3 5 4 1 2 80 81 Chapter Five | The Se�lements In my imagina�on, I have drawn a genuine fishing village Mali Halimi: When we arrived here, we thought it would be a genuine fishing village, that's what I pictured in my head. Later, the people here worked in fishing, together with the Arabs. It stopped when the security situa�on worsened. When we came to live here, we were promised that within two years, the se�lement would be built. It took 13 years, eventually. Migra�on to the place occurred on the 20th of Iyar 5750 (05/15/1990) .1 The inten�on to turn Dugit into a se�lement whose main livelihood came from fishing, did not materialize. In Av of 5751 (August 1991), a year and a half a�er its establishment, 15 families resided in Dugit, of which only four were engaged in fishing.2 Un�l 1999, the residents fought for the establishment of a permanent se�lement right on the beach. That struggle delayed construc�on in Dugit. On the 18th of Cheshvan 5759 (11/03/1998), the Minister of Defense, Yitzhak Mordechai, visited the site where the permanent se�lement of Dugit was to be constructed, and let the residents understand that he was going to approve the permanent se�lement. However, he resigned from his posi�on shortly a�er, and his subs�tute, Moshe Arens, delayed his decision. On the 18th of Shevat 5759 (02/04/1999), at the end of Netanyahu's first government, the secretary of the se�lement, Aryeh Shitrit, sent a le�er to Defense Minister Moshe Arens, where he asked to speed up the establishment of the permanent se�lement: "I am turning to you, sir, from the hearts of Dugit residents. Established as a temporary se�lement in 1990, the families here s�ll reside in trailers. There are children here who do not know any other way of living, since they were born in trailers. They are overcrowded and living in them became unbearable. The trailers are 9 years old and are no longer fit for residence."3 On the 2nd of Iyar 5759 (04/18/1999) a mee�ng about Dugit took place at the Prime Minister's Office. At the mee�ng, the se�lers were informed that the land had been allocated for the se�lement, but the plan was not approved by the Southern Command for fear of high Pales�nian sensi�vity following the signing of the Wye River Memorandum for the con�nued withdrawal from Judea, Samaria and Gaza. At the mee�ng, it was agreed that the possibility of ge�ng permission to carry out graded land prepara�on at the northern site designated for the se�lement, near Elei Sinai, would be checked vs. the Ministry of Defense, in a manner that would lay the founda�ons within a small area at each phase, and only if there was no abnormal Pales�nian reac�on, proceed further. Another possibility was to be examined, to place a few trailers on the northern site so as to allow occupying the area in prepara�on for the establishment of a neighborhood. Simultaneously, the possibility of obtaining permits to construct the permanent homes on the se�lement's exis�ng site was to be examined. I was excited by the fishing collabora�on with the Arabs Nir Demari: I heard about Dugit already in 1991, when I was s�ll in the army. As a fisherman and scuba diving guide, I came to see what this place was, and it just 'clicked.' I was excited by the fishing collabora�on between Jews and Arabs, the loca�on of the se�lement and its way of life. In Tevet of 5761 (January 2001), a�er the outbreak of the Oslo war, the Ministry of Defense approved the execu�on of the infrastructure works for the establishment of the permanent se�lement. On the 8th of Nisan 5761 (03/29/2001), the Minister of Defense, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, approved the advancement of Dugit's planning procedures, and the construc�on of 19 housing units.4 In the summer of 5762 (2002), construc�on of the permanent homes began. Ironically, the first two members who started the permanent construc�on were arrested because they violated a military order that prohibited construc�on on the site. Through the efforts of the regional council, they received an excep�onal permit. A year later, the Minister of Defense, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, granted the permits for construc�on, which commenced right away.5 In the summer of 5762 (2001) 20 houses were already standing in Dugit, in various states of construc�on, a few meters away from the trailer site where the residents had been residing for 12 years. Two years later, in the summer of 5764 (2004), all the houses were already finished. At that �me, 17 families resided in Dugit, amoun�ng to 74 individuals, including children. The main source of employment planned for the residents was the sea and everything around it: rescue services, fish ponds, aquaculture, tourism services, fish restaurants and more. The residents' vision was to develop in this direc�on, and create a unique tourism and fishing resort. The fish ponds on the beach were inac�ve for four years, since the outbreak of the Second In�fada, as were the two restaurants built on the beach, one of them a fish restaurant, which was previously bustling with patrons.6 In Av 5765 (August 2005) the se�lement comprised 19 families. Most of Dugit residents le� the se�lement on their own accord during the days that preceded the official evacua�on, and did not wait for the IDF forces, to prevent trauma for them and their children. The last families le� their homes on Monday, the 10th of Av 5765 (08/15/2005)7 . 1 The round house in Dugit 2 Aerial photograph of Dugit 3 Residents a�er successful fishing 4 Going fishing 5 The se�lement's sign
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