Glorious Gush Katif

Avraham Fried is due to play there August 16th; colourful banners attached to high-standing posts mark the beginning of a festival; Dudu Fisher sang there in concert last night.

Little children play in their parks; couples stroll along their sandy white beaches; the economy is booming from their amazing agricultural advancement and their calendars are filled with smachot ranging from britot to bar-mitzvot; weddings, birthday parties and landmark anniversaries.

Where? Gush Katif – where we went yesterday to show support for the Jews who are being evicted from their homes on August 15th by other Jews in their homeland.

Despite this unfathomable decree, life incredibly continues. There are no gloomy faces or preparation for departure. You don't see boxes or vans; no-one's packing up. The only feel of this is the military assessors who come by to measure their fellow Jews homes. As far as the residents are concerned, Eretz Yisrael – the land many of their fathers died for – is home. And home is where they shall stay. They're not in denial, but they do possess an enviably strong belief in G-d's control over man's. Perhaps it's this same emuna that enabled them to become pioneers in a barren land, some 30 years ago.

The Jews of Yamit who were expelled some years ago and resettled in the area were promised it would never happen again, but there again Ariel Sharon was elected under a right-wing banner ensuring Jews would be treated as Israeli citizens. The Supreme Court ruling two weeks ago said that it was okay to move them out, as since they live there they're not citizens and therefore the law about taking land away from citizens doesn't apply to them.

Strange really. Because it was the same Ariel Sharon who 30 years ago as Housing Minister encouraged Jews to build up land there. Perhaps he had some agreement with the Arabs back then; "listen mate," they may have said "we're not so smart at building up land, developing agriculture, cleaning up the streets and constructing beautiful homes. Why don't you bring your men in for 30 odd years, let them develop families and communities, make employable places for us lot and then we'll come back, hey? In the meantime we'll slaughter them as much as we can so there's not as many to move in the end. Sounds like a great plan, hey… Arik!"

Until a few weeks ago, there were about 35 families living in Kfar Darom. There are far more since other families moved from throughout Israel came to live there and show support. Likewise, in the last few months, approximately 5 families have left Gush Katif and 200 have joined.

There's certainly no love lost between Arik and the Jews of Gush Katif, but the sense of Am Yisrael among Israelis prevails despite Arik's clear expression of being a self-hating Jew. The guy is no better than Hitler who transported Jews out of their homes 60 years ago.

The beautiful city of Neve Dekalim – barren until the Jews moved in over two decades ago – today houses some 500 families, alongside white sandy beaches. Their infamous "bug-free" vegetables are worth millions as a business, the majority of which are exported.

We met a great grandmother who moved in 14 years ago from Har Nof. "Well," she explained, "whilst living in Har Nof, one of our children who already had one baby was expecting triplets and living in Atzmona. I said to my husband 'that's going to be more babies than hands; let's go there.'" Sounds like what any grandparent would do; my own parents came to Netanya so that they wouldn't miss out on their grandchildren's ballet performances, pre-school birthday parties and escorts to the park when their mum had a dentist appointment.

On August 16th neither the residents nor our greatly undemocratic government will be able to tell you whether these families will remain together. Who knows? Maybe the men and labour-able children will be led at gunpoint in one direction and women and babies in the other. Perhaps that's why Sharon's keeping so quiet about his plans.

Emma