Word: gaza
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...they thought of themselves first as farmers and builders, there were other reasons the Hilburgs and many other Americans like them came to Gaza. Only devout Jews lived there, and the Hilburgs are religious Zionists--what are called knitted-yarmulke Jews, who follow the Orthodox faith but not to the extremes of the ultra-religious. Born in 1949 to a pious family in Brooklyn's Borough Park, Sammy spent eight years in religious schools before transferring to a public high school, where he majored "in sports," he says. After a stint studying automotive mechanics, Sammy joined the Marine Corps...
...Hilburgs buckled down to the practical business of turning Gaza's sand into fruitful farmland. They had six children: three are married, two are in the army, and the children profess a range of religious faith, from ultra-Orthodox to secular. Their second son Yochanan was killed in 1997, at age 22, while serving in an élite Israeli commando unit during a raid into Lebanon. The Hilburgs defied family members who urged that Yochanan receive a military funeral in Jerusalem. "He loved it here," says Bryna. "We decided he would be buried here, where he lived, where...
Like most of Gaza's residents, the Hilburgs thrived by growing organic crops, notably cherry tomatoes for export to Europe. The Hilburgs say it breaks their hearts to dismantle the hothouses they worked so hard to build, but in the nearby enclave of Gadid, another U.S.-born settler, Lynn Bentolila, expresses a sentiment widely shared in the Gush: "I don't want to see [the Palestinians] using my land or living in my house." The Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority have been wrangling over the issue: both agree the Israeli houses should be destroyed but dispute who would...
...Hilburg house, no steps have been taken to leave. Like so many Gaza residents, they are counting on denial and faith to save their community at the zero hour. Bryna folds her hands in her lap and says, "The simple fact is, I don't want to go. It's my home of 26 years. My roots are here. Netzer Hazani has what I need and want. We built it up. We made a beautiful place, beautiful in spirit." So the Hilburgs say they will do anything peaceable and lawful that will stop the clock, but nothing more. They obeyed...
...financed: settling every corner of Greater Israel was the only way to ensure the nation's survival. But that has left them feeling betrayed and increasingly isolated from the Israeli mainstream, which backs Sharon's argument that security can come with separation from the Palestinians. Yet withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is just one hard step along that road, leaving unresolved the vastly larger intermingling of Arab and Jew in the West Bank, a place even more sacred to religious Jews. So the struggle over Gaza may only be a preview of far more divisive and fundamental fights to come...