Yamit Retrospective: Israeli Settlers Evacuated By Force [Archive]

View Full Version : Yamit Retrospective: Israeli Settlers Evacuated By Force

He219

02-11-2004, 05:57 PM

Yamit Retrospective: Israeli Settlers Evacuated By Force

1979 Camp David Accords

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953714.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8BEF39E2A3B46916C

The triple handshake between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat (L), US President Jimmy Carter (C) and Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin seals the signing of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, March 26, 1979 on the White House lawn in Washington DC. Three years later, Jewish settlers resisted evacuation from their Sinai Desert settlements and now, 22 years after that, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Tel Or Beni/GPO/***** Images)

1982 Sinai settlers resist evacuation

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953710.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE87727B9E74089F202

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Jewish settlers hang then Israeli Prime Minister Menahem Begin in effigy as they resist forced evacuation March 11, 1982 from their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953726.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8C18B68758722778A

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Jewish settlers pray outside a fortified bunker where they take shelter from Israeli soldiers as they resist forced evacuation April 18, 1982 from their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt.

Interestingly enough:

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39657000/jpg/_39657267_yamit.jpg
In 1982, Mr Sharon ordered the closure of Yamit settlement in the Sinai (http://www.freeman.org/m_online/jul03/sones.htm)

After the Israeli government decided in June of 1981 to evict the Sinai Yishuvim, Prime Minister Begin "offered the Defense Ministry to Moshe Arens, but he refused to accept it because of his opposition to uprooting yishuvim." Moshe Arens' principled refusal in fact turned out to be a stroke of luck for the pro-eviction circle in government, because, instead of Arens, they found a Defense Minister skilled in the military art of surprise attack, willing to accept the messy mission of evicting Yamit - Ariel Sharon. With Sharon's acceptance of this mission, the plans to weaken, paralyze, and evict the 17 Yamit yishuvim began. Sharon was familiar with the settlements and the settlers because he had earlier "initiated the establishment of...outposts in the front lines of the Sinai to prevent a withdrawal." The Sinai settlers knew Sharon as someone who intimately understood the years of work and danger they had invested in the yishuvim. Understandably, they assumed he was one leader least likely to betray them. Thus they did not prepare to oppose the evictions. ".Does anyone really believe that Arik Sharon - of all people - really means to evict? And Raful [Rafael Eitan], as the head of the Army, he'll already find some trick. After all, he's 'with us.' We've got to explain, we've got to protest, we've got to strengthen the hand of the government, but a withdrawal there won't be. Begin and Arik won't let the disaster happen. After all, they think like us."

And so it goes:

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2955863.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE4135331C15B96A5ADA18CC604034FF77

An Israeli soldier evacuates a screaming Jewish settler from an apartment building April 22, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt.

http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/2953708.jpg?x=x&a=2953708&b=editorial&t=1http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/2953706.jpg?x=x&a=2953706&b=editorial&t=1http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/2953715.jpg?x=x&a=2953715&b=editorial&t=1

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Israeli soldiers evacuate a resisting Jewish settler youth from an apartment building complex April 22, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953734.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE81C0B37219292B034

An Israeli woman soldier cries as she evacuates a Jewish settler child from an apartment building April 22, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt.

http://photo.worldnews.com/PhotoArchive//uploads/2004/2/10/uploaded-42999_large.jpg

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Israeli soldiers forcibly evacuate a resisting Jewish settler from an apartment building April 22, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt.

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953730.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8885A6AB43C9E672C

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Israeli soldiers forcibly evacuate a resisting Jewish settler from an apartment building April 22, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/2953719.jpg?x=x&a=2953719&b=editorial&t=1http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/2953720.jpg?x=x&a=2953720&b=editorial&t=1http://cache.*****images.com/thumb/2953711.jpg?x=x&a=2953711&b=editorial&t=1

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Israeli soldiers evacuate a struggling Jewish settlers from an apartment building complex April 22, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt.

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953718.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8A7D40C2901671899

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Jewish settlers clash with Israeli soldiers as they resist forced evacuation April 22, 1982 from their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt.

