A Human Perspective of the “Disengagement”

The wedding invitation envelope looked pretty much like any other. What struck me was the handwritten return address: “Room 699” of a Kibbutz Guest House in Israel. It came from our old friends Ben and Shosh (not their real names) who were about to marry off their sixth of eight children.

For Ben and Shosh and 3 of their kids room 699 has been home since January of this year. Four months prior to moving to room 699, home was a room in another guest house in Golan Heights. No, Ben and Shosh are not itinerant migrant workers. Ben holds math and science degrees from a prestigious American university and is an ordained rabbi. Shosh is a graduate of an Ivy league women’s college. Between 1978 and August 18, 2005 they lived in a 250 square meter (2500 sq ft) home in Gush Katif. There they raised their 7 boys and a girl. Today their daughter is a prominent physician. Four of their sons are officers in elite units of the IDF, two of whom are pilots. Their family was forced to leave their home not by some natural disaster like a tsunami or Katrina. Ben and Shosh’s exile was man-made. For the sake of peace, they and 1300 other families numbering nearly 10,000 people were forcibly expelled from their homes by the same government that encouraged them to settle in Gush Katif 28 years ago. The Israel government termed their eviction “disengagement”.

When Ben and Shosh first came to Gush Katif, the area was a sparsely populated desolate waste land in Gaza, whose barren soil was incapable of growing anything. The local Arab population called it the “cursed earth”. On their first day, they were welcomed by the local mukhtar (village elder) who greeted them with bread and salt. He then inquired if they would be able to provide jobs for his people.

Over the next few years Ben used his scientific know-how to build a highly successful agri-tech export business that brought in valuable foreign currency into Israel. And yes, he and the other 10,000 Jewish settlers provided many jobs to the local Arab populace.

As part of the “disengagement” plan Ben and Shosh were promised compensation for the loss of their home and their livelihood. The government appraisal of their house was less than half of the price needed to buy a similar size home inside the green line and a fraction of what their business was really worth. In the ten months after their expulsion, they have received less than one tenth of what the government appointed appraiser recommended.

During my recent visit to room 699, Ben told me the Israel government agency in charge of compensating the former residents of Gush Katif is running out of money and all previously promised appraisals are being reassessed downwards. So much for government promises.

Like other large projects of this magnitude, there have been accounts of skimming and corruption by government officials and their cronies. Ben knows of a building contractor who offered his professional services gratis to pave the area around the caravans in one of the Jewish refugee camps created after the August exile. He only requested reimbursement for materials used. A government agency official indicated he would only approve the allocation of funds for these materials if he were given a 25% cut of the cost of the materials up front.

Ben is not entitled to unemployment insurance because he was self-employed nor does he have a pension fund. He always said “My business is my pension. I can even run it from my wheel chair when I’m ninety”. Now in his early sixties he doesn’t feel he can put in the time and effort needed to start over again.

Ben and Shosh still maintain phone contact with their former Arab foreman in Gaza who gives them periodic updates. Since the Jews left, Gush Katif has become a killing field by feuding Arab warlords each trying to gain control of the valuable land. Assassinations and executions are rampant. Actual unemployment figures have reached a staggering 70%. PA authority workers have not received their salaries in the 3 months since Hamas came to power. Islamic Jihad terrorists fire Kassam rockets into the Israeli city of Sderot daily with the Hamas Authority’s blessing. Sometimes these rockets reach the outskirts of the resort town of Ashkelon. Residents of Sderot want to move out, but who would buy their homes?

Israel responds with artillery barrages and has been sending in elite commando units to search and destroy the Kassam missile launch sites. Yet for every site destroyed several others crop up.

The “disengagement” has taken a human toll as well and has affected every Israeli taxpayer: 1300 productive, law abiding families have turned into welfare cases. Ben and Shosh’s upkeep (including full board) in room 699 costs the Israeli tax payer $5500 per month.

Psychologists report the Gush Katif youth feel betrayed, demoralized, alienated. The percentage of those students passing the high school matriculation exams amongst these former high achievers has dropped considerably. These youth who eagerly volunteered for combat units now try to avoid getting drafted. Drug use and the divorce rate are on the rise. Many formerly healthy families are in need of therapy.

Back in 2005, Ariel Sharon thought his disengagement plan was worth the risk for the sake of peace. Now ten months later, those of us who see the emperor has no clothes realize that Sharon’s bold gesture has been an abysmal failure.

Winston Churchill once said “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. For the past few weeks Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been globe trotting to various capitals seeking support for his “realignment” or “convergence plan”. This newest plan will forcibly evict an additional 70,000 Israeli citizens from their homes in communities in Israel’s heartland just a shoulder rocket’s distance from Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport. If this plan succeeds, these 70,000 men women and children face a fate similar to Ben and Shosh and the rest of the country will live in constant fear of Hamas Katushas.

The purpose of Olmert’s recent visit to Washington was not only to entreat President Bush’s blessing but also to seek financial aid to execute this plan. The Israel economy can not finance this undertaking on its own. Uprooting this staggering number in Israel is the equivalent of uprooting 3,500,000 a.m.ericans. Judging the catastrophic results of last year’s “disengagement”, are American taxpayers willing to finance Olmert’s proposed “realignment/convergence”?

In hindsight, giving Ariel Sharon the benefit of doubt, his “disengagement” could be viewed as a tragic mistake. If Ehud Olmert proceeds with his “realignment/convergence” it would be premeditated reckless endangerment.