A 20-year veteran of N'vei Dekalim, Debbie Rosen spoke with Arutz-7 Hebrew Radio in the wake of a hard-hitting report by the Land of Israel Legal Forum. Submitted this week to the State Comptroller, the report reveals grave failures in the psychological, social and emotional treatment of the expelled residents of Gush Katif and northern Shomron. Specific but anonymous examples based on direct and personal testimony are provided.
The report sums up, "The expulsion created a traumatic situation, exacting particularly heavy physical and emotional prices. Beyond the hardship of being thrown out of one's home, in this case the State did not even act or prepare properly in order to genuinely help and treat the difficulties of those who were thrown out. The Form and other bodies warned of this in Knesset Law Committee sessions, but it is now clear that nothing was done."
Rosen said, "As a result of the expulsion, children have developed difficulties in adjustment and integration, and many of them have attention and concentration difficulties that they never had before. The expellees' children in Jerusalem have been given a few classrooms in the Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School [for the morning hours; they must rush out before the high school students begin afternoon studies - ed.], but there's no school atmosphere. The children sense the temporariness, they see their teachers being replaced at a very high rate. With all the desire to help, it's just not it."
An attempt was made to impress upon the members of the Knesset Children's Rights Committee the gravity of the situation, but Rosen says it was not wholly successful:
"The members had difficulty understanding how grave the situation is for youth who bore the struggle [against the expulsion] on their shoulders. Many of the youth are now suffering from a strong crisis of values, and some of them have required psychiatric help. Some of the youths simply don't find themselves; they reject the frameworks, and run off to hang out on the streets at night. Their parents, too, are in distress in the hotels, and are unable to show authority or educate. There are no solutions for these problems."
"The government came out with this campaign that for every expellee there was a solution - but they forgot that children are part of the community... The children have to study properly, and receive at least what they received in Gush Katif - strong and good frameworks like we used to have, nothing more. The government did not prepare for the expulsion they way it should have, and now we are suffering from the bureaucracy and the craziness."
However, it appears that where the government is clueless, the people of Israel are filling in. "They are wonderful," Rosen says, "and they work night and day, but it's not their job. The money that the Disengagement Authority gets but doesn't use properly should be diverted to them."
One group of volunteers, from Har Nof, Jerusalem, is working with a relatively-unknown group of ten expelled families living at Elah Residence Protected Housing in the Malcha neighborhood in Jerusalem. The families have now dwindled to four, and the Disengagement Authority has informed them that they must leave once again. The Authority has already stopped paying for their lodgings at Elah, and only the generosity of Elah in allowing them to remain - and of the volunteers in arranging food and laundry - has saved them from what they feel would be another relocation trauma. By next week, however, they may have no choice.
"I refuse to move to a fourth place," one young expellee mother said this morning. "When we first were thrown out of N'vei Dekalim, we were taken to the Jerusalem Gates Hotel, where we were supposed to go, but they told us they had no room. I still don't know how that happened, but in any event we were altogether out of it at the time... So they took us and another few families to a small hotel in Jerusalem that was in the middle of refurbishing works; you can imagine what kind of conditions those were. We stayed there for two weeks, until being moved to here."
At that point, the real troubles began. "For the children, it was a real trauma. They were fearful, and had to check everything out, and bed-wetting began, and all sorts of troubles. Now things are finally settling down, and they want us to start again all over? No way!"
One of the Har Nof volunteers, Miriam Stern, elaborated:
"These families [in Elah] have better physical conditions than those in the hotels, but the children were left with nothing to do. There was no social worker from the disengagement authority, there was no afternoon day care, no afternoon activities, nothing. The only thing was a pizza place nearby, where many of them would hang out... But after Sukkot [five weeks ago], things began improving. We were able to arrange a volunteer day-care center twice a week so that the mothers could have some time off, and now there are karate lessons - their first recreational activity. We have raised funds for some sports activities and classes in the afternoons, and for transportation to the Shalom Hotel [where there are other activities], and for art therapy, and for food for the next few days, and more."
Volunteer activities are going on in other neighborhoods as well. In Bayit Vegan, for instance, where the Shalom Hotel is located, local residents supply the expellees with daily supplies including milk, diapers, toiletries, baby formula and much more.
Stern said that the Michlalah (Jerusalem College for Women) has been very efficient and prompt in providing help:
"Just a few days after we approached them, they had already set up a whole course for girls in grades 6-8, with math, English and computer tutoring and classes twice a week. They also have therapeutic services, sports for boys, computer graphics, psycho-drama, and more. The Education Ministry pays for the transportation, and the children are really very excited to take part. In addition, Machon Lev (Jerusalem College of Technology) gives courses to adults, and we’re hoping that they'll also start courses for the boys."
Asked what people can do to help, she said, "As you can imagine, all of these things cost money..." Her email address for those who want to take part is naamas05@yahoo.com.