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953709.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE82D3C515A65D6DBFF

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Jewish settlers prevent Israeli soldiers from reaching their rooftop as they resist forced evacuation April 22, 1982 from their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953717.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE81F84CD4B216B8769

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953724.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8CBD38D61D85B507E

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Israeli soldiers use water against Jewish settlers as they resist forced evacuation from an apartment rooftop April 22, 1982 in their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953721.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE82EB06CD80B2935C8

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953895.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE5526B40793A38E74E810B282E270B951

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Jewish settlers (R) prevent Israeli soldiers from reaching their rooftop as they resist forced evacuation April 22, 1982 from their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953728.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8FEC2E6749A8BF4D6

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953723.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE8B7A359D1683B4A73

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) An Israeli bulldozer tears down apartment buildings March 8, 1982 in the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953925.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE17C09BA79A60C38AAA1F349BACC11BD8

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) Israeli forces tear down apartment blocks during the forced evacuation of Jewish settlers April 22, 1982 from their Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit, as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)
Copyright: 2004 ***** Images

http://delivery.*****images.com/comp/2953732.jpg?x=x&dasite=MS_GINS&ef=2&ev=1&dareq=E2399169AC85D6DE7986D24AD2989FE84082A5718EBD75ED

YAMIT, SINAI DESERT: (FILE PHOTO) A Jewish settler cries over the ruins of his destroyed home during his forced evacuation April 22, 1982 from the Sinai Desert settlement of Yamit as part of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt. Twenty-two years later, another generation of settlers in the Gaza Strip are threatening a last stand against forced removal should ruling Prime Minister Ariel Sharon go through with his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip. (Photo by Beni Tel Or/GPO/***** Images)

And then there was Peace.

Related Article: Taking a leaf from the settlers' book (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=186322&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y)

Mr. Nielsen

02-11-2004, 07:31 PM

Very interesting photos. I knew the settlers didn't leave voluntarily, but I didn't know it was that bad. So if Sharon talk about removing the illegal settlers from Gaza is more than just talking, I guess the IDF (or police?) better start training.

He219

02-11-2004, 08:35 PM

I was actually surprised to find out that it was Sharon that took charge of the Settler evictions. Now I am somewhat reassured that he could actually follow through on his announcement. However, it will be rough as the Settlers have been in Gaza and the West Bank for much longer periods. The resistance may be similar, but not insurmountable.

Remember the recent High-Profile evictions at West Tapuach near the West Bank city of Nablus?

http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r554179889.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r3463242622.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r3792193706.jpg
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r1044281305.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r481713407.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r2491637631.jpg
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r1209326011.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r4284522452.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r2213336965.jpghttp://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040120/t/r2639024187.jpg

StarvingStudent47

02-12-2004, 02:17 AM

Sharon is not subtle about his lack of love for the settlements or the settlers who live there. It's been this way in the past, and it's been this way even more so nowadays. What amazes me is:

1) Despite this, most media sources still try and portray him as "a pawn of the settlers" or "a settler-wannabe."

2) Most people believe the media regarding #1.

Sharon is holding onto some settlements to use as a bargaining chip in exchange for the Palestinians dropping their demand of a so-called "right of return" (where 6 million Arabs flood into pre-1967 Israel, creating an Arab majority and then dismantling the state). That's all the settlements are. A bargaining chip (and a hell of a more humanitarian bargaining chip than blowing up busses).

Also: people ask why Israel doesn't dismantle settlements more quickly. This is why. It ain't an easy job.

Also: when the Palestinian Authority makes 1/10 of this effort to control TERRORIST MURDERERS (as opposed to people who just build houses on the wrong side of some line on some map), then maybe we'll have peace in the region. Until then, it's just more unrequited good-faith gestures like this from Israel.

Mr. Nielsen

02-12-2004, 02:37 PM

Sharon is holding onto some settlements to use as a bargaining chip in exchange for the Palestinians dropping their demand of a so-called "right of return" (where 6 million Arabs flood into pre-1967 Israel, creating an Arab majority and then dismantling the state). That's all the settlements are. A bargaining chip (and a hell of a more humanitarian bargaining chip than blowing up busses).

Using the illegal settlements as bargaining chips sounds very expensive, especially if they should indeed be traded. The right of return is not a palestinian invention, but a right based on international law. But if the palestinians are going to make the huge compromise of not exercise the right of return, they will need every inch of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem to resettle them.

Mr. Nielsen

02-12-2004, 02:45 PM

Also: people ask why Israel doesn't dismantle settlements more quickly. This is why. It ain't an easy job.

Dismantling the Hamas etc. ain't any easy task either, if not entirely impossible.

Also: when the Palestinian Authority makes 1/10 of this effort to control TERRORIST MURDERERS

1/10 of what efford?

