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1. Gush Katif: Past and Future
by Hillel Fendel
As the fifth anniversary of Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and the accompanying tragic expulsion of nearly 9,000 Jews from their homes nears, Israel National News presents an overview of what Gush Katif's past and accomplishments - and its goals for the immediate and long-range future.
Approximately 350 family farms and agricultural enterprises, producing $120 million in flowers and produce, were based in the Katif Bloc of Jewish towns in Gaza. Almost 70% of Israel’s organic produce originated in Gaza, as did nearly 15% of its agricultural exports, 90% of bug-free leafy vegetables, 45% of tomato exports, 95% of cherry tomato exports, and 60% of herb exports. Some 60% of Israel's geranium exports came solely from one community, Ganei Tal.
The farms employed 5,000 Jews and 5,000 Gazan Arabs. Total annual revenues were $60-70 million.
History in Brief
The first community to be built in modern Jewish Gaza was Netzer Hazani, which was established in 1976. Three other IDF Nachal outposts were already there – Kfar Darom, Morag, and Katif – and they later turned into full-fledged towns as well.
The entire area was originally filled with vast stretches of empty sand dunes "with no birds, insects or even weeds,” one former resident said. “Even the amount of rain was small compared to today's rainfall measurements, old-timers say. Local Arabs, who called the area El Gerara, 'the cursed land,' were later happy when the Jews returned, because the land began to produce and the rain started again… When we first arrived, two Arab mukhtars came to welcome us, and asked us, ‘Don’t you know you can’t grow anything here in this cursed land? According to our tradition, the last people who lived here who grew anything were Abraham and Isaac...’”
In time, the “cursed land” that became Netzer Hazani absorbed 70 families working in greenhouse farming of flowers, celery, peppers, spices, and more.
Within two years, Kfar Darom and Moshav Katif were formed – the latter by a group of new immigrants from the United States – and it became time to establish the Gaza Coast Regional Council.
In 1979, Ganei Tal was established, creating a bloc of three towns together with Moshav Katif and Netzer Hazani, while Gadid was built some ten kilometers to the south. Later, the “city” of N’vei Dekalim was built adjacent to Gadid, forming the hub and center of the Katif bloc of Jewish communities.
At the same time, plans were underway to build more farming towns in the north and south of the Gaza area, as well as Netzarim in central Gaza. By 1984, there were 16 Jewish towns in Gaza. The area's last two towns – Shirat Hayam, literally on the beach, and Kerem Atzmona – were established in 2000, bringing the final tally to 21.
Winds of Destruction
In late 2003, with Gush Katif in its prime – featuring the best in settlement and blossoming of the Land of Israel, religious values and national idealism, heroic withstanding of terrorist and rocket attacks, and international acclaim for its agriculture – the first winds of destruction began to blow. Ariel Sharon, who had arguably been the prime force behind the plans to develop and settle Gaza with Jewish towns, announced his plan to destroy Gush Katif at a conference in Herzliya in December.
Within 20 months, the deed was done: Nearly 9,000 men, women, and children – described by all as the “salt of the earth” – found themselves without homes, livelihoods, schools, and physical roots.
Here is not the place to describe the next five years of wandering, uncertainty and general suffering; suffice it to say that retired Supreme Court Judge Eliyahu Matza, who headed the official commission of inquiry into the government’s treatment of the expellees, described it as a "complete and utter failure of the executive branch."
Plans for the Future
Though scattered around the country, most in the northern Negev and environs, the residents of Gush Katif are still united and still have big plans. Under the theme of Od Katif Chai – which means Katif Still Lives - they intend to build 18 (the numerical equivalent of Chai) new communities and initiate 18 new projects.
Among the new towns to be built or already in the initial stages thereof is Be’er Ganim, literally: Well of Gardens, north of Ashkelon. The name is an acronym of the communities from whence the new residents hail: Bdolach, Rafiah Yam, Gadid, Nisanit, Morag and others with one of those initials. Be’er Ganim was the name of a town in the Netanya region, which later merged with Or Yehuda and changed its name to Pe’er Ganim, or Beauty of the Gardens.
Other new towns will be built in the northern Negev: Katif Amatzia is to be populated by former residents of Moshav Katif, while Neta (Mirsham) will be built by residents from Tel Katifa and Kfar Darom. The former residents of the beachfront Shirat HaYam (Song of the Sea) community have changed scenery and are well into the process of building Maskiyot in the near-desert conditions of the Jordan Valley.
