"Army to Residents: Some of Your Property Will Be Left Behind"
- - - - by IceViking
17:43 Jul 22, '05 / 15 Tammuz 5765
By Hillel Fendel
An outstanding issue in the ever-so-complicated disengagement/expulsion issue is what to do with the residents' property. The army's threats represent psychological pressure against the residents.
"Whatever we can fit into two large containers, we will take," an army commander said this week, "and the rest we will simply leave behind." The speaker was Brig.-Gen. Guy Tzur, IDF Commander of the Southern Command Task Force, meeting with the people of Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif.
"Whoever stays after the date set by the government, August 15, will have some of their property packed by the army - and the rest of it will remain," the officer said. "After the residents are taken out, whatever is on the floor [such as chairs, tables and the like - ed.] we will take, and whatever is not, such as pictures on the wall and air conditioners, we will leave behind."
Benny Yefet, whose son Itamar was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Gush Katif almost five years ago, called out, "Sure, it would truly be a good idea to leave behind the picture of my son for his murderers who will receive my house."
Another woman called out, "Who's talking about air conditioners? We're talking about something very different - we're talking about the values that you taught our sons in the army officers' courses, about the Land of Israel and the People of Israel."
The residents wanted to talk about the violence that occurs nightly at the hands of the police and soldiers at the Kisufim Crossing. "Every night there is some kind of clash at Kisufim," Anita Tucker of Netzer Hazani told Arutz-7 today. "We showed Gen. Tzur pictures of one of our boys who had his hands self-tied with an orange ribbon, and a policeman choking him - you can see the boy's tongue out of his mouth, grimacing in pain. One of the residents said to Gen. Tzur, 'If I would have seen that happening to my son, I would have shot the policeman - and you would have as well.' We told him other stories, and the officers who were with him appeared a bit shocked. Gen. Tzur said he would look into it, etc."
The residents told Gen. Tzur that they had met with many government officials - "we have met and are willing to meet with everyone except [Prime Minister] Sharon and [Disengagement Authority head Yonatan] Bassi," Tucker said - and that they had learned that there are no housing solutions for them for a month from now.
At that, Gen. Tzur pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and began to read, "I met with Bassi, and he told me that there are solutions for everyone. There are 300 caravilot [new mobile homes of 60 and 90 square meters (72 and 107 square yards)] in Nitzanim, for instance." He also said that there are apartments available for the others.
Tucker described what happened next: "We told him that there are 420 people already signed up for those 300 caravilot. We told him that there was going to be a lottery for the caravilot on August 13, which means that some of those who think they have a solution, really do not! And certainly Netzer Hazani would not be able to go as one bloc, which all the experts said all along is critically important... He said that it was our fault for not meeting earlier, etc., and we told him that we had met with lots of people, and that the idea of Nitzanim had come from our representatives in the first place!"
The next issue was that of containers into which the belongings are to be packed. "There is no room next to the caravilot to put the containers," Tucker said, "and certainly the people who live in hotels will not be next to their belongings. So we described the situation to Gen. Tzur: Every morning we'll be bused down to Sdei Teiman, near Be'er Sheva, where the containers will be stored, so that we can get the stuff that we need for that day? With all the complications of finding the right container, and then the person with the key, etc. - this is how we are to live?!"
At several points, Gen. Tzur responded to the residents' concerns by talking about the importance of democracy and the need to abide by democratically-made decisions.
"Gen. Tzur said that the expectation is that only 20% of the population will actually remain in Gush Katif by August 15, such that the problem would not be as critical as we were describing," Tucker recounted. "We told him, 'Wake up! Do you know how many people are here already now? We offered to take him on a tour of Netzer Hazani and show him how many families had already taken in additional families into their homes."
The official population of Gush Katif is approximately 8,000 - but some estimates are that close to 11,000 people, including entire high school and yeshiva classes from around the country, currently live there. More are arriving daily, with the Yesha Council planning to intensify its efforts in this regard in the coming days.
Tucker told Gen. Tzur that even among those who might have been willing to leave before the scheduled date, "the violence used against us makes them more unwilling to go along with any government policy... You talk about a 'split in the nation' - it's always been here, but everyone knew how to live with it. But now, you are forcing the issue and pushing us into a corner; you knew all along that we hold Torah to be more important than democracy."