UoUo

02-12-2004, 02:48 PM

Mr. Nielsen

02-12-2004, 03:03 PM

UoUo

02-12-2004, 03:06 PM

If the palstinian will compromise ? Yeah...thanks for the palstinian that they are agreed not to change israel into an arab state. :roll: :roll:

And if Israel decided to take up the offer of the arab league, and trade all the occupied territories for peace, should the palestinian be thankful for 22% of the territory?

What 22%? i get what you mean...you are just an ass that think that the palstinian have the right about all the land...48 borders. :cantbeli: :cantbeli:

Mr. Nielsen

02-12-2004, 03:17 PM

UoUo

02-12-2004, 03:26 PM

What 22%? i get what you mean...you are just an ass that think that the palstinian have the right about all the land...48 borders. :cantbeli: :cantbeli:

What I'm saying is that such a pull back would, from an Israeli point of view, be an enourmous compromise, for which the Palestinians should be more than grateful.

But from the Palestnian point of view, they are just getting 22% of an area where they in 1945 was a clear majority, who owned the majority of the area.

What palstinian were in israel?

What are you talking about? there were arabs...not palstinians. that 1 thing.

2. pulling out of gaza not mean for me a magor compromise...who need gaza strip? just a ****in place....

Me and most of the israelis agree to redraw from all the west bank and gaza strip...build wall.

Let them declare on a country...cut there water supply...cut the Power...cut the jobs that we giving them...and then we will se how the Palstinian raise a country.

Mr. Nielsen

02-12-2004, 04:00 PM

What palstinian were in israel?

What are you talking about? there were arabs...not palstinians. that 1 thing.

Even if we agreed to call the inhabitants of the area arabs instead of palestinians it won't change anything.

2. pulling out of gaza not mean for me a magor compromise...who need gaza strip? just a f*** place....

Me and most of the israelis agree to redraw from all the west bank and gaza strip...build wall.

It would be the right thing to do, but I don't see any majority in Israel for that point of view.

Let them declare on a country...cut there water supply...cut the Power...cut the jobs that we giving them...and then we will se how the Palstinian raise a country.

There is a slight problem there with the water, as most of it comes from beneath the West Bank. Control of the water resources was one of the things that Barak wanted to keep.

S'13

02-13-2004, 05:00 AM

He219, it is interesting that you brought this up and I want to thank for this since this event in Israeli history shows the dilemma we faced (and still face today) and the sacrifices we made (and are going to make) in order to achieve peace with our neighbors. I doubt many non-Israelis know of the over 5,000 people who were evacuated from their homes in Yamit, this not including the many more people who lived in other smaller Israeli settlements which were in the Sinai peninsula. Many people who were evacuated never recovered from the loss of their homes. Yamit was and still is a deep scar in Israeli society.

S'13

02-13-2004, 05:15 AM

S'13

02-13-2004, 05:18 AM

What palstinian were in israel?

What are you talking about? there were arabs...not palstinians. that 1 thing.

Even if we agreed to call the inhabitants of the area arabs instead of palestinians it won't change anything.

The fact is that there was never a nation named Palestine, only a region which was given a different name by the Romans after the destruction of the second Temple in order to erase the Jewish peoples hold on that land. At the time of the British mandate even Jews who lived in the land of Israel were called Palestinians. The so called "Palestinians" are Arabs whose ancestors came from Saudi Arabia via Syria and Jordan.

2. pulling out of gaza not mean for me a magor compromise...who need gaza strip? just a f*** place....

Me and most of the israelis agree to redraw from all the west bank and gaza strip...build wall.

It would be the right thing to do, but I don't see any majority in Israel for that point of view.

You shouldn't be talking about things you know nothing about...

All you have to do is look at the many surveys conducted in Israel about the evacuation of Israeli settlement beyond the Green Line.

Maybe it's because your blind that you don't see this.

aktarian

02-15-2004, 11:58 AM

That looks nasty. Does anybody knows how many people were hurt?

S'13

02-15-2004, 02:40 PM

Remembering Yamit

Yigal Segal has been a farmer at Moshav Netiv Ha’asara, just north of the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip for 20 years, but for a decade before that he lived even further south, in Yamit, the Israeli town in the Sinai Peninsula demolished in April 1982 as part of the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.

For Segal, life in Yamit was good. The community of farmers there was close, and it was successful and innovative, he says.

"There were very good connections among the people, the farmers started a lot of new things, and worked well together," he says.