In addition, new neighborhoods are being added to existing cities or communities, such as N’vei Herzog in Ashkelon, Avnei Eitan in the Golan, Ganei Tal in Kibbutz Chafetz Chaim, and Shvut Katif in Yad Binyamin.
Among the 18 new projects the down-but-not-out pioneers are kicking off are: The construction of synagogues in Talmei Yafeh, Yesodot and Maskiyot; two regional community centers and four youth centers for extra-curricular, cultural and supportive activities; a family unit lecture series and workshop; 150 student scholarships; financial, medical, and vocational assistance to families; the establishment of the Gush Katif Legacy Center; and more.
For more information on the past, present and mainly future of Gush Katif, click here:
2. Tragedy in the Skies of Michigan
by Hana Levi Julian
Wednesday was the day after tragedy struck the Menorah family of Chicago, and a sad day for Orthodox Jewish campers at Michigan's Camp Agudah Midwest.
The bodies of three teenage girls who died in a plane crash Tuesday were brought for prayers and a final goodbye from fellow campers and staff, before being flown home to Israel. The funeral procession concluded with prayers at Congregation Or Torah in Skokie, and further services are scheduled for Friday in Israel.
The girls were killed along with their grandfather, Moshe Menorah, during a short flight to Mackinac Island on Tuesday in a tragic crash in which Menorah's grandson was the only survivor.
In addition to Menorah, age 73, granddaughters Sara Klein, 17, and Rikki and Rachel Menorah, ages 16 and 14 respectively, died in the accident.
Yossie Menorah, age 13, was airlifted to a hospital in Michigan with burns that covered 60 percent of his body. His father, Sholom, told the family by phone that the plane had split in half; Yossie survived because he had been sitting in the back of the plane upon takeoff.
Flying was a special delight for a man who had waited to share the joys of the skies with his grandchildren when they came for a visit from Israel.
Menorah, born in Haifa, had served in the IDF during the 1956 Sinai campaign alongside Moshe Dayan, who eventually became the country's Defense Minister. Two years later, Menorah moved to New York and met his wife Selma, daughter of a rabbi. The two opened a kosher meat market before Menorah went into real estate, eventually moving to the Chicago area.
The 73-year-old businessman, who owned the Skokie-based Tri-United Management firm, loved spending time with his 17 grandchildren, and was known for his honesty. “He was just a wonderful person, a wonderful businessman, very honest, a tremendous amount of integrity,” said Sharon Heahy, Tri-United's executive director of operations.
“We are stunned,” his sister-in-law, Chicago resident Chana Kovalsky, told the Chicago Tribune. “The loss of the young lives of children especially is never anything anyone can accept.”
The Beech Baron 58 aircraft, which seats four in addition to the pilots, had taken off from Chicago Executive Airport at 11:11 a.m., arriving at Mackinac County Airport in S. Ignace at 1:56 p.m. EDT. At about 5:00 p.m., Menorah refueled and took off from Mackinac, according to the flight records.
But this time a crisis developed before reaching an altitude of 1,000 feet, and eyewitnesses saw the aircraft cross over Interstate Highway 75, where it struck the median barrier and flipped over.
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Aaron Sauer told the Chicago Tribune that it was too early to know what caused the crash.
3. Hundreds of Millions - a Gift to the Palestinian Authority
by Hillel Fendel
Israel doesn’t have to, yet it transfers hundreds of millions of dollars to the PA. The economist who shocked MKs with the seemingly outrageous details spoke with Arutz-7.
The Knesset Finance Committee members were unhappily surprised when they heard the report this week by economist Nahum Gutentag of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel. Gutentag told them that hundreds of millions of dollars are transferred by Israel's government to the Palestinian Authority's bank accounts, with no legal obligation to do so on her part.
This, despite the PA's numerous struggles against Israel in various arenas, such as boycotting Israeli goods, an attempt to drum up an academic boycott, legal battles against IDF senior officers and the like.
Gutentag told Arutz-7's Shimon Cohen a few of the examples he showed the startled Knesset Members. "I want to emphasize that all my data have been collected exclusively from official sources of the State of Israel," he said, "such as the Foreign Ministry, Finance Ministry, and the like."
