By
Donald H. Harrison
EREZ, Israel— Atop a hill where 10 of his colleagues from the Palmach are
memorialized,
Yehuda Shachor recently recalled the eerie time at the end of Israel's War for
Independence in 1948 when no one quite knew where the border with the Gaza Strip
lay. This very memorial rock, he said, was located in "no man's land."
While Egyptian and Israeli negotiators on the Greek Island of Rhodes
debated the location of Israel's and Gaza's border as part of a 1949 bilateral
armistice agreement, the remaining members of his Palmach unit camped in tents
at nearby Kibbutz Or Haner.
In the main, this unit of 120 soldiers consisted of 19-year-old boys from Petach
Tikvah who had grown up on the ideals of socialistic Zionism and were now
ready to start a kibbutz on the Egyptian-controlled Gaza border. They planned to
defend the new Jewish country against external aggression and, through
agriculture, help build its economy.
If the boundary line could be drawn in such a way as to put the "no man's
land" inside Israel, their future kibbutz would be located above a "good
aquifer" that would add immeasurably to the new kibbutz's chance for
success. But how could the Egyptians be induced to give up this piece of
land?
Shachor gave credit to Yeruchem Cohen, who represented the Israeli side in the
negotiations conducted under United
Nations auspices by mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche (who later was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation).
In 1942, Cohen—a Yemenite Jew whose father had been a janitor at Herzliya High
School— had been recruited by the Jewish
Agency to learn as much as possible about the ways of the Arabs. Seven years
later, the post-Independence War negotiations were the test of what he had
learned.
The Egyptians pointed out that the ceasefire line had cut the region surrounding
the Arab village of Abasan
almost in half. They demanded that the area, located about 25 miles south of the
no-man's land, be reunified under Arab rule.
Cohen adamantly refused their request. If the Abasan area was reunited, it would
mean that a piece of Gaza would protrude into Israel. It would look just like a
nose, and Israel did not want the Egyptians to get their nose into its business.
Thus the Arabs became committed in the negotiations to obtaining Abasan, while
the Israelis, who had kept mum about their desire to control the aquifer,
pretended that the "no-man's land" was of marginal interest to them at
best.
Finally, after more refusals and consultations, the deal was struck. All of
Abasan would go to the Egyptians, but the no-man's land along the northern
border of the Gaza Strip would become part of Israel.
With the war concluded, the Palmachniks transformed themselves into civilian
kibbutzniks, gathered up their tents and relocated to what no longer was
no-man's land. At a spot a bit to the northwest of the Gaza Strip¹s northeast
corner, they founded Kibbutz 'Erez,' meaning cedar trees.
Among the kibbutz's founders was Moshe Gilboa, who later would become a member
of Israel¹s Foreign Service, occupying consular and ambassadorial posts around
the world, including in the United States.
"When we came here, we got nothing from the government," Shachor said.
"We lived in tents and had two tractors. We got as much plowing done as
possible before the rains. Also, we received some money from the Army to guard
the border" in the days before the Army took over that responsibility
completely.
Although the new kibbutz started with 120 soldiers, "after the war a lot of
people left. By 1952, there were only 50 people here. .. When we started we were
19 years old, we were children, and we played 'kibbutz.' Slowly, slowly, we
learned to build a business."
As Shachor was remembering the old days, a line of cows passed by in the kibbutz
fields, located outside its barbed wire enclosure. Cows for milk and meat,
poultry, citrus trees, honey— that was how the kibbutz was supposed to make
its living, from agriculture.
Such agriculture still employs some kibbutz members; however, over the years, it
earned Kibbutz Erez less and less money. The kibbutz¹s general secretary,
Amitai Itzhak, said eventually the kibbutzniks did the unthinkable: they made
industry the main focus of Kibbutz Erez's economy.
Today, Kibbutz Erez earns income from three industries, according to Itzhak, who
came to the kibbutz in 1965. Erez Thermoplastic Products Ltd., employing 50
kibbutz members and 20 other workers, manufactures plastic sheeting that is sold
internationally, with sales running "between $10 and $20 million per
year," Itzhak said.
Flexible plastic containers that can be placed inside steel containers are a
popular application for this product. "You can ship wine in the flexible
container, then reuse the steel container for another product," explained
the general secretary.
A "gym toy" factory produces various playroom and playground items
such as a playhouse, a tunnel, a room with plastic balls, and an obstacle course
for kids who like to roll around. "It is distributed only in Israel to mall
stores, kindergartens; it is too expensive for family use," Itzhak said.
A third business also uses plastics. It is the manufacturer of what Itzhak
described as an "ecological bubble, built like a green house." Small
caged animals and ponds of fish, along with a variety of vegetation and science
demonstration stations for elementary school students, all are kept inside the
fetid walk-through demonstration model on Kibbutz Erez.
Before the second intifada there had been hope that with the ecological
bubble, joint science projects might be created to involve youth from Kibbutz
Erez and from inside the Gaza Strip.
However, this dream has receded, especially since last March 30, when the Israel
Defense Forces intercepted and killed two armed terrorists who had crossed over
the Gaza Strip boundary and were trying to infiltrate Kibbutz Erez.
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