jewscout
Religious Zionist
The ghost towns of Gush Katif
It was hard to believe that just days ago Morag and Rafiah Yam had been vibrant Gush Katif settlements, with full houses, children playing in the sandbox of the preschool, and prayers held at the synagogues.
On Sunday, a brief visit to both settlements revealed eerie ghost towns. The houses were empty shells, their contents packed up and removed.
At Morag's preschool, where many had given tearful farewells less then a week ago, brightly-colored toys now lay strewn across the sandbox and a tricycle sat on the already-browning grass.
Movers sent by the Defense Ministry were still transporting large containers out of the settlement to holding facilities elsewhere.
The houses stood desolate, movers marking their exterior walls once they had been emptied. Soldiers rested in the shade, and in the yard of one house, laundry fluttered in the afternoon wind.
In Rafiah Yam, only soldiers deployed to guard the settlements walked the barren streets.
Outside in the hothouses, rows of soldiers collected agricultural equipment, such as the drip irrigation system, that was worth saving. In a matter of days, the buildings of Gush Katif would be bulldozed to rubble, leaving silence in the dust.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124590922648
It was hard to believe that just days ago Morag and Rafiah Yam had been vibrant Gush Katif settlements, with full houses, children playing in the sandbox of the preschool, and prayers held at the synagogues.
On Sunday, a brief visit to both settlements revealed eerie ghost towns. The houses were empty shells, their contents packed up and removed.
At Morag's preschool, where many had given tearful farewells less then a week ago, brightly-colored toys now lay strewn across the sandbox and a tricycle sat on the already-browning grass.
Movers sent by the Defense Ministry were still transporting large containers out of the settlement to holding facilities elsewhere.
The houses stood desolate, movers marking their exterior walls once they had been emptied. Soldiers rested in the shade, and in the yard of one house, laundry fluttered in the afternoon wind.
In Rafiah Yam, only soldiers deployed to guard the settlements walked the barren streets.
Outside in the hothouses, rows of soldiers collected agricultural equipment, such as the drip irrigation system, that was worth saving. In a matter of days, the buildings of Gush Katif would be bulldozed to rubble, leaving silence in the dust.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1124590922648