Gutentag explained that the Paris Agreement of 1994 - the short name for the Protocol on Economic Relations between the Government of Israel and the PLO Representing the Palestinian Nation [sic] - obligates the State of Israel to transfer to the PA the VAT (value added taxes) that she collects on behalf of the PA. Israel, however, has chosen to transfer "a few hundred millions more than we collect… The Finance Minister, or someone else, is apparently interested in strengthening the PA's economy, so they get hundreds of millions more than necessary."
In addition, Gutentag points out, there are VAT charges that the PA is supposed to collect for Israel that Israel doesn't even bother to charge for. "Israel never charged the PA for the VAT it was supposed to collect for [Israel] when Israeli-Arabs purchase goods in Jenin, Shechem or Tulkarem. These sums add up to millions."
And that's not all. Gutentag also told the Knesset committee that the State of Israel has decided to let some PA merchants carry out business deals without tax invoices. It is thus impossible to supervise the scope of business deals in which they are engaged, nor the amount of VAT that should have gone to the Israeli treasury.
Another issue Gutentag spoke of is that of National Insurance. The National Insurance treasury holds money that is supposed to be transferred to PA residents formerly employed in Israel. Normally, when this situation comes up between countries, the country owing the money hands it over to the worker himself after he has properly identified himself. Not so between the PA and the State of Israel, however. Gutentag explained that instead of giving the money to each individual employee, Israel transfers the total sum it owes to the PA's treasury, counting on the PA to locate the person, identify him and pay him. If the person is not found, the money stays in the PA's treasury.
The bottom line, Gutentag says, is that there is no supervision over the PA's search for the rightful owners of the money, and so it can never be known if the money was ever transferred – or if it simply remained in the PA treasury. "Once the sum has been transferred to the PA treasury," Gutentag continues, "no one can demand it back - and no one does."
These are but a few examples in a long list of fund transfers, or non-transfers, Gutentag said, "and they are a central part of the PA budget - a budget founded on money from Israel and from donating countries. These funds allow the PA to use its other financial reserves to finance its struggle against Israel."
How did the MKs react to his report? "They were shocked and had nothing to say," Gutentag answered. "The only one to regain composure, in fact, was MK Chaim Oron [of the left-wing Meretz party], who said that if MK Uri Ariel (National Union) would agree to accept the Oslo Agreements as a political basis, he would agree to an Israeli demand for the return of these funds, in accordance with the Oslo Agreements.
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel is now working on a detailed and precise report of the above details, and plans to distribute it to the Knesset Members and government decision makers.
4. Israeli Firm Develops 'Stealth Paint' for Aircraft
by Hana Levi Julian
Shades of Star Trek's Romulan cloaking device: The Israel Air Force may soon be flying under the radar – even when it isn't – thanks to a new “stealth paint” developed with nanotechnology.
The science of the material is, in fact, not so far a stretch from the famed classic American sci-fi television series, in which the cloaking device caused spaceships to become invisible to parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The Israel-based Nanoflight firm has just completed trials on a special paint that can make an aerial vehicle nearly undetectable by radar. It won't make it impossible, but it will certainly make the task infinitely more difficult, due to the qualities of the paint, which makes it appear as if the aircraft is some other object in the surrounding environment.
The cost-benefit ratio is also a major plus: a U.S.-made Stealth plane costs in the vicinity of $5 billion. “Stealth paint” costs considerably less.
A successful test run of the technology was completed this week, with a thin layer of the paint spread over dummy missiles. Radar waves aimed at the “missiles” had a tough time finding them, and could not identify them as missiles.
This is how it works. Any object coated with the paint is enveloped by the nanotechnology used to produce the material. When electromagnetic waves are sent out by radar to sense whatever is entering its defense field, those radio waves are absorbed by the painted object, and then subsequently released back into the atmosphere as heat energy.
The changed electromagnetic waves return to their source, which would normally register the distance of the object, as with sonar in a medical ultrasound test, but there aren't enough of them to make an identification on a radar screen.
“Stealth paint” can also be used for other purposes according to the firm, which is also working on an application that will work with infrared, so that soldiers won't be visible on night-vision goggles.
