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Rachel Saperstein is a teacher at the Neve Dekalim ulpana and a spokeswoman for the Katif Regional Council.
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By Rachel Saperstein
May 7, 2007
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The laws pertaining to the month-long mourning period for my brother, together with my still aching foot, had kept me house-bound.
A call to meet with the architects in Tel Aviv provided a much needed excuse to extract me from my seclusion. A comfortable one-hour train ride from Ashkelon to Tel Aviv found me in the spacious offices of AB-TICHNUN, the designated architects of the Neve Dekalim -- Lachish building project.
I arrived twenty minutes late but was greeted by the Gush Katif Planning Committee headed by Motti Shomron, the driving force behind our efforts, with smiles and a wink.
Being the only woman on the Committee puts me in an unique position. A woman's role in house planning is vital to the well-being of a building project. Women see the home, the family, the environment and the community in a special light. We needs what is practical and what is aesthetic. Fortunately the town planner of this architectural firm is a young woman, a secular young woman whom I could enlighten on the needs of families with deep religious convictions and multiple children.
Also at the meeting was a representative of SELA. Remember them? They were created by the government to oversee our expulsion. They are the bureaucrats who had no homes ready for us so we lived in tiny hotel rooms for many months. They are the bureaucrats who arbitrarily decide our compensation for homes, farms, businesses. The SELA representative rattled off the rules and restrictions regarding the building of our new community. Any attempt to ask a question was met with the authoritative voice of the established bureaucrat: "I'm in charge here. I'll tell you just what you can and cannot expect from the government."
I stood up, smiled warmly, introduced myself and pulled out my latest copy of House and Garden magazine. "Do you see this magazine?" I asked sweetly. "This is an American magazine. I came from America. I lived in Gush Katif. I had a beautiful home in Gush Katif and I expect to have one again in Lachish. And you, sir, are going to make it happen because I expect it. You and I are going to make it happen."
Mr. Bureaucrat stared at me for a long moment. "I ... we ... well of course we'll make it beautiful" he stammered."Good" I said in my most sugary tones. "This magazine is my guide and should be yours as well."
The tone of the meeting had changed.
Think Swiss Village... wooden beams, tall ceilings, large picture windows overlooking rolling hills, forests and vineyards. One need not build expensively but with imagination. One can build in harmony with the landscape, enhancing the site instead of destroying it.
Our architect must come up with a plan making this township, lying between Beit Shemesh and Kiryat Gat, a treasure. The hill named Givat Hazan is welcoming us to create a town of which nature will be proud. We will appear in the pages of House and Garden as a beauty spot in this part of the world.
Lachish boasts ancient caves, mineral springs, archeological sites and underdeveloped parks, and I have even been promised a lake. We are anxious to build a luxury hotel and a mineral spa based on Rabbinic medicinal concepts. Organic foods and drinks will be served in an elegant rustic setting. Honeymoon cottages with sheva brachot arrangements and lower-priced family cabins are some of the wonderful plans for this area.
Meanwhile, Friends of Gush Katif has managed to persuade the Knesset to pass a new compensation bill increasing the compensation due our people for the loss of their homes, farms and businesses.
These monies, already withheld by the government, will be used for the construction of our new homes.
We may never erase the loss of what we had in Gush Katif but, with the Almighty's help, we will recreate it in the rolling hills of Lachish.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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