6 4 5 1 2 3 74 75 Chapter Five | The Se�lements A se�lement without electricity and water Rachel Ben Shlomi: We arrived in a se�lement that was located nowhere. Sands by the sea and some warehouses. We lived without street lights. We heard stories from the first arrivals who also did not have water, and that strengthened us. Now, it was already possible to call these warehouses, a 'home' - well, sort of. A�er the Oslo Accords, the se�lement was at risk of evic�on. On the 26th of Shevat 5754 (02/07/1994) a mee�ng was held between the representa�ves of Israel and the Pales�nians at the Egyp�an Foreign Ministry, with the par�cipa�on of the then Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, and Yasser Arafat. The Pales�nians demanded that the autonomy border pass along the entrance road to Gush Ka�f. Brigadier General Yom-Tov Samia presented the line of the Planning Division: The road leading from the Gush Ka�f junc�on directly to Tel Ka�fa, including Tel Ka�fa will be inside Israeli territory. Although Arafat did not know the strip at all - it was about six months before he arrived there for the first �me - his people updated him with details about the place, and therefore he said in response: "Tel Ka�fa is not even a se�lement. The government never approved this se�lement. We agreed to leave only se�lements, and Tel Ka�fa is not a se�lement." When Samia reiterated his claim that the government did approve the se�lement, Arafat said: "They did not approve this se�lement. You insist on the place only because Zvi Hendel's daughter lives there." All people present in the room, and Shimon Peres among them, who had no idea what he was talking about, were surprised. Samia was also surprised. He explained to Peres that it was an agricultural farm. Rabin, who later heard the details of the conversa�on, was also surprised. "Is this true?" he asked Zvi Hendel when they met. When Hendel answered in the affirma�ve, Rabin said: "Then, of course we are not taking this place down."2 Five years have passed since the construc�on of Tel Ka�fa, and s�ll stagna�on was in full swing. New families did not come. In 5757 there were s�ll only four families in the se�lement. Although they worked intensively on the absorp�on ma�er, there were no results. Families came, saw and le�. The condi�ons were extremely difficult. People refused to come to a se�lement without water and electricity, without a grocery store and without paths, basically without anything. "When there are be�er condi�ons here, we will come." This phrase has been heard countless �mes from poten�al candidate families. The se�lers knew that with the families would come the development, but it was the a chicken and egg kind of story. The se�lers claimed: a family that sees the trailers in this state, will never come. The council said: First bring families, then we will renovate the trailers. We showered in the water tank, because there was not enough water in the showers Nurit Hendel: Drinking and showering were carried out with the help of a water tank and six taps. The water tank was elevated, and thus drinking water reached the houses, but they were not enough for showers. How did we shower anyway? In the water tank itself, which was surrounded by jute on two sides. A person who wanted to shower went to the water tank, shouted to everyone that he was turning off the water to the houses because he was taking a shower now, turned off the pipe to the houses and turned on the tap. And then, again they would hear him shou�ng - because the water was cold... Since the water tank was surrounded by jute only from two sides, the showers only took place at night. When it got colder, we used to boil water in a pot, and so we poured hot water from the pot and cold water from the water tank on our bodies, to get some warmth. The beau�ful lake located within the area of the se�lement, which resulted from groundwater rising to the surface, was an excellent water source. In the first winter, it was filled with water, which was used to irrigate the crops in the greenhouses. A�er the storm, I was le� with four walls - and no roof Ada Gebel: On Hanukkah of 5763, the secretary of the se�lement called me, while I was studying at the university, and told me that the roof of our trailer flew off. I couldn't believe it because that morning I informed him that the roof was leaking. He told me that it was the truth, and that he had started moving us to another apartment. It turns out that there was a terrible storm coming in from the sea, which blew our roof off. Only a meter-wide roof remained - above the library, and thus it was saved, but the rest of the house was flooded. This was the quality of the trailers we lived in. I returned to the se�lement, to a house with four walls - without a roof, literally. My precious objects were destroyed, like an illustrated inscrip�on that we didn't have �me to frame, and handmade candles�cks. The whole se�lement mobilized, all farmers le� everything and came with their big vehicles to transport all the equipment. The situa�on remains undecided. For five years, the se�lement 'wobbled' around four-five families, and struggled to grow. 3 In Hanukkah 5760 (2000) another group of families (most of them residents of Gush Ka�f) came to the place. But the surge came as a result of the terrorist war that broke out on Rosh Hashanah of 5761. Between 5760 and 5763 (2000-2003), the number of families increased to 16, and construc�on of four more houses began as part of the 'Build Your Home' venture, in addi�on to six houses that the se�lement has built via the Ministry of Housing and rented to families.4 However, some families s�ll resided in the old, 60 sqm warehouses.5 In the summer of 5763 (2003), three more families were absorbed in Tel Ka�fa, bringing their number to 19. At that �me, a daycare center for ten children of different ages, was inaugurated in the se�lement. On the 1st of Elul 5763 (end of August 2003) the family of Rabbi Nadiv and Naama Turgman, who came from Netzarim with their seven children6, arrived at Tel Ka�fa - becoming the 20th family there. The se�lement developed to comprise a mixed secular-religious popula�on.7 In its last year, it included 45 children, and two daycare centers. Buses from the council came to Tel Ka�fa to pick up the younger children and take them to kindergartens in Ka�f and Neve Dekalim, and the older children to schools in Atzmona and Neve Dekalim. 8 In Av of 5765 (August 2005), 23 families lived in the se�lement. Tel Ka�fa was the first se�lement of all the se�lements in the Gaza Strip whose residents were forcibly evacuated on Wednesday, 12th of Av 5765 (08/17/2005), a�er a joint prayer in the playground.9 1 A view of the trailer street in Tel Ka�fa 2 Trailers- a closer look 3 Sunset at Tel Ka�fa 4 The entrance sign to the se�lement 5 The views at Tel Ka�fa 6 Entrance to a house in the se�lement
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgzNzA=