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April 28, 1995 - Image 74

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1995-04-28

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

After The Terrorism

Parents of Israeli soldiers are fearful, but admit settlements must be protected.

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the terrorists. The way it is now
[with Israeli soldiers guarding
the Jews, and Palestinian police
guarding the Palestinians], the
army has no control over what
goes on," said a Tel Aviv securi-
ty guard.
Some were torn, offering
dovish opinions at first, then
changing their minds. "If it was
up to me, I wouldn't send my son
and daughter to those settle-
ments. I would get all the soldiers
out of there. To hell with Gaza,"
said Hanani Arush, a factory
worker in Tiberias.
So then you want to pull all the
settlers out, too?
"No, we can't remove the set-
tlers," Mr. Arush said.
Then the soldiers also have to
remain. What should they do?

Then the soldiers have to be at
Kfar Darom and Netzarim?
"Yes, they have to be there,"
Ms. Friedman decided.
Even parents who thought it
was suicidal and futile to guard
any of the Gaza settlements did
not suggest that their sons or
daughters would refuse to go.
"I think serving in the army is
a matter of national duty, and
when the army tells you to do
something, you do it," said Moshe
Goldman, a farmer from Kibbutz
Gazit in the north. "It'll be a
shame if my son has to go to Net-
zarim or Kfar Darom. I'm in fa-
vor of giving all of Gaza back now,
and so is he. But I know he'll go,
even though it's against his will."
Yoav Horin, a farmer from the
northern Kibbutz Ayelet Hasha-
har, said, "I did a lot of reserve
army duty in a lot of places, and
my son may have to do it in Kfar
Darom or Netzarim. I'm not hap-
py about it, but as long as there
are Jews there, we have to pro-
tect them. But if I had my choice,
we would get out now. There's
nothing for us there. The hatred
is too deep."
A day after the deaths, life was
"They should fight harder," utterly normal at the Tel Aviv
concluded Mr. Arush.
Central Bus Station The parents
Odelia Friedman, a housewife of young men and women in uni-
from Netanya, began by saying, form didn't seem shocked or
"We should not give up land that gloomy or scared. They seemed
we've fought and died for, but to have their minds on other
Gaza is only a source of terror, things. They knew their children
not peace. The soldiers who were might be called to Netzarim or
killed there yesterday died for Kfar Darom in the near future,
nothing."
and they didn't like it. They want-
Then you favor withdrawing ed a new direction, but they as-
both the soldiers and settlers sumed their children would go on
from Gaza?
duty in Gaza if called. 'What can
"No, we can't uproot the set- you do?" was their most frequent
tlers," she replied.
comment. ❑

Mixed feelings
about remaining in
Gaza, but unity on
serving there if
called.

PHOTO BY AP/JEROM E DELAY

I

f one had to choose the place
that is Israel's "crossroads," it
would be the Tel Aviv Central
Bus Station. So I went there a
day after seven soldiers and one
American student were killed in
suicide bombings next to the
Gaza settlements of Netzarim
and Kfar Darom.
The idea was to talk to the par-
ents of other soldiers and find out
how they felt about the prospect
of their sons and daughters be-
ing posted to these isolated Jew-
ish communities.
There was nothing scientific
about the survey. I talked to
about a dozen parents, all in their
40s and 50s, from towns, cities
and kibbutzim. They included
farmers, housewives, security
guards, a factory worker, a pho-
tographer.
Naturally, none were happy
about sending their children off
to patrol duty in Gaza. Natural-
ly, they wanted the government's
security policy there to change,
either to the left or right. But
some surprises emerged.
It is generally believed that
only a small minority of citizens
want Israel to pull its soldiers and
4,000 settlers out of Gaza right
now, during the interim stage of
the peace accords.
Yet about half the parents said
that was exactly what they'd like
to see.
"It's not because I have three
sons in the army — all Israelis
are like family. It's that too many
people are dying there," said Shlo-
mo Amiram, a cabdriver from
Kfar Saba.
Another common assumption
is that ultimately, an over-
whelming majority of Israelis
would like to leave Gaza, to cut a
final deal a few years down the
road so that all Jews, soldier and
settler, would be out of there.
However, the parents who fa-
vored keeping a Jewish presence
in Netzarim and Kfar Darom for
now, also favored hanging onto
all the Gaza settlements forever.
`The Palestinians should keep
their part of Gaza, and we should
keep ours," said a security oper-
ative from Netanya.
The suicide bombings hadn't
changed any of the parents'
minds. Many said the attacks
had only "strengthened" the opin-
ions they'd held before. A couple
of them favored sending the Is-
raeli army back into the refugee
camps and cities of Gaza. "I think
it's worth it for my sons to guard
Netzarim and Kfar Darom. In
fact, the army should go all the
way back inside Gaza, like it used
to be, and this time clean out all

The aftermath of a bomb explosion in downtown Tel Aviv.

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