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July 20, 2007
Learning a new way of life
Gush Katif settlers get a hand from Vancouver community.
EDGAR ASHER ISRANET
A $700,000 gift from the Jewish community of British Columbia has
dramatically changed the lives of 11 families who used to live in
the Gush Katif settlement of the Gaza Strip before Israel's August
2005 disengagement.
The money was raised by the Jewish National Fund in honor of the
100th birthday of Ben Dayson last month. Dayson himself contributed
most of the funds for this special JNF project.
"With this donation, the JNF was able to prepare the entire
infrastructure for greenhouses just south of the Mediterranean city
of Ashkelon," said JNF emissary Araleh Lapidot, who returned
to Israel to participate in a dedication ceremony for the new project.
"This means that 11 families who were evacuated from Gush Katif
can restart their businesses again, due to the Canadian generosity."
One of the former residents of the settlement of Ganei Tal in Gush
Katif was Ronit Balaban. Balaban, who describes herself as a religious
Zionist, made aliyah from Sweden in 1971, when she was 16 years
old. In 1985, Balaban, by then married and with three small children,
went to live with her husband, Ya'acov, in Ganei Tal and set up
a very successful business of flowering pot plants, growing gardenias,
roses, jasmine and hibiscus for export to Europe in the winter season.
In 2002, her husband was gravely injured by a terrorist bomb near
Tel-Aviv, and Balaban had to make a decision about what to do with
their flourishing business. As she sat in the hospital emergency
room, she knew that, for the foreseeable future, she could either
continue to run the business, or go bankrupt. She decided to continue
the business herself, with the help of her oldest child, Ayelet,
who was then 22 years old.
Balaban's hard work and dedication paid off and, soon, 750,000 plants
were being propagated on her nine-acre Gush Katif farm.
In 2004, Ariel Sharon's government announced its plan to remove
all Jewish settlements from Gaza. Once again, Balaban had to make
a crucial decision. When the disengagement became a reality, she
accepted the fact that resistance would be of no avail and decided
to co-operate with the disengagement authority, in the hope that
her business could be transferred into Israel in some semblance
of good order and with minimal loss.
Six months before the actual disengagement, Balaban started looking
for a suitable place to set up her business. As she grew Mediterranean
plants in Gush Katif, she preferred a location south of Ashdod,
which had a climate somewhat similar to that of Ganei Tal.
"I was bitter at the government, and continue to be so,"
said Balaban. "I was one of the first growers to talk to the
government about relocating our business. I was not happy with the
disengagement, to say the least, but I decided to co-operate with
the disengagement authority. I took the hard way the first time
and I will take the hard way a second time. When we left Gush Katif,
the government said we have a solution for every settler; they didn't,
and haven't, such a solution, and all the settlers felt very let
down."
About two months before the disengagement, Balaban went to visit
a possible site to relocate her business in Mavki'im, south of Ashkelon,
which had been suggested to her by JNF.
"At that time, it was a nine-acre sandy waste with a few acacia
trees. In fact, much of the top soil had been stolen by builders
over the years, leaving many deep depressions on the site,"
she said. "I had already missed one full planting season and,
despite my co-operation with the disengagement authority, I had
received no money and would have to finance most of the move myself."
Balaban agreed to move to the new location and JNF sent in bulldozers
to remove the acacia bushes and flatten out the land. With the help
of volunteers, she was able to bring about half of her plants to
Mavki'im and erect some temporary shade to give some protection
for the plants from the direct sun. Money had virtually run out,
as, according to Balaban, the criteria that the government used
for compensating the settlers did not cover the true cost of transfer.
The Balaban family had to move into a caravan an hour's drive from
Mavki'im, as they did not have enough money to build a house and
refinance the business.
"Even today, the area of the greenhouses is not full to capacity
because there is still infrastructure work, like watering systems
that have to be installed, and this takes time and money,"
said Balaban. "I have to pay about $16,000 every month to the
company that supplied the greenhouses, but I told them I do not
have enough money to pay, because I have not received proper compensation,
so the company agreed to delay payments. I gave them a cheque and
they agreed not to draw the cheque until the end of the payment
schedule. This will give me a breathing space.
"I have to tell you, I do not want one metre more than I had
in Gush Katif. I only want the government to pay me what I am entitled
to. When I bring the matter up, they say, 'sue us.' I got the compensation
that the government decided, and it's only about a third of what
it should be in practical terms."
The Canadian gift has enabled the essential infrastructure to be
completed by JNF. Each of the 11 farming families have their own
stories to tell, but it is clear that they are grateful to JNF for
giving them the possibility to start over again after their homes
and livelihoods were taken from them so abruptly.
Nearly everything that the 400 farmers of Gush Katif built over
the years has been destroyed. Today, only about a quarter of the
farmers who used to work in Gush Katif have been able to transfer
their businesses to Israel. Most of these farmers will be in debt,
like Balaban, for many years to come.
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