The technology is useful for civilian applications as well. The material might in future be used to prevent pollution through its absorption and transformation properties, said Nanoflight CEO Ricardo Burstein. Guardrails along the main streets of Ramat Gan are being painted with the material in an experiment to see whether it will help eliminate air pollution generated by passing vehicles, he said. Another application of the technology might be to prevent the radiation emitted by electrical transformers from reaching homes and schools.
5. Hamas Panicked When Israel Eased Blockade
by Hana Levi Julian
Israel's decision to ease its blockade on Gaza has had an odd effect on the region: it has apparently thrown Gaza retailers into a panic, causing them to pressure their rulers.
As a result, the Hamas terrorist organization is fighting the implementation of the crossing agreements proposed by the Palestinian Authority and Israel. This, despite years of bitter complaints from Hamas, albeit unsubstantiated, that the blockade by Israel was causing a humanitarian crisis in the region.
According to the Gaza-based Al Ayyam newspaper, clothing retailers are claiming that rather than a lack, there is now an overabundance of selections in their market.
The problem is that since Hamas has not paid salaries, there are few customers available to buy the goods.
Soft drink manufacturers and those in the furniture industry are also complaining, as they don't want to compete with the lower prices of Israeli goods.
Both have called on the de facto Hamas government to prevent the entry of Israeli products, citing their ability to meet the needs of the local market themselves and fears they may have to close their factories if they cannot meet the competition.
Due to the goods that continue to be “imported” through the Gaza smuggler tunnels, as well as those that enter the region by truck, there is now a surplus of products in the small market.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed the agreement is “part of the plot by Israelis, Arabs and Europeans to restore the rule of the [Fatah-led] Palestinian Authority in Gaza.”
Aid to Gaza Up by 60%
While Hamas backpedals on its claims that Israel has been starving its population by limiting the flow of aid through the crossings, the new policy change has resulted in what Gaza retailers are calling a glut of goods in the region.
Data gleaned from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (CoGAT) for June showed a 60 percent increase in aid transferred from Israel to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing.
A new joint task force comprised of personnel from the Palestinian Authority and the IDF's CoGAT was created to oversee the policy changes and work on advancing coordinated projects to be supervised by the international community. The task force also continues to work on finding ways to increase the capacity of goods being transferred daily through the crossings, according to a statement from the IDF Spokesman's Office.
More than 3,000 trucks crossed into Gaza through Kerem Shalom and the Karni Crossing last month. In addition, the Jewish State continued to supply the region with heating gas (4 million liters), cooking gas (4,000 tons) and diesel fuel (approximately 600,000 liters).
Some 2,500 PA residents of Gaza entered Israel as well during the month of June, passing through the Erez Crossing, which is specifically intended for human traffic. The number is a 25 percent jump over previous figures.
In total, the number of trucks making their way into Gaza through the Israeli crossings has increased by 12 percent, according to the CoGAT.
6. Tapes Show that GSS Incited Perlman to Murder
by Hillel Fendel
The much-publicized arrest on Wednesday of Chaim Perlman, 30, has set off a chain of events that has left the Shabak (Internal Security Agency, or ISA) very much on the defensive.
Perlman is a member of the religious-Zionist Givat Washington community near the coastal city of Ashdod. Following the arrest, it was said in the name of "sources close to Perlman" that he has evidence proving that the ISA tried to goad him into carrying out illegal acts.
Soon afterwards, the ISA came out with a response.
"Perlman was arrested on charges of having perpetrated serious crimes," the ISA stated, "including two murders and additional attacks against Arabs." Specifically, Perlman is suspected of having stabbed eight Arabs in the Meah She'arim section of Jerusalem over the course of a year in 1998 and 1999. It is suspected that the attacks were motivated by the terrorist murders of two religious men, David Katorza in Ramat Shlomo and Chaim Kramer in the Old City.
The ISA further says that Perlman was found after months of intelligence efforts, which included "a number of meetings held by ISA agents with him a number of months ago, and other intelligence-gathering activities – all with the purpose of gathering more information about him. During these meetings, the suspicions against him received corroboration."
"Any claim attributing to the ISA an attempt to entrap him is totally groundless," the ISA statement.
Tapes Tell Different Story
Tapes recorded by Perlman himself during the meetings, however, appear to paint a different picture. Arutz-7's Uzi Baruch read the transcripts, and noted that in one of the conversations, the ISA agent attempted to convince Perlman to perpetrate a "small fireworks display in an Arab village." Perlman is heard rejecting the idea: "Go with the right people, and it will work," he says.
