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(All photos: Yaniv Berman/G.F. Photos)
It was 05:45am on the morning of August 17, when the item went out over the network of pagers being carried by reporters: “Report: the citizens of Ganei Tal decided to evacuate their homes by choice today at 1300 hrs. (1:00pm).”
Ganei Tal was an Israeli community of 85 families in the central Gaza Strip enclave of Gush Katif that, like others, had refused to leave until the final moments before forced evacuation began. Itai, a 17-year-old resident of the soon-to-be-evacuated community who was standing next to this The Media Line’s reporter when the beeper went off, asked to have a look at the message. Upon reading it, he was shocked. “No one here is leaving his home because he chooses to do so,” said Itai. “The media always f***s us.” When asked how he would more correctly describe what will take place, Itai replied that, “We will get inside our cars following the afternoon prayers, in order to prevent a rift within the [Israeli] people.”
The beeper message said the residents of Ganei Tal had accepted what in Hebrew is called, “pinui merazon.” Translated, it means “evacuation by choice.” The phrase was first used by the security forces and then picked up by the media. It means that a family does not show resistance and leaves its home without the use of force. But the residents being evacuated from their homes – in many cases dating back two and three generations – rile at the insinuation that they somehow “chose” to leave their homes simply because they had foresworn the use of violence against those who came to remove them.
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The Friman family reiterated the point. Although they, too, packed their bags to leave, they, too, did not choose to go. The Frimans were among the founders of the community, living in Ganei Tal when there was neither flower nor tree to provide shade or beauty. They Frimans built their home in 1978. “We made it all bloom,” said Itta Friman, a woman in her fifties who immigrated to Israel from Russia when she was 6 years of age. Standing inside her empty house, Itta tearfully recalled her arrival in Israel. “I remember when I came to Israel all we could take were two suitcases. It’s a memory I will always carry with me. And now, it’s the same thing all over again. It just breaks me,” Itta says, quietly bursting into tears.
“Until the last moment they didn’t internalize the idea that they are really leaving,” said Lieutenant Colonel Albert Ohayon, who was one of the officers in charge of the Ganei Tal evacuation. On August 17, Ohayon had to face hundreds of residents being evacuated – from old men in tears to young mothers carrying their children and teenagers shouting until no air was left in their lungs. Ohayon confessed that, “From time to time my eyes were also filled with tears.”
“All in all, it was very difficult,” said Captain O., a pilot brought in to head one of the evacuating teams. “A lot of feelings surfaced. We trained and prepared a lot, but seeing the actual sights was totally different.”
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Judah Abramowitz, 60, immigrated to Israel from Brooklyn, New York, 34 years ago. For more than 20 years, Abramowitz lived in Ganei Tal “despite thousands of rockets the Palestinians fired at us.” But Abramowitz is disillusioned. He says that now, if any of his six children decides to leave the country, he will encourage their decision. According to Abramowitz, “This is not the country I came to 34 years ago; this is not the country I loved.”
The Luver family was among the very last to evacuate Ganei Tal. It made little difference that reporters were not allowed inside the house while a team of soldiers tried to persuade the mother, father, and their seven children, to leave. Horrific shouting from within the house was easily heard outside. “Get out of my house, shame on you!” screamed Mrs. Luver at the officers inside. A full hour later, the family left, devastated.
Eighty-five families were uprooted from their homes in Ganei Tal on August 17. Despite the designation of “pinui merazon” by army or media, each one will tell you that their departure was not by choice. At least not theirs.
To view a photo story on the Gush Katif pullout, click here [4].