-Caveat Lector-
Shield of faith
By Daniel Ben-SimonA Palestinian worker in Atzmona, with the Marganit army
post in the background.
(Photo: Alex Levac)
When Ariel Sharon became prime minister, the Jewish settlers of Gush Katif
in the Gaza Strip stopped fearing for the future of their enterprise. But
however secure and eternal the settlers now believe themselves to be, the
fences surrounding their homes continue to grow. New fences have been added
to old ones in recent months, and the perimeters of settlements are now
lined with concrete blocks.
Visitors to Gush Katif are greeted by this forbidding sight, which brings to
mind the labor camps and army barracks of wartime Europe. The prolific,
ever-innovative security measures all have the same goal: to keep potential
Palestinian assailants from carrying out their mission.
At the beginning of the intifada, concrete barricades were laid along the
main road to Gush Katif. The road was divided in two, apartheid-style - one
side for Jews, the other for Arabs - after its shared use by both
populations claimed Jewish lives.
At first the concrete boulders were placed close to one another, with narrow
gaps allowing passengers to glare angrily at the other side. Then came the
draconian dictate forbidding Palestinians to drive down their side of the
road while Jews were moving down theirs. The Palestinians' cars formed long
lines as drivers waited for the soldiers to wave them through. Meanwhile, on
the other side, Jewish settlers drove freely back and forth, now spared even
the hate-filled looks of the Palestinians.
Recently the army decided to push the blocks together, closing the gaps and
severing the last remaining visual contact between the Gaza Strip's 1.5
million Palestinians and its 5,000 Jewish settlers. Except for the
Palestinian workers still employed in the Jewish settlements, the two
populations now have no contact at all.
The large Jewish enclave, stretching north to south across the Gaza Strip,
has been cut off from its surroundings by barbed wire, electric fences,
concrete blocks, military posts, army bases, tanks and snipers.
Sharon's election marked a decisive change in the settlers' mood; the threat
of an impending evacuation was lifted. The people of Gush Katif have more
faith in Sharon than in any of his predecessors. The steps he recently took
against the Palestinians freed him of the opportunistic image he had been
saddled with since he oversaw the removal of Israel's settlements from Sinai
in the early 1980s. Two months after his election, Sharon visited Gush Katif
and was given a hero's welcome. Even in Atzmona, whose founders previously
lived in a Sinai settlement of the same name, no one seemed to be nursing
any grudge against him.
"The people of Atzmona organized a moving welcome for him," says Atzmona
director Avner Shimoni. "People felt they finally had someone to talk to."
The students at Otzem, Atzmona's religious pre-military academy, received
Prime Minister Sharon as if he were King David himself. Hundreds of students
danced around him, singing songs of glory. "It was extraordinary," remembers
Otzem principal Rabbi Rafi Peretz. "The kids were very excited to meet him.
We think he's doing what needs to be done, and so we're giving him the
backing he deserves."
A pilot turned rabbi
Some 75 families live in Atzmona, located in the southern part of the Gaza
Strip. They make their living growing hothouse flowers and potatoes and
raising turkeys. The last year was the toughest the settlement has ever
known. Revenues dropped by 20 percent, and the Palestinian neighbors in
nearby Rafah and Khan Yunis became an increasing menace. Recently life
regained some of its old normalcy; a few weeks ago, Atzmona even welcomed
six new families.
Avner Shimoni sees this as a sign that the age of Ehud Barak is over for
good. As proof he cites the new arrivals and the settlement's rising birth
rate. There are 492 children in Atzmona. Proudly punching figures into his
desk calculator, Shimoni finds that the average number of children in each
household is 6.48. In all likelihood, this has something to do with the
increasingly religious nature of the settlement.
Atzmona would have been largely unknown if not for Rabbi Rafi Peretz. Now in
his mid-40s, the father of 11 children, he is a colorful character and
something of a role model among religious Zionist Jews. His fellow settlers
proudly view Peretz, a reservist air force pilot, as Gush Katif's version of
Brigadier-General (res.) Effi Eitam (Fein). Like Eitam, Peretz abandoned the
secular life for religious observance, and like him has the image of a
charismatic and revered warrior, blindly followed by his devoted men.
Even as a youth, Peretz was plagued by restlessness. During his military
service he visited the Merkaz Harav yeshiva and was entranced by the
teachers, lecturers and rabbis, who preached love for the land and the great
duty of settling it. There, in the yeshiva, he found the solace he had been
seeking. After his discharge he adopted a fully observant lifestyle and
abandoned the customs of his family, Moroccan immigrants living in
Jerusalem.
"What can I do, I have secular brothers and sisters, and so does my wife,"
he says, sounding resigned to the fact.
Nine years ago he came to Atzmona and established an academy that trains
teenagers for their military service while placing a heavy emphasis on
religious studies. In the first year, only 20 students came; this year
enrollment ran to the hundreds, and many applicants from all over Israel
were ultimately turned down. "I only accepted 120," says Peretz. "Together
with older students who wanted to stay another year, we have 200 kids - more
than we can actually take."
After the intifada began, registration dropped among high school graduates
from settlement towns and especially among Russian and Ethiopian immigrants.
Peretz went to great lengths to try and attract youths from these two
groups, but to no avail.
The school offers a one-year program, after which graduates enlist in elite
army units. Some stay an extra year to deepen their religious studies before
becoming soldiers. "We're not a prestigious yeshiva that trains great
scholars," says Peretz. "I make men of action, who will serve in the army
out of faith. By the time they graduate, I want them to love the people of
Israel and the Land of Israel, to know that this people has a destiny, and
that they are soldiers in the service of that calling."
Due to the lack of space, Peretz's students sleep on cots crowded into the
dining hall. But the cramped living conditions, the distance from central
Israel, and the danger of life in the Gaza Strip appear to be exactly what
makes this religious adventure appealing to the students. Many admit they
wanted to study at Gush Katif because of Rabbi Peretz's charismatic
personality. The combination rabbi-pilot seems to be a winner. "He talks to
us at eye level," says one student. "He jokes with us, making us feel like a
family. It's something we've never known before."
As part of a class on Western culture, the Otzem students learn how
Christianity was bad for the Jews and how it collaborated with Islam to
eradicate the Jewish people. In their faith classes they explore the
connection between the people of Israel and the Land of Israel. "In my faith
classes, I might speak of any subject, but in a Torah-like way," says Rabbi
Peretz. "The Palestinian issue also comes up in this context. I talk with my
students about the roots of Muslim hatred, about the hypocrisy of the
European countries and of Christianity. My goal is to get them to ask, `What
am I doing here? What am I fighting for?'"
He strongly believes that the ordeal now facing the Jewish people is a test
preceding their eventual triumph. He also believes that God is masterminding
these final maneuvers, after which the Jewish people will be able to raise
its flag proudly. For years, he maintained a vow of media silence, even
though his new environment was eager to show off the Moroccan pilot who had
changed his vocation and became a rabbi. What could be more prestigious for
this messianic movement than a pilot who traded in his helmet for a knitted
skullcap?
Peretz now has decided to speak out, having become convinced that the group
to which he belongs is undergoing a process of liberation.
His new spiritual garb cannot fully disguise the marks of his distant
secular past, which are evident both in his speech and in his appearance.
If it were up to Peretz, Israel would increase its attacks and wipe out the
Palestinian Authority. "The Palestinians have to learn that they should not
mess with us. Unfortunately, we did not understand with whom we were dealing
when we signed the Oslo accords. I am certain beyond any doubt that nothing
will change until the Palestinian enemy acknowledges our value as a people."
Looking for meaning
After lunch, the students disperse for a break until their afternoon prayer.
The outward appearance of this new generation of religious youths can be
misleading. Many of the boys walk in the academy yard dressed in casual
clothing, their long hair streaming to their shoulders or tied in a
ponytail. Almost all of them sport a tiny, colorful skullcap, all but
obscured by their waves of hair. They spend their break talking about girls,
smoking and listening to the latest Aviv Gefen CD. Four of them, who arrived
at the academy only a week earlier, speak of their expectations.
Gilad from Elkana: "I came here to find my way in the country and in life. I
hope this place will help mold my personality."
Yoni from Kiryat Shmona: "I came here to reach more spiritual sources. I've
been here a week, and I really enjoy the easygoing atmosphere between the
guys."
Tamir from Be'erot Yitzhak: "I want to build myself and my character and to
figure out my view of the world. No one at this age knows what they want
yet."
Dvir from Rishon Letzion: "This place is supposed to help me find myself in
whatever I do, whether it's in the university or in the army or in life in
general."
Their decision to come to Gush Katif aroused some controversy within their
families. Parents were less than thrilled by the notion of sending their
sons to the middle of a war zone. "It was a big mess at home," says Dvir.
"Half the family didn't want me to come here. My grandparents were against
it, because they were really afraid. We came in a bulletproof bus, but when
we got here, we found it was really quiet."
Yoni: "This particular place appealed to me right now, and I came to help,
because helping is part of who I am. I'm from Kiryat Shmona, and when the
Katyusha rockets fell, I always stayed with my father, while all my brothers
and sisters ran away. But the truth is that my mother is very worried. So
are my brothers and sisters. There are 18 of us."
Tamir: "At first I hesitated, because I was afraid of the mortar shells and
the shooting. It feels really strange when you get to the checkpoint. It's
pretty scary. But after you pass through it and reach the settlement, the
fear disappears."
Gilad: "Being in Atzmona is like being anywhere else in Israel. I want to
say that I don't wish to rule over the Palestinians, but I also don't want
to run away from here."
Dvir: "There's no solution. Nothing has helped. No military solution and no
diplomatic solution. I don't know what's going to happen."
Rabbi Peretz tries to impose some order on his students' ruminations. "The
moment the people of Israel understands its place," he says, "nothing else
will be left. The Palestinians, like the Philistines of the Bible, will
simply vanish."
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