaza Strip. Not everyone accepted the majority decision, and one family signed only last week. Pe'at Sadeh was widely viewed throughout Gush Katif as having given up the fight too early.
At least one person who is very close to Pe'at Sadeh, however, thinks that the blame for Pe'at Sadeh's quick collapse can be partially attributed to its own neighbors. Rabbi Meir Cohen of N'vei Dekalim, who served as a part-time rabbi and counselor for Pe'at Sadeh, appeared to take the parting ceremony particularly hard.
"[Yonatan] Bassi and his Disengagement Authority were looking for the weakest link in Gush Katif with whom to sign the first agreement," a sad-looking Rabbi Cohen said with some bitterness after the ceremony, "and when the other [ideologically-stronger] towns in the area didn't search them out and didn't actively involve them in the struggle, this was the result." He admitted, however, that the Gush Katif towns had more than their fair share of difficulties during the ongoing struggle, and that they could not be solely faulted for the "fall" of Pe'at Sadeh.
One long-time resident of Pe'at Sadeh was asked if there were those who felt that signing with Mavkiim was a mistake - especially in light of the fact that most of the compensation money is to be used to pay off Mavkiim debts. "Not at all," he said, abruptly and quickly. "No mistakes at all were made."
He said that he and his neighbors would receive a "cara-villa" - 60 square meters for small families, 90 for large ones - as well as a plot of land, and that the money he would be left with would be somewhat less than what he needs to build his new home.
Vered Tartix, her husband and their four children aged 3 to 12, was the last family to sign with the Disengagement Authority. "We believed up until the end that this decree must be fought," Vered told Arutz-7 on Wednesday. "Only a week ago did we agree to sign." She and her family will be among the 2-3 families from Pe'at Sadeh that will be moving not to Mavkiim, but to the new caravilla camp in Nitzan.
"We hope to build a great community there as well," she said, "but meanwhile, we know that we will be going through some very hard times. The past days, too, have been very difficult, with great pressures and tensions, and many questions with no answers."
Another participant in Pe'at Sadeh's parting ceremony was Kfir, a teenager who has never known a home other than this one. Asked where he was going to live in the coming weeks, he put on an unconcerned air and said, "I couldn't care less. I study in a dormitory high school, and that's where I'll be going back to right after this ceremonhy." He was unable to hide his emotion about leaving Pe'at Sadeh, however.
But it was 19-year-old Vital Ma'atuk, a gifted artist, who made the greatest impression on many participants in the ceremony. Three of his large-sized paintings were on display, including one depicting the shock he said he felt when he realized that his town and others were to be destroyed. Another one shows the beautiful palm-lined beach of Pe'at Sadeh, while a third work, some two meters high, depicts in graphic form the damage and fright caused by mortar rockets.
As the ceremony ended, a few uninvited guests wished the residents good luck - and the latter accepted graciously their offers to come visit them in their new homes in the coming weeks and months.
Meanwhile, a large contingent of IDF soldiers was getting set up in one of the town's neigbhorhoods - presumably to head off those who felt that the expulsion might be fought by taking over the abandoned houses. The futility of such plans was made clear by the massive presence of the soldiers.
"Has the disengagement really begun?," some people asked themselves.
The answer provided in Pe'at Sadeh was not the same as that given by many in other communities. In Kfar Darom, N'vei Dekalim, Netzer Hazani and elsewhere, many people could be heard this week expressing confidence that "something is in the air" and that the expulsion would actually be postponed or put off totally.
In any event, just five days before the scheduled expulsion, still barely anyone is willing to say with certainty that the expulsion would be carried out as planned.