{"id":110133,"date":"2024-01-23T18:05:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T16:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=110133"},"modified":"2024-01-23T11:06:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T09:06:00","slug":"23-05-92","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=110133","title":{"rendered":"A Second Exile"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>A Second Exile<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

CAROL UNGAR<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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An Israeli woman soldier cries as she evacuates a Jewish settler child from an apartment building in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel\u2019s peace treaty with Egypt, 1982 \/ MIKI TZARFATI\/GPO\/GETTY IMAGES<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

For Israelis who previously evacuated their homes in Sinai or Gaza, leaving their new homes in northern and southern Israel during the current war against Hamas feels like d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu<\/strong><\/span>.<\/h4>\n
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For over a quarter-million Israelis, Oct. 7 didn\u2019t only signal the start of a war. It was also the day they realized they\u2019d have to leave their homes<\/a>. Some of them had a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu. They had been exiled from their homes before.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For Pnina Rogolsky, this evacuation brought back memories of the spring of 1982, when she lost her home in southern Sinai after Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dreaming of a quiet agrarian life, Rogolsky and her husband had moved to the Yamit<\/a> settlement bloc in the early 1970s in response to a government call to settle the Sinai, which had come under Israeli control after the Six-Day War in 1967. They joined a brand new moshav near Yamit called Netiv HaAsara<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe Jewish Agency gave us a tract of land and a tractor, which we shared with another family,\u201d Rogolsky told me. \u201cWe grew tomatoes, mangoes, and flowers. I had my first baby. We were all young. We helped each other out. We socialized. It was a good life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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She didn\u2019t expect it all to end, and certainly not so quickly. \u201cWhen the talk started about a peace treaty with Egypt, we assumed that we\u2019d remain in our homes,\u201d she said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think we\u2019d give back Sinai.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Initially, Rogolsky and the other Sinai settlers fought the plan. \u201cWe lobbied Knesset members, we demonstrated, we even burned tires,\u201d she recalled. But by the spring of 1982, she said, the battle was lost: \u201cWe left our moshav in a caravan with our lights on as if we were on the way to a funeral.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rogolsky and her family\u2014along with the other 70 families who evacuated the moshav in the Sinai\u2014helped to reestablish the moshav, also called Netiv HaAsara<\/a>, in what they hoped was a more secure location just outside the Gaza Strip.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Starting again wasn\u2019t easy. \u201cLosing our moshav in the Sinai felt like losing a limb,\u201d said Rogolsky. \u201cSome of our people could barely function.\u201d But Rogolsky, who was then in her 30s, felt compelled to pull herself together. \u201cWorking the land helped me to heal,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Then came the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, when terrorists killed 20 members<\/a> of the moshav. Rogolsky and her husband were in another part of the country visiting friends, but her son was at the moshav leading the security team. Fortunately he survived the attack. Rogolsky has been back several times since Oct. 7 \u201cto visit and to do laundry,\u201d she said; her husband goes back more frequently to tend to the family\u2019s chicken coop. But neither of them stays for long.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Netiv HaAsara is in its second exile, its 900 residents scattered in hotels and apartments throughout central Israel. Rogolsky lives in the Yearim Hotel in the Judean Hills just outside of Jerusalem with several dozen of her neighbors, most of them like herself in their 70s and 80s, but it\u2019s far from ideal.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The first days were the hardest, she said: \u201cThat whole first week we went from funeral to funeral, shiva to shiva.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Once again, Rogolsky has found comfort in work. Instead of farming, she helped to set up a program of activities at her hotel. \u201cWe play bridge. We do yoga and pilates. We go on trips. We keep ourselves busy,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As for returning to the moshav, Rogolsky is dubious: \u201cEverything we built over 40 years seems like it\u2019s going to vanish. We need a lot of strength and help to return to normal life. We aren\u2019t living a normal life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Being younger doesn\u2019t necessarily make the transition easier. For Raaya Manshari and Hila Buskila\u2014both 30-somethings and both former Gaza envelope residents now relocated to Jerusalem-area hotels\u2014Oct. 7 brings back memories of a more recent evacuation: the 2005 disengagement when the Israeli government relinquished control of Gaza and dismantled the settlements of Gush Katif.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Manshari, a kindergarten teacher, was 16 when her family left the Gush Katif town of Atzmona. Buskila, a social worker and stylist, was a young bride with a new baby when her family had to leave their home in Nisanit<\/a>. Even now, both still mourn the charmed lives they remember having in Gaza. \u201cOur lives were so good that we never believed it would end,\u201d said Manshari.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Israeli Border Police accompany a woman and her children during the evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Palm Beach Hotel in Gush Katif, 2005<\/em><\/span>