Pressed for something that people can actually do in person, Mrs. Stern said, "It looks very much like there will be a need to individually accompany and adopt each family - especially in Nitzan, which is like a real refugee camp, where most of the people are still out of work, and where a real catastrophe might very well be developing. For those who can do this, this could be a real life-saver."
The report sums up, "The expulsion created a traumatic situation, exacting particularly heavy physical and emotional prices. Beyond the hardship of being thrown out of one's home, in this case the State did not even act or prepare properly in order to genuinely help and treat the difficulties of those who were thrown out. The Form and other bodies warned of this in Knesset Law Committee sessions, but it is now clear that nothing was done."
Rosen said, "As a result of the expulsion, children have developed difficulties in adjustment and integration, and many of them have attention and concentration difficulties that they never had before. The expellees' children in Jerusalem have been given a few classrooms in the Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School [for the morning hours; they must rush out before the high school students begin afternoon studies - ed.], but there's no school atmosphere. The children sense the temporariness, they see their teachers being replaced at a very high rate. With all the desire to help, it's just not it."
An attempt was made to impress upon the members of the Knesset Children's Rights Committee the gravity of the situation, but Rosen says it was not wholly successful:
"The members had difficulty understanding how grave the situation is for youth who bore the struggle [against the expulsion] on their shoulders. Many of the youth are now suffering from a strong crisis of values, and some of them have required psychiatric help. Some of the youths simply don't find themselves; they reject the frameworks, and run off to hang out on the streets at night. Their parents, too, are in distress in the hotels, and are unable to show authority or educate. There are no solutions for these problems."
"The government came out with this campaign that for every expellee there was a solution - but they forgot that children are part of the community... The children have to study properly, and receive at least what they received in Gush Katif - strong and good frameworks like we used to have, nothing more. The government did not prepare for the expulsion they way it should have, and now we are suffering from the bureaucracy and the craziness."
However, it appears that where the government is clueless, the people of Israel are filling in. "They are wonderful," Rosen says, "and they work night and day, but it's not their job. The money that the Disengagement Authority gets but doesn't use properly should be diverted to them."
One group of volunteers, from Har Nof, Jerusalem, is working with a relatively-unknown group of ten expelled families living at Elah Residence Protected Housing in the Malcha neighborhood in Jerusalem. The families have now dwindled to four, and the Disengagement Authority has informed them that they must leave once again. The Authority has already stopped paying for their lodgings at Elah, and only the generosity of Elah in allowing them to remain - and of the volunteers in arranging food and laundry - has saved them from what they feel would be another relocation trauma. By next week, however, they may have no choice.
"I refuse to move to a fourth place," one young expellee mother said this morning. "When we first were thrown out of N'vei Dekalim, we were taken to the Jerusalem Gates Hotel, where we were supposed to go, but they told us they had no room. I still don't know how that happened, but in any event we were altogether out of it at the time... So they took us and another few families to a small hotel in Jerusalem that was in the middle of refurbishing works; you can imagine what kind of conditions those were. We stayed there for two weeks, until being moved to here."
At that point, the real troubles began. "For the children, it was a real trauma. They were fearful, and had to check everything out, and bed-wetting began, and all sorts of troubles. Now things are finally settling down, and they want us to start again all over? No way!"
One of the Har Nof volunteers, Miriam Stern, elaborated:
"These families [in Elah] have better physical conditions than those in the hotels, but the children were left with nothing to do. There was no social worker from the disengagement authority, there was no afternoon day care, no afternoon activities, nothing. The only thing was a pizza place nearby, where many of them would hang out... But after Sukkot [five weeks ago], things began improving. We were able to arrange a volunteer day-care center twice a week so that the mothers could have some time off, and now there are karate lessons - their first recreational activity. We have raised funds for some sports activities and classes in the afternoons, and for transportation to the Shalom Hotel [where there are other activities], and for art therapy, and for food for the next few days, and more."
Volunteer activities are going on in other neighborhoods as well. In Bayit Vegan, for instance, where the Shalom Hotel is located, local residents supply the expellees with daily supplies including milk, diapers, toiletries, baby formula and much more.
Stern said that the Michlalah (Jerusalem College for Women) has been very efficient and prompt in providing help:
"Just a few days after we approached them, they had already set up a whole course for girls in grades 6-8, with math, English and computer tutoring and classes twice a week. They also have therapeutic services, sports for boys, computer graphics, psycho-drama, and more. The Education Ministry pays for the transportation, and the children are really very excited to take part. In addition, Machon Lev (Jerusalem College of Technology) gives courses to adults, and we’re hoping that they'll also start courses for the boys."
Asked what people can do to help, she said, "As you can imagine, all of these things cost money..." Her email address for those who want to take part is naamas05@yahoo.com.
Pressed for something that people can actually do in person, Mrs. Stern said, "It looks very much like there will be a need to individually accompany and adopt each family - especially in Nitzan, which is like a real refugee camp, where most of the people are still out of work, and where a real catastrophe might very well be developing. For those who can do this, this could be a real life-saver."