1 2 3 4 12 13 Chapter Three | The Se�lement in Gaza From the Beginning of Zionism Un�l the Six Day War (1967) Chapter Three The Se�lement in Gaza from the Beginning of Zionism un�l the Six-Day War (1967) It is unclear exactly when the Jews returned to Gaza. In the year 5703 (1942) Yitzhak Ben-Zvi wrote that he had learned that already in 5630-5632 (1870-1872) Jews were living in Gaza.1 In his book 'She'ar Yishuv [English: The Remainder of the Se�lements] he wrote that the first se�lers were two Western Jews who came to buy a plant growing in that region.2 Yehi'el Brill, editor of the newspaper 'Ha-Levanon,' who visited Gaza in 1883, told that the se�lement was renovated a year earlier: Last year, four families from these Mala clan se�led there, who came from Southern Russia to the Holy Land. These people were merchants or procurers in their homeland and immigrated to the Holy Land, to become farmers... As I passed through the streets of the city, I came across one street called 'Harat al-Yehud' and I recognized by the mezuzahs on the doors of the houses where the mezuzah was fixed. I also saw the place where the synagogue of the Jews used to stand, and now the Catholic monks are building there a shelter for themselves. Between the stones the diggers had found for the sake of construc�ng the house, I saw a marble stone pillar, inscribed with these words: 'The angel who redeems me from all evil, shall make me worthy of ascending to Jerusalem.' 3 The Establishment of a Jewish Se�lement Nucleus in Gaza In 5645 (1885), in the midst of the first aliyah, Israel Ze'ev (Wolf) Kalonimus Wissotzky (07/08/1824 - 05/24/1904), one of the leaders of the Lovers of Zion (Hovevei Zion) movement in Russia and the famous tea merchant, whose name is associated with the tea industry un�l today, had paid a visit to Gaza. Wissotzky roamed the land, toured its colonies, promised and assisted to the best of his ability, and he came up with a 'revolu�onary' idea - to establish urban Jewish se�lements in Arab ci�es like Lod, Nazareth, Nablus, Gaza, Ramla and Bethlehem.4 This was a�er he realized that the agricultural se�lements established when the first aliya commenced did not provide a suitable solu�on for the livelihood of the many immigrants from Russia.5 Wissotzky presented his proposal to key figures in the Jewish community in Jaffa and Jerusalem. In two meetings he held with them, it was agreed that the first three cities to which the settlements' nuclei would embark ("minyan" in the parlance of the time) would be Gaza, Lod and Nablus. The first nucleus went out to Lod at the beginning of 5646 (1886). A few months later, another nucleus left for Nablus and completed the tiny Jewish settlement that was already there. 6 The nucleus that went to Gaza was the largest of them all. It was headed by Avraham Chaim Shlush and Hacham Nissim Elkayam, son of Rabbi Moshe Elkayam - one of the heads of the Jaffa community. In 5647 (end of 1886) they were already more than 30 Jewish families in Gaza. The Jews in Gaza made their living from stores and traveling shops. Everyone made a decent living and led a prosperous life. The settlement in Gaza was very religious. It had two butchers, a rabbi who also taught in 'Talmud Torah', its own cemetery and Mikveh (Jewish Ritual Bathing Place).7 In 5668 (1908), Hacham Elkayam visited Jerusalem and met with Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. The latter suggested to Elkayam to establish a modern Hebrew school in Gaza like in Jerusalem and Jaffa.8 When Elkayam presented Ben-Yehuda's proposal to the residents of Gaza, public opinion was split between detractors and supporters. Elkayam, who supported the proposal, convinced most people to follow him, and with the help of Ben-Yehuda, two teachers arrived in Gaza. 9 The first Hebrew school in Gaza became a reality on the 14th of Iyar, 5670 (1910).10 The extensive trade in Gaza required a banking institution, and in 5674 (1914) a bank's branch was founded in Gaza, following the initiative of David Levontin, who was the manager of AP Bank (The Anglo-Palestine Co., which was the predecessor of Bank Leumi Le Israel). Avraham Elmaleh was appointed bank manager, after serving previously as the Rabbinate's secretary and principal of the Jewish public schools in Damascus.11 At the end of that year, WW I broke out. When the Turks saw the British army approaching from Egypt toward the Gaza area, they hurried to deport all the city's inhabitants, including the Jews. Some of the Jews were even deported outside the borders of the Land of Israel. This is how the colonies' author, Moshe Smilansky, described it: There were only several Jewish families in Gaza. When the war broke out, they were scattered here and there. Only three families remained until the deportation. One of them did not forget the tradition of its ancestors: They could not save their property, but they did save three Torah scrolls which they took with them from the turmoil.12 Thus, another chapter of Jewish settlement in Gaza, which lasted for 50 years, came to its end. The Last Decade - Between War and Riots When WWI ended, the Bri�sh established their rule (mandate) in the Land of Israel. The Jews welcomed them enthusias�cally. The Arabs of Gaza returned to their homes. At the beginning of 5680 (1919), the Jewish se�lement in Gaza also started to recover, li�le by li�le. During those years, the heads of the Yishuv's ins�tu�ons in the Land of Israel, and Chaim Weizmann, head of the 'Zionist Commission' among them, were not as enthusias�c about the renewal of the Jewish se�lement in Gaza.13 This was both because they did not perceive the importance of establishing Jewish se�lements in Arab ci�es,14 and because the renovated se�lement was not a con�nua�on of the previous one15 and required re-establishment and new budgets. 1 Hacham Nissim Elkayam 2 The Margolin family against the background of Gaza houses 3 The Margolin family in Gaza 4 A visit to the Elkayam family home in Gaza - from right to le�: Yosef Margolin, Mordechai Elkayam and Issachar Goldert, researcher of Gazan History (courtesy of Mordechai Elkayam)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=