By Hillel Fendel
An outstanding issue in the ever-so-complicated disengagement/expulsion issue is what to do with the residents' property. The army's threats represent psychological pressure against the residents.
"Whatever we can fit into two large containers, we will take," an army commander said this week, "and the rest we will simply leave behind." The speaker was Brig.-Gen. Guy Tzur, IDF Commander of the Southern Command Task Force, meeting with the people of Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif.
"Whoever stays after the date set by the government, August 15, will have some of their property packed by the army - and the rest of it will remain," the officer said. "After the residents are taken out, whatever is on the floor [such as chairs, tables and the like - ed.] we will take, and whatever is not, such as pictures on the wall and air conditioners, we will leave behind."
Benny Yefet, whose son Itamar was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Gush Katif almost five years ago, called out, "Sure, it would truly be a good idea to leave behind the picture of my son for his murderers who will receive my house."
Another woman called out, "Who's talking about air conditioners? We're talking about something very different - we're talking about the values that you taught our sons in the army officers' courses, about the Land of Israel and the People of Israel."
The residents wanted to talk about the violence that occurs nightly at the hands of the police and soldiers at the Kisufim Crossing. "Every night there is some kind of clash at Kisufim," Anita Tucker of Netzer Hazani told Arutz-7 today. "We showed Gen. Tzur pictures of one of our boys who had his hands self-tied with an orange ribbon, and a policeman choking him - you can see the boy's tongue out of his mouth, grimacing in pain. One of the residents said to Gen. Tzur, 'If I would have seen that happening to my son, I would have shot the policeman - and you would have as well.' We told him other stories, and the officers who were with him appeared a bit shocked. Gen. Tzur said he would look into it, etc."
The residents told Gen. Tzur that they had met with many government officials - "we have met and are willing to meet with everyone except [Prime Minister] Sharon and [Disengagement Authority head Yonatan] Bassi," Tucker said - and that they had learned that there are no housing solutions for them for a month from now.
At that, Gen. Tzur pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, and began to read, "I met with Bassi, and he told me that there are solutions for everyone. There are 300 caravilot [new mobile homes of 60 and 90 square meters (72 and 107 square yards)] in Nitzanim, for instance." He also said that there are apartments available for the others.
Tucker described what happened next: "We told him that there are 420 people already signed up for those 300 caravilot. We told him that there was going to be a lottery for the caravilot on August 13, which means that some of those who think they have a solution, really do not! And certainly Netzer Hazani would not be able to go as one bloc, which all the experts said all along is critically important... He said that it was our fault for not meeting earlier, etc., and we told him that we had met with lots of people, and that the idea of Nitzanim had come from our representatives in the first place!"
The next issue was that of containers into which the belongings are to be packed. "There is no room next to the caravilot to put the containers," Tucker said, "and certainly the people who live in hotels will not be next to their belongings. So we described the situation to Gen. Tzur: Every morning we'll be bused down to Sdei Teiman, near Be'er Sheva, where the containers will be stored, so that we can get the stuff that we need for that day? With all the complications of finding the right container, and then the person with the key, etc. - this is how we are to live?!"
At several points, Gen. Tzur responded to the residents' concerns by talking about the importance of democracy and the need to abide by democratically-made decisions.
"Gen. Tzur said that the expectation is that only 20% of the population will actually remain in Gush Katif by August 15, such that the problem would not be as critical as we were describing," Tucker recounted. "We told him, 'Wake up! Do you know how many people are here already now? We offered to take him on a tour of Netzer Hazani and show him how many families had already taken in additional families into their homes."
The official population of Gush Katif is approximately 8,000 - but some estimates are that close to 11,000 people, including entire high school and yeshiva classes from around the country, currently live there. More are arriving daily, with the Yesha Council planning to intensify its efforts in this regard in the coming days.
Tucker told Gen. Tzur that even among those who might have been willing to leave before the scheduled date, "the violence used against us makes them more unwilling to go along with any government policy... You talk about a 'split in the nation' - it's always been here, but everyone knew how to live with it. But now, you are forcing the issue and pushing us into a corner; you knew all along that we hold Torah to be more important than democracy."