In the video: Garbage left by travelers after the South Red Festival/photo: KKL-Junk
"The anemones are back, and so is 'Drom Adom'. You can write countless clichés about blood and soil, about the return of growth and blossoming. But today I saw the signs that KKL put in their forests in honor of Drom Adom, along with the chemical toilets.
"So in one word
'no'
, and in two words
'don't come
.
'" And not because it's dangerous here, even though IEDs still fall here from time to time, and not because it's scary here (and yes, gunfire and helicopters are scary), and not because of the destroyed roads , and the scenes left by the tanks everywhere. Don't come because of the country road. This is a region whose inhabitants are refugees in their own country, whose settlements are abandoned and burned, having a picnic here is like having a party at the house of a neighbor who is in intensive care in a hospital, it is invading a place where the hosts are not, not to mention All those who won't hold back and just want to see the migonit, or the burnt houses in the kibbutzim, this is our house, and this time we are not inviting.
"In the picture: two children and a dog on happier days in the field near the house.
Do yourself a favor and come here only after they return home."
"Do yourself a favor and come here only after they return home."
Children in wraps in happier days/surfing photos, courtesy of Bar Hefetz
Should we give up the anemone event this year?
Darom Adom/Ziv Reinstein, Ziv Reinstein
The above words were written yesterday (Tuesday) by Bar Hefetz, a farmer from Kibbutz Nirim in the Gaza Envelope, in a personal post in preparation for the "Red Red" events that begin tomorrow and every weekend in the coming month.
Many debates and questions were asked regarding the holding of the "Anemone Festival", perhaps the most well-known event of the region and one of the largest tourism events in Israel, which in a normal year attracts almost half a million travelers, who come to enjoy the blooming of the anemones and along the way also support the businesses in the area.
Bar expresses his heart's desire, and according to him he is definitely not the only one in Azor who thinks that this year it was possible to give up the popular anemone events.
Although the Shakma-Bashur Tourism Association, which unites five regional councils, decided to turn down the heat a little, and even removed the word "festival" from the event designation, so as not to broadcast too much festivity while our abductees and soldiers are in Gaza, there are still those in the region who resent receiving the people of Israel en masse, on the roads , on the roads, trying to enter destroyed houses, and take a look.
"I think that, on the whole, these are good intentions," says Bar in a conversation with Walla!
Tourism, "But the tourism association belongs to five regional councils, and as far as I know there is one council that did not want this (the event - Z.R) to happen. The thought is positive to show that there is life and also to allow businesses to make a living, I understand. And they say that it will be in distant places and in a different atmosphere , but we all know the people of Israel, who will come to Ham with their jeeps and 4x4 vehicles. So he won't go and try to see burnt houses? There are settlements here on the fence where all the residents are still evacuated, there are kidnapped people who have not returned home and this seems quite strange to the people here. I don't come to fight with people who think differently, but I know that I'm not in the minority. Even if there are only 40 percent here who think that everything is a horror for them, it's a bit like poking people in the eye. I'm not in the minority and it doesn't matter, if there's someone here from a restaurant or a restaurant Anyone who wants to bring guests - with fun. But as KKL-Junk or as something institutional - it was possible to stop for one year and say - go see anemones in the Judean Mountains."
"I think it was possible to give it up this year."
Bar Hefetz/surfing photos, courtesy of the photographer
Don't want to be too solemn.
The new logo of "Drom Adom" 2024/Drom Adom
"Holocaust tourism is developing here in the kibbutzim"
But what happens to the residents and businesses who do want to make a living and try to continue with their lives?
what do you tell them
"Many of the businesses here don't work at all and the state is supposed to compensate them, and I don't have a good answer for that. I'm here to describe the feelings of many people who live here. I think it could have been waived this year, people are supposed to get refunds from property tax, get compensation, and in addition, we are developing here Holocaust tourism in the kibbutzim, which is without asking the people who lived here if it's okay for them to enter the burnt house and hang around there. There are always groups of civil servants, firefighters, office workers of one kind or another, and enter through a friend of someone's cousin - that's how it is in Israel Let Nir Oz, or Bari, or Kfar Gaza decide how to commemorate what happened. In the end, this is someone's house and there is no reason for them to enter without consent."
In the end it is someone's house and there is no reason for them to enter without consent." Ruined houses in Kibbutz Barry/Reuven Castro
"It was possible to celebrate the anemone march without calling people to come here"/Shay Makhlouf
"Calling people to come here is a big mistake"
Have tours already started in the area in an orderly manner?
"My father is retired and he was an instructor here about history and nature, and now he receives a lot of calls for instruction but he is not ready. But for everyone who is not ready - there are those who are. It is completely already here. All the kibbutzim where something happened - they are all abandoned at the moment , and those who live in them anyway are some farmers and some guys from the preparatory language class because of work."
What do you say to the tourism association that, after all, humbled the event a bit in order to hold it?
"The intention is good, but when people arrive here it will make a big mess, and the roads here are closed all weekends and it will be possible to enter only with 17, there are vendors, and there are combines and relatives. It was possible to mark the anemone march without calling people to come here. For example, to bring schools. I think that calling people to come here is a big mistake.
"I hope that next year they can come back and hold the festival, hoping that we succeeded and everyone returned and also the security."
More on the same topic:
Red south
anemones
travelers
Gaza Envelope