KFAR DAROM SETTLEMENT, Gaza Strip, 13 May 2005 — Jewish settlers yesterday reinforced their roots in Gaza on Israel’s independence day, inaugurating a synagogue barely three months before they are to be uprooted from the occupied territory.
Tens of thousands of people from all across Israel descended on the main southern Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif where people have continued to build houses, despite the looming deadline for the government-led evacuation.
Amid the festivities, settlers such as Abigail Bitton, widowed when her teacher husband was killed in a Palestinian bombing of a school bus after the start of the uprising in 2000, vowed to defy the planned pullout.
“We have faith that we will live here forever. For me this is a very important day. The message from the dead is to live here and to continue to build here,” she said.
In Kfar Darom, Rabbi Motti Eilon opened a new synagogue dedicated to the residents of arguably the most ideological settlement in the Gaza Strip who had been killed in Palestinian attacks, including long-time rabbi Shimon Biran.
Ironically, its foundation stone was laid a decade ago by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, once the darling of the settler movement and now their bete noire for his decision to pull back from Palestinian territory for the first time.
“This is for all the Jewish people in all parts of the land of Eretz Israel,” said Rabbi Eilon, referring to the Biblical expanse of the Jewish kingdom which stretched from the Mediterranean to modern-day Jordan.
The settlement was decked out in hundreds of blue and white Israeli flags fluttering between the orange banners, which have become the emblem of the settlers’ quest to prevent evacuation.
A Jewish community first lived in Kfar Darom, now a religious settlement of around 400, prior to modern-day Israeli statehood in 1948 and the settlement was re-established after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Now in his 80s, Abraham Dimanti was the commander of Kfar Darom during Israel’s war of independence and recalled battles with Egyptian soldiers, during which he was shot in the leg.
He remembered how one night, with the community under constant bombardment from Egyptian forces, his fighters commandeered an anti-tank missile.
“It was a miracle to take that from the Egyptians but we didn’t know how to use it. Luckily there was a guy from the Pal-Mach (which led the independence battle) who showed us,” he said.
Residents and their supporters were expected to rally in the middle of Gush Katif later yesterday.
Yehuda Geller traveled down from the occupied Golan Heights as a show of solidarity for the settlers.
“We are sending a message that Gush Katif is part of Israel. We came here today to show our solidarity with the people of Eretz Israel,” he said.
Residents of Neve Dekalim, the main Jewish settlement bloc, partied late into Wednesday night to live music and a fireworks display.
An air of unreality was compounded by the number of photographers who easily outnumbered the dozen of so dancers in front of the stage during the traditional independence night concert.
An Israeli military source said Palestinians targeted Neve Dekalim and Atsmona with automatic weapons fire four times overnight, causing no injuries or damage. Palestinian militants also tried to fire three mortar rounds in the same sector, but they fell short, the source added.