He was there as Yamit became a popular weekend beach destination for Israelis, but he also remembers the criticism they came under for living there.

"First of all, when we lived there, the newspapers were attacking people like us who lived in the territories because there were Arabs there," he says.

Toward the end of Yamit’s short lifespan (the town itself lasted less than seven years, although there were agricultural settlements in the area before the town was built), some residents went easily, and others not, Segal says. Residents’ responses weren’t uniform.

Similarly, he says, some welcomed the presence of yeshiva students and others who flocked to the town toward the end of its days to protest the community’s destruction.

Nonetheless, the days were universally difficult for all, as tensions were compounded by pressure on the country’s northern border with Lebanon, Segal says.

"None knew what was going thappen," he says.

Compensation tresidents for the loss of their homes, farms and businesses ranged from $100,000 t$500,000, according to reports at the time, but Segal says they did not come easily.

"People had to fight to get their compensation," he adds.

Segal says today’s potential fight over settlements, combined with the pressures of the Palestinian conflict remind him of the last days of Yamit.

"Now, again, it is not sclear what will happen,‘ he says. ’People don’t know whether to take care of their garden or not to take care of their garden. They don’t know what to do."

FOLLOWING IS a short chronology of the founding and demolition of Yamit:

December 1972 — Moshe Dayan says Yamit is necessary to put a wedge between the populated area of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

"When we dsit down at the peace table with the Arabs, we must bear in mind with whom we are dealing," he says.

May 1974 — Foundations laid for first permanent housing units in town. Plans call for eventual population of 250,000.

October 1974 — Defense minister Shimon Peres: Ministry will provide jobs for Yamit settlers.

September 1975 — First residents move into Yamit.

March 1976 — First birth, a girl, named Yamit.

November 1976 — Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin: "Yamit must be absorbed into the borders of the State of Israel in order tensure defensible boundaries."

July 1977 — Yamit has 1,000 residents.

November 1977 — Egyptian president Anwar Sadat flies to Jerusalem, addresses the Knesset.

December 1977 — Peace talks begin between Israel and Egypt. Talk of giving Sinai back to Egypt begins.

January 1978 — Public opinion builds that Yamit should not stand in the way of peace. New settlements started to beef up Jewish presence before peace deal. Absorption minister David Levy: "Yamit… will never be abandoned by the Israeli government."

September 17, 1978 — Camp David Accords call for giving Sinai back to Egypt. Yamit residents begin protests against giveback. Others wait thear what compensation packages will be offered for leaving.

March 1979 — Despair over turnover to Egypt; Yamit businesses slump, but residents can’t leave for risk of losing compensation benefits. Resident Haim Feifel: "We came here to build a city, not watch a town die."

August 1979 — Construction minister David Levy says Yamit residents should move to new neighborhood in Ashdod.

October 1981 — Yamit’s sixth anniversary draws local residents, no government officials.

March 1982 — National poll shows 59 percent favor evacuating Yamit. Settler activists begin moving to town, but predictions of massive turnouts don’t occur. In the end, about 200 hard-core activists, most not from town, are in Yamit at the end.

April 1982 — Last residents leave with sadness and bitterness. Resident Lucy Brenner: "Who came to Yamit? People who wanted to build a new, to change their lives. People who wanted to work. That gives character to a city. We built a new society, a young society, a good society. There were Yemenites and Russians and everything else. There were the religious and the secular. If only I could tell you what Eretz Yisrael has lost here."

Demolition of Yamit approved by prime minister Menachem Begin at the recommendation of Ariel Sharon.

Mid-April 1982 — Students and a few families are the last holdouts. About 200 soldiers clash with 200 protesters barricaded on roofs. Protesters use bags of sand. Firefighters use foam sprays. Gunshots fired over protesters’ heads. Troops fight protesters with clubs. Some soldiers receive injuries requiring hospitalization.

Protester: "Our message is that you cannot lightly give up a piece of earth you have redeemed and made flourish, even if this means a confrontation with soldiers, in other words, a confrontation with ourselves."

Sharon: "The ruins of Yamit will bear eternal proof that we have done over and above human imagination to meet (our obligations) under the peace treaty so that our children will not point an accusing finger at us and tell us we have missed the opportunity. No Arab army has succeeded — and never will succeed — in demolishing an Israeli town. Only we, with our own hands, were forced to destroy Yamit. We were compelled to erase her from the face of the earth to implement the peace agreement on time without spilling Jewish blood."

April 23, 1982 — Demolition of Yamit completed.