By Donald
H. Harrison
Alon Schuster, the new mayor of the Sha'ar Hanegev region of Israel,
finally has stepped into a position that two generations of his family had
sought unsuccessfully. His late father, Yehuda, ran for the mayoral post 14
years ago, and a decade later, Alon too was an unsuccessful candidate.
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Father and son both had been defeated by Shai
Hermesh in their quests to lead this desert region paralleling the northern
portion of the Gaza Strip. Last March, Schuster followed that old adage,
"if you canšt lick 'em, join 'em," and became Hermesh's deputy
mayor. Notwithstanding their rival candidacies, the two had been friends for
many years. Hermesh is a resident of Kfar Aza, one of
10 kibbutzim in the Sha'ar Hanegev area; Schuster is a
resident of Mefalsim, a neighboring kibbutz.
Last September, Hermesh was appointed as treasurer of the Jewish
Agency for Israel, a position considered the Number Two job in the body
that implements collaborations between Israel and Jews of the Diaspora.
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Alon Schuster |
Although Hermesh then resigned as Sha'ar Hanegev's mayor, one of his
responsibilities
guaranteed that he would stay close. Among a multiplicity of projects, the
Jewish Agency oversees the Ibim student village, which welcomes young immigrants
from other countries and prepares them to become students in Israel.
Ibim is a program to which the United
Jewish Federation of San Diego contributes $750,000 a year and helps to
govern. Because Ibim is in the midst of the Shašar Hanegev areaalthough
technically not part of it the Federation over the years also has become
involved in Sha'ar Hanegev projects. It spent a little less than $500,000 on
projects there last year as part of an emergency campaign to help Israel and
Jewish immigrants from economically distressed Argentina.
Besides the interest of Hermesh in Sha'ar Hanegev affairs, Schuster also can
count on the interest of another highly-placed Israeli politician in fact the
most highly placed. The large ranch of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is situated
amid Sha'ar Hanegevšs 10 kibbutzim and one moshav, and 'Arik,' as the P.M. is
called by his neighbors, stays well-informed on local matters.
Schuster is carving out a name for himself as a mayor of the complex region of
Israel that borders and sometimes is the target of rocket attacks from the
northern portion of the Gaza Strip.
Although Hermesh then resigned as Sha'ar Hanegevšs mayor, one of his
responsibilities
guaranteed that he would stay close. Among a multiplicity of projects, the
Jewish Agency oversees the Ibim student village, which welcomes young immigrants
from other countries and prepares them to become students in Israel.
Schuster and Hermesh visited San Diego last week to meet UJF officials and
other Jewish communal leaders. In an interview on Wednesday, Nov. 27, Schuster
told Heritage that he is working hard to retain the 6,000 residents of
Sha'ar Hanegev and to attract another 4,000 residents to his region.
He has urged Israel's government to invest in a new train to carry passengers
via Sha'ar Hanegev between Tel Aviv and Be'ersheva.
Such a train, he said, will make it easy for people to commute between jobs in
Tel Aviv and residences in Sha'ar Hanegev. Furthermore, he wants to help the
kibbutzim transition from socialistic farming communities founded during
Israel's early years of independence to pluralistic communities in which
kibbutzniks and private citizens live side
by side.
He explained that while the generation of his parents like the old socialistic
model in which everyone contributed their earnings to the kibbutz, which then
parceled out money according to people's needs, younger generations of Israelis
want to own their own property and to retain
earnings from their jobs.
Rather than see the younger generation flee from places like Mefalsim and Kfar
Aza, Schuster said, he has encouraged programs under which non-kibbutz members
can rent homes inside the kibbutz or build private homes on property adjoining
the kibbutzim. While such residents are not subject to the kibbutzim's rules,
they pay taxes to send their children to schools and
support necessary social services in the region.
Although his parents' generation is not enthusiastic about the philosophical
change that partial privatization represents, he said: "I tell them that we
are fulfilling your dream in a different way. The main values, the basis of your
dream, such as solidarity and caring for each other, are
still the main goals."
Schuster noted that the private citizens take their turn guarding the Sha'ar
Hanegev region from attacks from across the Gaza border. "When there is an
alarm from the (border) fence, we all jump from our beds," Schuster said.
The rockets shot at Sha'ar Hanegev from the Gaza Strip have discouraged people
who have been attracted to the area through the privatization program, but have
not deterred his fellow kibbutzniks from remaining in the area, the mayor said.
"A farmer who lives under a volcano will come back after the
eruption," he observed.
Schuster likes to remind Israel's politicians that if they wish to see Israel's
founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurionšs dream of developing the Negev
realized, they must pay more than lip service to the idea.
Like other municipalities, Shašar Hanegev feels an economic pinch from the
two-year-long intifada. In beefing up its military to defend itself, Israel has
had to reduce expenditures elsewhere. Social programs administered by
municipalities have been subjected to budget cuts.
Schuster said San Diegans have been helping to sustain social services in the
Sha'ar Hanegev region. The $456,000 raised by UJFšs emergency campaign helped
not only in resettlement but also in care for seniors who are infirm, and in
programs for children who have no supervision after school.
The mayor said he would like to deepen the relationship between Shašar Hanegev
and San Diego. The two areas have commonalities that might not at first be
apparent, he suggested.
Sha'ar Hanegev is struggling for its physical existence in the face of military
enemies, he said. The San Diego Jewish population meanwhile struggles for
continuity in the face of assimilation. Leadership of both communities are
concerned with preserving Jewish life, he said.
He recommended partnership programs for students of San Diego and Sha'ar Hanegev.
They can study for bar/bat mitzvah together and also do projects for Yom
Ha'Atzma'ut and Yom HaShoah together, he suggested. The mayor also expressed a
desire for businesses in San Diego and Sha'ar Hanegev to develop joint projects.
Traveling with Schuster and Hermesh to San Diego was Amer Abu M'amar, mayor
of the nearby Bedouin village of Segev Shalom, and Ya'acov Schneider, the former
shaliach (Israeli goodwill ambassador) in San Diego who now coordinates
San Diego-Israel programs in Israel. Erez Strasburg, the new shaliach in
San Diego, escorted them to various appointments.
Youngsters from Segev Shalom participate with those from Sha'ar Hanegev and
from San Diego's Jewish community in the Jacobs International Teen Leadership
Institute, traveling together and learning about each otheršs cultures.
Schuster said Jewish teens from San Diego who know how it feels to live as a
member of a minority can help Israeli Jews relate to the problems the Bedouins
feel as a minority.
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