"...I assume the other ones got through as well; after all, we're on a mission from the Rebbe."

Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews.com



Ezra to Katif : It's for Your Own Good
Wednesday, July 13, 2005 / 6 Tammuz 5765

Opposition to the Gush Katif closure: preparations for next week's mass march, and calls for people to continue streaming in. Meanwhile, Minister Ezra says the closure will "benefit" the residents.

Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra, one of the signatories on the orders issued today to place a siege around Gush Katif, implied that the closure will help the Katif residents.

Minister Ezra condescendingly explained that the closure will help prevent the entry of “extremist right-wing elements,” and that, “in my opinion, this move is a step towards the residents.”

In response, Gush Katif Mayor Avner Shimoni said, “No one is doing us any favors, and we didn’t appoint anyone to this end. We greet with love and willingness everyone who wants to come to Gush Katif. We feel insulted, hurt and angered at the fact that the government is preventing the residents from reaching their homes in a normal fashion.”

Public opposition to the closure took place today in the form of sharp criticism by public figures, spontaneous protests in Kfar Darom and at the Kisufim Crossing, and continued plans to carry out the scheduled Yesha Council mass march on Monday from Netivot to Kisufim.

Though the planned march is the result of unprecedented unity on the part of many different nationalist organizations, today’s closure has elicited various reactions on the right. The Yesha Council says that its plans for Monday’s march need not be changed at all.

“There’s no need for us to jump around like fish out of water just because the government closed the Gush,” said Ephraim Goldstein of Gush Katif, who is responsible for overseeing Central Region preparations for the march. “The government made this move in response to what we are doing, and we are measuring our steps carefully. We are happy that the government is reacting to us, and not vice-versa.”

Asked how the closure will serve the purpose of bringing down as many families as possible to Gush Katif, Goldstein said, “Families will be able to come in as a result of next week’s march, with G-d’s help.”

On the other hand, some right-wing groups say that people should continue to try to come to Gush Katif even today. “In the time of the British, we found tricks and ways to come to the Land of Israel, and the same is true today,” says Nadia Matar of Women in Green. “Where there is a will, there is a way. No need to elaborate…”

“This doesn’t contradict the Yesha Council plan next week,” she emphasized. “Those who can’t come today or tomorrow should certainly come next week. But we should try to get another 100 families to come by this Shabbat, and they can live in the tent sites in Shirat HaYam, Netzer Hazani, and others.”

Despite the closure, some non-residents were able to get in. Four Belzer Hassidim said they were waved on by a policeman who did not seem to want to check their papers. Upon their arrival in N'vei Dekalim, they were promptly treated to a tour of some of the communities by a willing resident who happened to be on hand, Rabbi Yitzchak Amitai of Atzmonah.

Two Chabad Hassidim related their story: "We have been here for about a week, part of a large group who came to learn here in Yeshivat Torat HaChaim for a few weeks from New York. This morning, a group of around 12 of us were on our way to visit the Machpelah Cave in Hevron when we heard that Gush Katif was closed. So we immediately turned around and headed back. By miracle, we were able to pass two of the checkpoints, but then we were stopped again. So we broke up into smaller groups, and two of us just walked right through. I assume the other ones got through as well; after all, we're on a mission from the Rebbe."