Until August 2005 Gush Katif was an Israeli community situated in Gaza and created on land that in 1948 no body wanted. There were nearly 9000 Jews living in 22 separate communities. These communities were evacuated in August 2005. This meant that every person who had established a home, a job, a family and a community had to leave under the threat of terror in the hope of bringing peace to Israel. The community had over 4000 children, 24-day centres, 35 kindergartens, 7 elementary schools, 2 High Schools and a college.

The Gush Katif community was the flagship of Israel’s agriculture. They had the second largest herd of cows in Israel, around 800. Their hothouses were the pride of organic produce. Of Israel’s total exports Gush Katif exported 95% of Israel’s bug free lettuce and greens. 70% of Israel’s organic vegetables, 60% of those lovely cherry tomatoes (that we used to buy in our local supermarkets) and 60% of geraniums, not to mention the tulips and many other beautiful produce. The total exports from these hothouses were $100,000,000 and represented 15% of the agricultural exports for all of Israel.

After Gush Katif lost 47 of their community as a result of terrorist attacks, many innocent civilians were injured and property damaged by Palestinian Arab rockets and missiles. The community was instructed by the Israeli Government to leave in the hope and a promise of peace.

They left with what they could carry as refugees, to a wasteland ten miles away to live in caravans and tents. No schools or community. And they did this under the gunfire of those who would seek not only to live in their houses but also to kill every Jew in Israel. I visited them twelve months later to find many still in caravans, tents and hotel rooms.

When reflecting on the current situation (March 2008) I retrieved my notes of the time leading up to the Gush Katif evacuation of 2005 to show the level of terror that was used to force Israel to give up land. The following are just some of the incidents.

Friday 20^th May 05

In a building previously used by UNWRA, three armed Palestinian terrorists launched six anti tank missiles and mortar shells on Kfar Darom in the centre of the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers returned fire, which killed one of the terrorists and wounded another.

Thursday 19^th May 05

20 mortar bombs were fired at Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip. 2 Qassam rockets were shot at Israeli territories in the Negev; one hit the city of Sderot and caused damage to an empty house. 3 anti tank missiles were fired at an IDF outpost on the Israeli Egyptian border near Rafah; no one was hurt. 2 explosive devices, one weighing 40kg and the other 35kg, were discovered and safely detonated by the IDF border police. Palestinians opened fire in 3 different places towards IDF positions and civilians.

Wednesday 18^th May 05

The Israeli Air Force identified a terrorist cell of HAMAS seconds before this cell fired mortar rockets into Gush Katif. After identifying the launch pad of the rocket fire, the Air Force destroyed it, injuring one of the terrorists. 36 mortar shells fell on Gush Katif, one causing light injury. 2 Qassam rockets were shot at Israeli communities in the Negev. Palestinians opened fire in the area of Kadim settlement.

Tuesday 17^th May 05

A Palestinian terrorist belonging to HAMAS was killed as result of a fault in the explosive device he was trying to plant close to the Egyptian-Israeli border. An IDF unit discovered a pistol and 70 rounds of ammunition south of Ramallah.

Monday 16^th May 05

A Palestinian armed with a knife approached a checkpoint at the outskirts of Tul-Karem and stabbed a soldier before being killed.

Sunday 15^th May 05

A Palestinian woman arrived at a checkpoint in Hebron carrying a knife. The soldiers fired a warning shot, before arresting the women.

Details of some further attacks on the villages of Gush Katif, in the Gaza area this month alone are as follows;

On 7^th June 05

Six Kassam rockets hit the city of Sderot. One of the rockets scored a direct hit on a hothouse killing two and seriously injuring three people. Six other workers were slightly injured. A further missile penetrated the roof of a house sending a 36-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged 18 and 6, into a condition of medical shock. The two were taken for treatment to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. The Red Dawn missile warning system effectively announced warning of the approaching rockets, causing 10-12 seconds of extra panic as the residents waited tensely to see where the rockets would hit. HAMAS claimed responsibility for the attack. Arab terrorists exploded more Kassam rockets before dawn the following day on Jewish towns in Gaza and in the western Negev. No one was injured and no damage was reported. An Israel Defence Force soldier lost an eye after being hit by a stone during a demonstration against the separation fence on 3^rd June 05. Hundreds of local Palestinians and Palestinian activists from Fatah, HAMAS and the National Front took part in the protest in the West Bank village of Bil'in, near Ramallah.

Today, 2008 HAMAS, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian Arab terrorists use the abandoned green houses and homes of the Gush Katif community to fire their rockets at Sderot and Ashkelon, towns which like Gush Katif no one wanted fifty years ago.

Today Sderot, which is less than two miles from Gaza, experiences rockets landing every day which kill, maim and destroy as they did in Gush Katif. Ashkelon residents are now experiencing similar casualties.

Two years ago when I first visited Sderot, it had like Gush Katif, a population of approximately 24,000, 4,000 of which -were children. 95% of these children were suffering Post-traumatic Stress Disorder resulting directly from the rockets. I stayed in the town six months later and people were leaving in fear of Palestinian attacks upon their homes. House prices were falling and the Mayor Eli Moyal was crying out for help after burying thirteen of his residents. It is estimated that there are less than 18,000 now living in Sderot as people try to find a safer place to live.

Today, a week after a 47 yr old father of four was killed by a Kassam rocket as he walked across a college car park by a Kassam and two boys were maimed by Kassams in separate attacks as they played in the streets, the people of Sderot continue to leave. They are renting homes in the town of Netivot situated in the Negev several miles from Gaza. These homes are far more expensive than Sderot but many feel they have no option.

Netivot, similar to Gush Katif and Sderot in so much as it lies on undisputed land, was founded in 1956; it has a population of 25,000, there are 22 schools and 4,243 students.

In August 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza. Gaza has been under Arab control ever since. The only time Israel has entered Gaza has been to destroy rocket launchers, kill active terrorists or attempt to retrieve its’ abducted soldiers, all of these actions defensive.

HAMAS, who won the elections in Gaza in January 2006, winning 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian Government, has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, the European Union as well as individual Nations such as Canada, Japan the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

HAMAS teaches terrorism to the people of Gaza, encouraging children to hate Jews by using textbooks, plays, television programmes and holiday camps to enforce a hatred of the Jewish people into their young impressionable hearts, which will be carried with them into future generations.

Will Israel be granted peace by giving away Judea and Samaria (Misnamed West Bank)? The name Netivot in Hebrew means “path”; will Netivot be the next Israeli town in the path of the Grad, Katusha and Kassam rockets?

As Israel mourns the death of eight of her young people murdered when a Palestinian gunman fired over five hundred shots into a crowded Yeshiva in Jerusalem last week, please talk to your family, friends, pastors and members of your congregations about the real truth surrounding the peace talks in Israel.

Mike