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Last update - 15:42 10/08/2008
On Tisha B'Av, rightists see Gush Katif as symbol of loss
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Gaza Strip, Gush Katif 

Over the last three years, since Israel evacuated the settlements of the Gaza Strip, those who left their homes have felt a sense of loss. For these Israelis, and the religious Zionist community as a whole, this sense of loss has often manifested itself in comparisons between the loss of the Gaza settlement bloc on Tisha B'Av three years ago, to the fall of the second temple thousands of years ago, also on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av.

To many followers of religious Zionism, and those on the right wing of Israeli politics, the loss of those very settlements has become another storied tragedy to befall the Jewish people on Tisha B'Av.

Dozens of pamphlets and prayers of lamentation have been compiled dealing with the loss of the Gaza settlement bloc, including one in which each of its 15 chapters starts with the words "How can it be?"
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The Yesha Council of settlements has also compiled a pamphlet for Tisha B'Av by dealing with the destruction of Gush Katif, but with the focus on remembrance and aspiration.

"For many years, Jews were forbidden to travel to holy places, to the holy city of Jerusalem and its environs, and nonetheless, most years on Tisha B'Av Jews would travel to the Mount of Olives, gaze at the holy city and read lamentations and prayers, calling for our return to the Temple Mount. Also, when Jews were forbidden to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, Jews arrived for generations and prayed at the entrance."

The pamphlet also reminds readers of the destruction of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc during the 1948 War of Independence and the lamentations over its loss and the prayers fervently made for years by Jews hoping for its reconstruction.

The council's pamphlet draws a comparison saying that many great tragedies in Jewish history are parts of the same linear narrative of loss, saying "a single line passes from all of these same examples throughout history - like the Jews on the Mount of Olives longing for Jerusalem and its glory."

Evacuated settlers return to West Bank for Tisha B'av prayer
Meanwhile, three years after the evacuation and destruction of Homesh and Sa-Nur, in the northern West Bank, during the disengagement, some 30 families made their way back there Sunday for a Tisha B'av prayer over the ruins of the evacuated settlements.

Yossi Dagan of Homesh First said "There's nothing like the ruins of Homesh, which had been maliciously and pointlessly destroyed, to truly get a sense of the tragic fall of the Temple."

He added, "It was difficult to sit in Homesh on the eve of Tisha B'av and read the Book of Lamentations. Every word suddenly gained special meaning, and eyes became teary."

"We will eventually return there on a permanent basis and rebuild the settlement," Dagan declared.




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