\nSHAUL SCHWARZ\/GETTY IMAGES<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Both remember holding out until the last possible moment, not wanting to leave. \u201cWe didn\u2019t think it would happen,\u201d recalled Buskila. \u201cWe were expecting a miracle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Although the 2005 Gaza disengagement was marked by loud protest, which nearly slid into violence, both women left their homes peacefully.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe allowed the soldiers into our homes. We prayed with them. We recited psalms together,\u201d said Buskila. \u201cThey helped us to take down our mezuzahs, and they helped us to pack.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Even after they closed their doors, they hoped that their departure would be temporary. \u201cWe packed only for a few days,\u201d said Manshari. \u201cWe were convinced that the government\u2019s decision was so illogical that they would walk it back.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Like Rogolsky, the Gush Katif evacuees found the first days the most challenging. \u201cWe did a lot of crying\u201d recalled Manshari, noting that even after the tears had dried, they struggled: \u201cIt took us a long time to find our place. We were always looking for Atzmona.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Manshari married a man from Gush Katif and moved to Moshav Shlomit in the Gaza envelope because it shared Atzmona\u2019s sandy landscape. \u201cIn place of the sea, however, there was Gaza,\u201d she noted. Buskila moved to Moshav Shokeida, 31 miles away from Manshari\u2019s moshav.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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On the morning of Oct. 7, both women awoke to the sound of guns and missile fire. They had heard missile fire before\u2014the Gaza envelope had suffered hundreds of missile attacks\u2014but this was different.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe booms were louder than anything I ever heard,\u201d said Manshari. While her husband left to fight the terrorists, Manshari barricaded herself in her safe room together with her four children. \u201cWe played games, we ate sweets, and we recited psalms.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Buskila also spent the day in her safe room with her children while her husband kept watch from the roof of their home. Miraculously, the terrorists skipped over their moshavim. Nevertheless, war had started, and the following day they were ordered to evacuate.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe had 10 minutes to get ready,\u201d Manshari said. \u201cI thought we\u2019d be gone for two or three days. That\u2019s how I packed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t know where we were going or for how long,\u201d said Buskila.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Both women joined their neighbors driving out in a convoy. Still, the journey was terrifying. The road had yet to be cleared from the debris of the massacre. \u201cWe saw dead bodies and burned-out cars,\u201d said Buskila. \u201cIt was hard to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Even with a military escort, it wasn\u2019t clear that the road was safe. \u201cI was afraid that the terrorists would shoot at us as we left,\u201d said Manshari.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Both women joined residents of their respective moshavim at field schools in central Israel. Both reported that they were well treated. \u201cPeople brought us whatever we needed,\u201d said Buskila.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Still, the experience hurts, said Manshari: \u201cI feel like a leaf that had fallen off of a tree.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Buskila says that she\u2019s found relief by talking to other members of her community: \u201cEveryone told their story of Oct. 7,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that really helped us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Like Rogolsky, Buskila and Manshari now live in hotels in the Judean Hills outside of Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThe hotel looks after us very well, but I feel like I\u2019m in a golden cage,\u201d said Manshari. \u201cIt\u2019s noisy. And there\u2019s no privacy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gaza envelope residents have been going back to visit. Buskila reports that she and some of her neighbors have returned for overnight stays and even for Shabbat, but not more than that.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe want to go back to our lives, to heal from Oct. 7,\u201d Buskila said. \u201cOur communities are not livable. Schools aren\u2019t open. And you hear constant noises of war.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s likely that many months will pass before they go home. Recently, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the IDF spokesman have stated that the war will continue<\/a> through 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While all three women strongly support the war, they blame Israeli government policies, particularly the 2005 disengagement, as the reasons for their present predicament. \u201cThe disengagement allowed Hamas to build up,\u201d said Buskila. \u201cI believe it led us to Oct. 7.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Rogolsky, who had once supported the Gaza withdrawal, concurs: \u201cWe thought having the army out of the Gaza Strip would lead to peace. We got it back in our faces.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Manshari expressed a tentative, albeit mystical, optimism. \u201cIt\u2019s 19 years from the disengagement. It took us 19 years to liberate the Kotel and return it to Gush Etzion<\/a>,\u201d she said, referring to the period between Israel\u2019s 1948 War of Independence and the Six-Day War in 1967. \u201cMaybe this time we will free Gush Katif.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Carol Ungar\u2019s<\/strong> writing has appeared in Next Avenue, Forbes, NPR, the Jerusalem Post Magazine, and Fox News. She also leads memoir writing workshops on Zoom.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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A Second Exile CAROL UNGAR An Israeli woman soldier cries as she evacuates a Jewish settler child from an apartment building in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel\u2019s peace treaty with Egypt, 1982 \/ MIKI TZARFATI\/GPO\/GETTY IMAGES For Israelis who previously evacuated their homes in Sinai or Gaza, leaving their new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=110133"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110181,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110133\/revisions\/110181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=110133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=110133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=110133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}