Friday, Day 7

We have been to Gaza when there were Israelis living there.  In 2003, we hosted two 19-year old Israeli young women, who were spending a year in the US doing their national service. This is in lieu of going into the army. They lived with us and worked in the local Jewish day school and our synagogue. One of them was from Ganai Tal in Gaza. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel captured Gaza. In the 1970's, the Labor government offered cheap housing to Israelis who wished to build a life there. Her parents, newly married, took the offer. They built a thriving business of cultivating potted plants and flowers, many of which were exported to Europe. 

In 2004, we were in Israel for Passover and we visited this family. They had a beautiful single family home where they raised their three children, and we toured the many greenhouses they owned. They employed many local Palestinian workers, some of whom had been with them for decades. At that point, the government was beginning to talk about disengagement, or pulling out. Ofra's father told us they would do whatever the government told them to do. In 2005, Israel unilaterally withdrew from all settlements in Gaza. Ofra's family tearfully left their home, their workers and their greenhouses. Israel and the Palestinians agreed the buildings would be razed by the IDF once all Jewish residents had left. The greenhouses remained, but were destroyed by the Palestinians, stating they did not want anything left by the "Zionist enemy."

This story does have a somewhat happy ending. The entire community of Ganai Tal decided to stay together and rebuild. They were given a parcel of land in the center of the country and have established a new town. Ofra's parents rebuilt their green houses and business, and her father purchased an orchard of over 700 palm trees near the Dead Sea, producing organic Medjool dates. We visited it early on our trip this time, got to ride in the date picker (rises like a cherry picker), and sample the most delicious dates. 

The bombing continues. Israel warns over a million people to leave northern Gaza while Hamas tells them to stay. US Sec of Defense Lloyd Austin is here. El Al is flying on Saturday for the first time in 41 years to bring reservists back to Israel. Trains, which ordinarily don't run on Shabbat, will run between Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport and Beersheva and the airport and will be free.

We are walking to friends about 4 blocks away for Shabbat dinner. In synagogues around the world on Saturday, the torah cycle starts anew. "God says, let there be light, and there is." Let's hope so.



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