1 226 Chapter Sixteen| Regrowth With a clear mission to assist the evacuated residents of Gush Ka�f, several MKs and business people stepped up, ensuring a peaceful transi�on and a return to normalcy. They put pressure on the Israeli government and its advisors to advance the issues of the evacuees and help them with rehabilita�on and hope for a be�er future. The most prominent among them were Minister Uri Ariel, Chairman of the Legal Forum, Adv. Itzhak Miron, a member of the forum, Adv. Yossi Fuchs, and MK, Col. Amira Dotan, who pushed to establish a State Commission of Inquiry.37 The State Commission of Inquiry was established in 2010. It concluded that "inep�tude was the quintessen�al feature throughout handling the evacuees, in all government offices, and especially in their failure to communicate with each other appropriately. The human dimension was not part of the equa�on, and the evacuees were excluded from the decision-making or caretaking processes. A change in the government's approach was only no�ceable a�er the commi�ee published its conclusions and pledged to treat the evacuees as an urgent na�onal mission of the highest priority.38 Thanks to the commi�ee's conclusions, the construc�on of se�lements and public buildings was accelerated, the Ta'asuKa�f associa�on received government support for its con�nued economic contribu�on and finding employment for the uprooted, and generally, all aspects of addressing the residents' needs were greatly augmented. Undoubtedly, the leadership and all those who lent a helping hand reassured the former residents of Gush Ka�f. S�ll, most of their growth and rehabilita�on, the strength to overcome despair and anger and move on to ac�ng and giving, came from the residents themselves, from the strengths with which they came to Gush Ka�f, fought for it, and le� broken and hurt. The community, brotherhood and pride in their shared mission filled everyone's heart. It encouraged them to stay together, rebuild everything from scratch, grow stronger in their faith and love for the people and the country, never stop dreaming of the home that is no more, and feed the hope to return to it one day. Gush Ka�f was destroyed, but its spirit and scent did not disappear. On the contrary, they took on other dimensions and a different look, addressing the general public and the physical and spiritual wastelands across Israel. A journey of reacquaintance and engagement with various types of people in Israel's ci�es and small se�lements.39 22 new se�lements were established - an unusual phenomenon in the State of Israel for decades, all thanks to the tremendous determina�on and strength of Gush Ka�f residents, who were uprooted from their homes. The strength of the communi�es in Gush Ka�f empowered renewal, building new communi�es with new goals and different composi�ons, but with the same Torah that incorporates Gush Ka�f's ethics, ac�on, and moving forward in faith and op�mism.40 1 Back to cul�va�ng crops in the Negev, growing carrots
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