As you are surely aware, things have been quite hectic around here. I want to go back to around 2 weeks ago. Wednesday, July 13th, 6 Tammuz; on that day the Gush was declared a closed military zone.

I happened to be out of the Gush when that happened...when I was stopped at the first checkpoint some 30 kilometers away from the Gush, reality finally sunk in together with major depression.

Why depression? Because I never dreamed of anything like this ever happening in our own homeland. I thought back to 25 years ago when my parents made aliya. I would have never thought that this could happen in our own country. Why does a Jew move here? So he can feel at home and travel FREELY to whatever location he wants - not to be required to show identification papers at four checkpoints (Thank G-d, now it's only 3)...

The other point that really hurt me was the fact that for anyone who is not a resident of Gush Katif, the Government has to issue a "visa," just like in the times of the British Mandate.

What's going on here?

In every other country, the country is supposed to develop, and here we are marching backwards. How can it be that there is a part of the land of Israel that is off limits to certain Jews?...

I'm not even talking about the logistics of how it now it takes me a lot longer to get home. I'm willing to do that for the sake of Eretz Yisrael...

Look where all this has gotten us: This past Saturday night a couple who spent the Shabbos here for a family reunion was shot in cold blood on their way home, by terrorists - the same ones that our brilliant government wants to give our land to. (Emphasis mine. MS)

Is there any logic here?

Something else that really bothered me a lot was the fact that you hardly heard ANYONE on the radio condemning this murder. The media was still talking about how the disengagement plan is coming along just as planned.

What has happened to our basic morality? (I didn't even mention the fact that the day that the Gush was closed off was the same day of the funerals of the victims from the terrorist attack in Netanya. What a great move.)...

The other point that I wanted to mention was the march last week to Kfar Maimon. I don't think that there is anyone out there who is objective that can say that the people there did not act in a commendable fashion.

I think that this only justifies what I said in the last blog that we have already chalked up a victory. We have proven to people that we are a good and strong people who are standing up for what we believe in, and we do it with pride and respect...

We do not want a civil war. We only want people to understand us.

I want to end off by saying that we are still here, and most of the people in Gush Katif will stay here as long as it takes. I only daven that at the end of this crazy ride, ALL OF US will be able to look in the mirror and still feel proud of who we are.