Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 25, 2005 Page: 1 of 24
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TJP V59-34 08-25-05 p01-04 9/29/05 12:09 PM Page 1
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Thursday, August 25,2005
20 Av 5765
Texas Jewish
J Since 1947
Post
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After ex-Gaza family
moves to Israel,
memories of their
garden remain fresh
2
Trevor Stokol
remembered for living
life to its fullest at
Chabad service
7
Great flicks on the
marquee for Ninth
Annual Dallas Jewish
Film Festival
8
VOLUME 59 NO. 33
texasjewishpost.com
$1.00
NEWS ANALYSIS
Sharon's Gaza
momentum
Relative ease of Gaza
withdrawal could affect
Israel's future agenda
By Leslie Susser
JERUSALEM (JTA) — In the long
run, the ease with which Israel evac-
uated Gaza Strip settlements could
prove to be as significant as the pull-
back itself.
The fact that the withdrawal
went relatively smoothly challenges
the long-standing belief that Israel
will not be able to dismantle large
numbers of settlements in the West
Bank, shores up Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's international and
domestic standing, and suggests
that the settler movement will not
be able to set the national agenda in
quite the same way as it has for
more than three decades.
Despite apocalyptic forecasts of
conflicts approaching civil war, it
took the Israeli army and police less
than a week to remove the roughly
9,000 Gaza settlers and about 3,000
radicals who had infiltrated the set-
tlements to stiffen resistance.
The strategy was to isolate the
settlements and send overwhelming
numbers of soldiers and police in
one or two at a time. The military
chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz,
explained that the huge numbers
made it possible to do the job using
minimal force.
The settlers expressed their
anguish at being forced to leave
their homes: There were tears, harsh
words and some ugly physical
clashes, but no bloodshed.
Indeed, what violence there was
seemed to set clear limits to future
resistance after Israeli society unan-
imously condemned waving sticks,
hurling wooden beams and pouring
down oil, paint and turpentine to
fend off soldiers and police as "intol-
erable hooliganism."
All this could have major implica-
tions for the West Bank. For decades,
many Israelis have argued that the
see MOMENTUM p. 21
Rabbi David Gruber, Howard Schultz, seniors Amitai Scott and Jordan Hirsch, and Steven Rosenberg (not pictured) led
morning services in Yavneh Academy of Dallas' new synagogue, on the first day of school. Classes began Monday at the
Schultz/Rosenberg Campus, the school's first permanent campus in its 13 years. Photo:Deborah Silverthom
Community airs Gaza differences
FW native who moved
to West Bank disagrees
with backers of pullout
The disagreement over the Dism-
gagement Plan has caused severe
wounds, bitter hatred between
brothers and sisters, and severe state-
ments and actions.
— Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
statement to "Citizens of Israel"
By Steve Israel
Special to the TJP
FORT WORTH — Debate over
Israel's disengagement from Gaza
resounded at dinner tables and
public forums across North Texas
last week, drawing nearly 200 to an
emotional 90-minute discussion
sponsored by the Jewish Federation
of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.
"When they're talking about the
outsiders who are barricading
themselves in Gaza, well, it's largely
my friends' kids, because this has
become sort of the social thing for a
19-year-old or a 17-year-old or a
15-year-old to do now," said Wendy
Brachman Fisher, who grew up in
Fort Worth and now lives in Efrat in
Israel's West Bank.
Fisher said her neighbors' chil-
dren "figured out ways to slip into
Gaza" to help settlers resist Israeli
soldiers, including some who went
to the Western Wall, joined settlers
davening there, and hopped onto
their bus. Fisher's 15-year-old son
Elad, said he has friends who were
jailed for blocking roads near Gaza
in their effort "to make people in
Israel conscious of the situation."
Fisher, one of three paneli sts who
spoke at the Federation event at Con-
gregation Ahavath Sholom on
Wednesday night, left no doubt about
her disdain for the pullout from all 21
settlements in Gaza and from four
small settlements in the West Bank.
"I believe that running out of
Gaza is going to be perceived, what-
ever our noble reasons for doing it,
as another running away and is
going to kick off more desire than
ever before to bring the fighting
closer to my home," she said. Fisher
compared the withdrawal, pitting
Jew-against-Jew, to Israel's with-
drawal from southern Lebanon in
May 2000.
AIPAC Regional Director Mark
Toubin acknowledged to the group
that the last 18 months have been
"enormously difficult" for Israelis.
He called the early stages of the
withdrawal"about as good as people
could have hoped for...and no
kasam rockets have been coming
down on [settlers'] heads."
"The worst case scenarios that
had been presented — that Israel
was going to break out in civil war
— fortunately that hasn't happened,
see COMMUNITY p. 21
Schultz/
Rosenberg
Campus opens
to accolades
Akiba and Yavneh students
head back to school in
spectacular surroundings
By Harriet P. Gross
This is the first week of the 2005-06
school year for Dallas' Akiba and
Yavneh Academies. It maybe the only
time when students of the two
schools get lost on their own campus.
Many of their new Schultz/Rosen-
berg facilities are still in the clean-up
stage as classes begin. But far more
important than the somewhat
inevitable confusion is the excitement.
"The truth, absolutely, is that this
is fabulous! Outstanding!" said an
enthusiastic Mike Zucker, who
started a two-year term as Akiba's
Board president on July 1. He is the
father of one child each at Akiba
and Yavneh, and has two daughters
now in college who are graduates of
both schools; he himself was a
member of Akiba's first graduating
class, in 1971. "The new structures
are beautiful, but the buildings will
become even more beautiful when
they are alive with kids in atten-
dance," he said.
Jaynie Schultz, Akiba president
before Zucker, explains, "We
approached construction of this
campus differently than most other
schools do. We asked, How should
our values as a community be
reflected in the spaces we construct?
And how should anyone who comes
to our campus be affected by it?"
With answers, things began to
happen. "We started small," Zucker
said, "and grew. As momentum
picked up, with inspiration and pas-
sion, the project took on a life of its
own. Now people say we've raised
the bar for standards of schools
across the United States. But this is
not true. We are so far above stan-
dards, there's no comparison!"
see CAMPUS p. 3
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Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 25, 2005, newspaper, August 25, 2005; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth188094/m1/1/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .