At its most basic level, "Some 250 families are living without any communal framework, in different locations across the country. Many of them need special support, yet are not receiving it." This statement is according to a recently submitted report by a Land of Israel Legal Forum. All 1700 families have been displaced, are not yet in their permanent homes, and have yet to restart their means of livelihood in any real way.

The Erin Rachel Pincus Foundation is seeking to raise funds quickly, with the intention of hitting at the heart of the problem - the restoration of lost livelihoods for these displaced families. These are not uneducated refugees but rather experienced professionals who have made their living through small family owned businesses which they worked their whole lives to create and support. Much of the local business was through highly successful agriculture which was destroyed as a side effect of the disengagement.

We want to begin by helping the farmers of Gush Katif who still want to farm, to relocate their farms, so that the long process of creating a viable family farm can be begun, and with it will begin the start of a new community of their choosing. To avoid yet another year of misery many things must be done so that they can plant in time for what takes a long time to grow.

Funds are needed to secure the new lands. Government assistance may come but it is too slow to rely on to expect any change of status and provide relief in the near term. Help us help these families now, and the helped families will extend the benefits to their friends. Let's begin to reverse the situation building on their strength and positive attitude and love of life and of the Land of Israel.

A Life Remembered

They began on sand dunes, where no one really believed anything would grow. Over about 30 years, beautiful and sophisticated communities were developed, providing community and economy and stability to the residents. Netzer Hazsani was the first of the Gush Katif communities, established in 1969.

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Lost Livelihoods

Anyone who has had his own business knows it takes an unlimited amount of persistence, ingenuity, equipment, resources, time, hard work, and love, to make a good product, find and hold a place in the market, and to make it thrive. Sometimes it takes a whole lifetime to make something to pass to your children which will support them too through their own hard times. This farmer in Netzer Hazsani had such a business until the disengagement changed everything.

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Disengagement and Destruction

What is built slowly over a lifetime can be destroyed so quickly; warehouses emptied, houses incinerated, communities dispersed, rubble where there once was the hustle and bustle of activity. Regardless of the reasons, these were the results. What is shown here was in Netzer Hazsani on August 31, 2005, one of 21 such communities.

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Inadequate Reparations

Towns take a long time to build. This is the state of life one year later for one group of people who had no choice in the matter. And, even so, to keep their group in this temporary location, they had to agree that what you see being built here will be flattened again within 3 or 4 years and returned to the owners. Meantime, where is their real future?

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Search for a New Community

Israel is full of beautiful property zoned for agriculture, and the government will help these people obtain new land. But nothing happens overnight, everything with governments everywhere is very slow. Meantime markets have been lost to others that haven't lost their land. New equipment must be purchased where the depreciated value of old perfectly useful but now destroyed farm structures will not be compensated for. Funds are needed now to secure property deals. Infrastructure must be purchased and put in place. Seeds must be obtained. Planting must occur - by August, next month, if there is any hope of getting back to normal life within the year. Securing the new location is the first key to future hope for stability and a community that can again grow and prosper.