Sergey Kadinsky

Written Works

This article was written in the Summer of 2006, as a Media Fellow at the Jerusalem office of The Israel Project

Daily Life in Israel’s Southern

Border communities

07/18/2006

With the escalation of hostilities against Israel by Hamas on the southern border, and by Hezbollah on the northern border, I knew that the worst possible thing to do was to stay silent, or to flee. As an American student living in Jerusalem, I had to make a statement of solidarity with the defenders of Israeli frontier communities.

This includes not only the soldiers, but also the residents. By building their homes in Sderot, Shaar Hanegev, and Yad Mordechai- they continue to secure the state of Israel through their undeniable presence. Unlike the so-called settlers of the West Bank, their presence is internationally recognized as justified. In all of these communities, I was told stories of how the residents attempted to extend a hand of friendship to their neighbors, only to be answered by the total rejection of their existence. In all these communities, the ability to literally touch the physical borders of Gaza and Lebanon were memorable. On one side, a thriving community that continues to grow in spite of the bombings; while on the other, the result of terrorist regimes paint a landscape of devastation.

School teacher Atara Orenbach was raised in a religious family, and could have easily chosen to raise her family in the settlements. Like many of her coreligionists, she holds strong claims to the land of Israel, but she chose this poor development town in the Negev Desert as an alternative. “This too is part of Israel,” Orenbach stated. This claim goes hand in hand with a sense of purpose. Sderot needed teachers who spoke English and who can teach computer science and Orenbach filled this niche. Within feet of rooftops damaged by Qassam rockets, new construction continues to make its impact on the skyline.

Shaar Hanegev city manager Eliyahu Segal wishes that his job would be about attracting new residents and developing the local infrastructure, but as a result of Hamas, the top concern is responding to security concern. Though the Shaar Hanegev Regional Council is home to only 6,000 permanent residents, when counting workers and students, the number rises to 250,000. Sapir College alone has 7,500 students. Looking to Gaza as a neighbor, Segal points out that prior to the Intifada, he had been in close contact with his counterparts in Gaza City, and that Sapir College included a number of students from Gaza City. According to Segal, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 was justified by demographics, where more than a million Arabs lived alongside 8,000 Israeli settlers. “Their rate of reproduction is great, this is the reality,” Segal states.

North of Gaza is the kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, which was founded in 1943 by the Hashomer Hatzair movement, which sought to create a socialist community in honor of Warsaw Ghetto Revolt leader Mordechai Anielewicz. In 1948, the kibbutz was the site of a fierce battle between its residents and invading Egyptian tanks, which were advancing northward towards the coastal population centers of Ashkelon and Ashdod. As a result of the heroic defense of Yad Mordechai, the Egyptian forces were only able to retain the Gaza Strip. Kibbutz resident Linda Casher describes the kibbutz as one of Israel’s last outposts of socialism. “Most of us are not religious, and our children are still raised in children’s houses,” Casher notes. In regards to their southern neighbor, Casher notes that for most of the Kibbutz’s history, Gaza was not viewed as a threat. In regards to the disengagement, “I fully supported it.” Viewing the notion of long-term occupation of Gaza as too costly, Casher asks, “Why should Israeli soldiers risk their lives for the lives of a few settlers?” At the same time, she points out that she does not speak for her entire family. “My son lives right on the borderline in Netiv Ha’asara, sand he is much more conservative than me on this topic.”

The main attraction in Yad Mordechai is its museum, which was designed by Vilna Ghetto resistance leader Abba Kovner. Following his Aliyah, Kovner wanted to challenge the Israeli public’s assumptions that Jews did not resists during the Holocaust, and that the Jewish culture of pre-war Europe was not worth studying. With every object and photograph in the museum personally chosen by Kovner, there are no depictions of death. Only pictures of a once-vibrant culture, wartime resistance, and the Warsaw Ghetto are presented. The building itself also conforms to the specifications of Kovner- “There are no right angles anywhere,” Casher points out. When the museum opened in 1968, the first visitor was Golda Meir.

Alongside the holocaust exhibits, the museum also highlights the settlement of the border region in the 1940s, including Kfar Darom. Built in 1946 in the Gaza Strip, Kfar Darom was evacuated in 1948 after a three-month siege by Egyptian forces. Rebuilt as a settlement in 1970, it stood isolated. Surrounded by Palestinian-ruled territory on all sides, Kfar Darom was evacuated in August 2005 as part of the disengagement from Gaza. Many of the residents resisted the effort through demonstrations and nonviolent resistance.

Since the return of Israeli forces to Gaza in July, the kibbutz residents recognized that their small plot of paradise was no longer safe. Like Orenbach and Segal, Casher was not born in the region. Emigrating from Baltimore, she fell in love with the kibbutz lifestyle, Casher notes that “For now, the only things in the sky are helicopters and artillery, but there have been occasional Kassams landing in our fields.”

On the Erez Checkpoint, a series of guard posts, walls, and parking facilities were built to expect a large flow of trade. With the exception of smoke across the wall, and occasional bombs dropping, the crossing was nearly abandoned. Large trucks carrying humanitarian aid were the only traffic on the road. Traveling with me was the former managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, Calev ben David, who described his connection to the region. “When I served in Gaza, I also reached the conclusion that we have no business there, surrounded by a million hostile Arabs,” ben David recalls. At the same time, he understands the strong response against Hamas’ campaign of Kassam attacks, “my son attends a summer camp that is within the range of the Kassams. As a parent, I support Israel’s right to defend itself.” 

Alongside the tragic circumstances in Gaza, where residents had to choose between a terrorist and a corrupt government, life on the Israeli side cautiously continues, with the tenacity to no longer retreat, but to resist by continuing to grow crops, attend summer camps, and settle in these frontier communities. Under normal circumstances, there should be no fear in living near national borders.  

Residents of Detroit do not need to fear Canada; residents of El Paso have no fear of a Mexican attack. Unfortunately, for the residents of Sderot and Yad Mordechai, the notion of not being able to live within their own national borders is very real. In a country the size of New Jersey, surrounded by much larger neighbors, every community is a frontier community. Until the people of Gaza and Lebanon begin to recognize these communities as neighbors rather than enemies, the borders will remain delineated by walls, forts, and military bases.

For more photos behind this article, click on the photo above

This article was published in the Queens Tribune.

Return to Israel articles

Background image:

Aerial view of Neveh Dekalim, Gaza