.
Commentary;
My Beit Knesset’s learning program has recently featured a 1 hour daily Torah Ulpan for learning conversational Iv’rit in a contect of learning the Rambam’s Hichos Teshuva.
During one of the first classes, we discussed the concept of sincere, honest, heart-felt regret of wrong-doing and the will to change one’s ways. This discussion brought to mind the contrast between sincere, honest, heart-felt regret of wrong-doing and superficial “regret.”
The recent expressions of regret by a female former soldier for her role in the expulsion, as stated in an email, contrasts with expressions by Israel’s governing leaders, i.e. words of former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer who basically admits that the expulsion was a mistake, but who still “hopes Israel will leave territories as soon as possible.”
- A former Prime Minister who executed the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and 4 Shomron towns lays in a 2 1/2 year coma — coincidence?
- A police commander is sacked 3 years after his police command role in the expulsion — coincidence?
- A Chief of Staff, the commander of the army which expelled Jews from their homes resigns in disgrace over the debacle this blog calls the Lebanon conflict — coincidence?
And these are but a few such coincidences. Arguably, there are countless more such “coincidences.”
This contrast is used to segue into the fact that Israel’s governance never-ever sees the political, diplomatic and moral wrongs of its anti-Torah ways and the personal and national consequences of their wrongs.
Indeed, there are those political elitists among us, such as Yair Lapid who overlook and bald-facedly deny any connection with the Jewish historical connection with Yehuda and Shomron. For Lapid, “Settlers who shun ‘values’ that hold us together show that ‘West Bank’ isn’t Israel.” For Lapid, mind-police and squelching those who cleave to Jewish Land is “moral”, is “Israeli.”
Prime Minister Olmert is set to introduce plans for a 2nd “disengagement” at Sunday’s upcoming cabinet meeting; shelter against any thought that Attorney General Mazuz would indict him for all of his personal corruption, graft and influence-peddling.
At Sunday’s cabinet meeting, as Olmert presents plans for a “compensation” program for those who voluntarily leave their homes and towns in Yehuda and the Shomron, it is important to keep in mind the credibility, or lack thereof, of the presenters and expeditors of such a program.
Therefore, the Jerusalem Post editorial below, as well a sampling of other related blog posts on the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif are must-reading for all who share true Jewish values, principles and morality. MB
Mission Unaccomplished (Jerusalem Post Editorial)
Excerpts;
Sigal Barda lived in the Gaza Strip community of Elei Sinai for 15 years. Her husband is a policeman, which tipped the scales three years ago in their decision to cooperate with the authorities during the disengagement. She also did not want her children to be traumatized by a forcible expulsion.
From the start, the Bardas cooperated with the system – unlike some settlers who initially refused to play any role in facilitating their removal.
Yet even for the Bardas, not much went right. There was nowhere to put them up initially; and promised housing in Kibbutz Or Haner never materialized.
The Disengagement Authority, known as Sela, charged with relocating and rehabilitating as many as 10,000 evacuees from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria, haggled over every aspect of compensation – as if the Bardas were out to exploit the state. Even the monthly cost of warehousing their possessions was deducted from their compensation package.
They were eventually put up in a trailer at Kibbutz Karmiya, pending the construction of new homes at Moshav Talmei Yaffe. These have not materialized because of bureaucratic snafus, and the kibbutz has repeatedly tried to eject them and other evacuees.
Barda says she “never imagined that law-abiding citizens, who lost everything one day through no fault of their own, would encounter such hardheartedness. For three years we have existed without hope in cramped, temporary accommodations, with Kassams fired at us from the ruins of our destroyed homes. We did our share. Why can’t the state live up to its obligations?”
SELA WAS to have served as a central clearinghouse for the evacuees, a multi-service agency that would cut through the red tape so families wouldn’t have to run from one ministry to another for assistance as they tried to rebuild their lives.
Unfortunately, Sela did not have the clout it needed to get the job done. Of an estimated 1,667 families removed from Gush Katif, 1,405 remain in transitory lodgings. Only seven of 24 projected new settlements are reportedly under construction. And only 50 of 400 farmers received some kind of land to work, and few are back in business. Of 3,500 working people, 822 remain jobless. Most others earn a fraction of their previous income. Independently employed entrepreneurs went broke. Communities which strove to resettle together are still unable to do so.
As early as 2006, the state comptroller reported that Sela was “a crushing failure.” Today, the comptroller supports establishing a state commission of inquiry into the treatment of the evacuees, a step recently approved by the Knesset Control Committee.
MISSION not accomplished, Sela has been slated to be disbanded by the end of 2009. It is being closed at the request of the Finance Ministry to save money, and legislation to that effect is included in the 2009 budget. Whatever contracts and agreements are still pending with the evacuees, and with the regional councils or communities into which they are to be absorbed, had better be concluded by the end of 2009 or they will be passed to another governmental body.
Its faults notwithstanding, Sela was at least an address for the uprooted settlers. Now they will have to take their problems to various ministries – Housing, Agriculture, Welfare, Health and Justice, to name a few.
The argument has been made that, at this stage, these ministries might actually be better positioned to deliver where Sela could not. Perhaps.
If the Treasury will not salvage Sela and give it the wherewithal to finish the job, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert needs to immediately direct each ministry to appoint an ombudsman to be responsible for disengagement issues – someone on the inside who knows how to get things done. That should be implemented sooner rather than later for a smooth transition.
There also needs to be an official in the Prime Minister’s Office to keep the big picture in view and coordinate the work of the various ministries involved.
On August 22, 2005 this newspaper editorialized against the “institutional callousness, bureaucratic run-arounds and official hardheartedness” facing those who lost their homes in disengagement’s wake. Out of simple human decency and for the sake of the political system’s credibility, the travails of the uprooted must end.