In another conversation, the agent tried to persuade Perlman to attack Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement. "We'll go to one of the villages in the north," the agent said. "Someone like Raed Salah – we'll give him a fireburst and the chances are that he will be killed… It is most likely that the driver will be killed. You have to empty out a magazine or place a bomb in the car."
Another agent told Perlman at different times, "I would have killed all those on the [Turkish flotilla ship] Marmari… I would be willing to sit in jail for getting [Arab MK] Taleb A-Sana."
Difference Between 'Getting Him to Talk' and 'Inciting to Murder'
Sources close to Perlman said the ISA took advantage of his financial straits and paid him 1,500 shekels per meeting. "The ISA has crossed all red lines," the source said. "There's a difference between sending someone to get a suspect to talk, and sending someone to try to get him to commit murder… The ISA is under pressure now because the tapes with the conversations have been disseminated, and it has no way of getting them back."
7. 'Zoom in on Pain': Terror Victims' Photography Exhibit at Rambam
by Gil Ronen
A exhibition of 26 photos taken by victims of Arab terror attacks opened this week at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. The photographs were taken by 17 terror victims who participated in a special three month long photography course offered by Rambam's social service in cooperation with Operation Embrace.
While Israel has known savage terror attacks by Arab murderers since its inception, nothing had prepared it for the massive, organized terror onslaught that began in 2000 and lasted several years, orchestrated by Palestinian Authority chief Yasser Arafat, a lifelong terrorist whom the Israeli government had welcomed into Judea, Samaria and Gaza in the conviction he had turned into a peacemaker.
Israelis soon became acquainted with a series of ghoulish terror militias that vied with each other over the number of innocent Jewish men, women and children they could kill and maim. Terrorists easily infiltrated Israel's major cities and carried out suicide attacks against civilians in buses, hotels, restaurants and shopping malls. Day after day, newscasts reported fresh lists of names of people who were killed: families on holiday outings; tourists at a Passover Seder; youth outside a discotheque; men, women and children on buses, who were instantly turned into charred and bleeding corpses.
While the number of that war's victims is larger than in some of the other wars in Israel's history, the war does not even have an official name yet. It is referred to by some as the “Second Intifadah” – an Arabic phrase that is preferred by the war's perpetrators – and by others as the Oslo War, after the agreements that allowed the terrorist infrastructure to enter Judea, Samaria and Gaza and organize there.
The workshop was taught by photographer Gustavo Hochman.
Selected photographs:
"Things one sees from here, one does not see from there.” Photographer: Carmit Ron, who lost her entire family in the attack on the Matza Restaurant, March 31 2002. Carmit lost her husband, Aviel Ron; her daughter Anat, 21; and her son Ofer, who was 17.
"Yefeh Nof boardwalk in the Carmel." Photographer: Gideon Zilberstein, who lost his wife in the attack on the Maxim Restaurant on October 4 2003.
"Enjoying Life” and “Beauty on an Overcast Day” by Giora Bernstein, who was wounded when a bus in front of the one he was driving exploded on December 2, 2001. 17 people were killed in the attack.
"Overcast Winter Day” by Leah Lichterman. Leah's son Gideon was killed when Arab gunmen ambushed his car on May 5 1983. His daughter was hit in the head and has rehabilitated herself, and another soldier was badly hurt and is still in the process of rehabilitation.
“Peace and Tranquility on the Beach,” by Margalit Elmakayes. In the attack on the Maxim Restaurant on October 4, 2003, she lost her daughter, Keren, a grandson aged 4 and a granddaughter aged 14 months, her son in law and his mother.
“Life on the Horizon,” by Shimon Elmakayes. In the attack on the Maxim Restaurant on October 4, 2003, he lost his daughter, Keren, a grandson aged 4 and a granddaughter aged 14 months, his son-in-law and his son-in-law's mother.
Two photographs by Nurit Menchel, who lost her daughter, Danielle, 22, in the Matza Restaurant massacre, March 31 2002.
“When the beauty of the landscape hits us” and “Street photograph of a resting man,” by Vered Ben-Ami. She suffered emotional trauma during a missile attack in the Second Lebanon War.
Photograph by Yehoshua Eckst:
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