Defiant couple refuse to pack up Gaza home

NEVE DEKALIM - Whether or not it was the last day in the settlement they have lived in for 22 years, Moti and Rachel Slater knew the end was imminent.

They did not, as so many settlers have in recent weeks, talk of the "miracle" that could stop it happening.

But by the time the deadline passed and in sharp contrast to growing numbers of their neighbours, the quietly defiant couple had deliberately not packed a single suitcase as two of their children watched television in apparent unconcern that the Army could arrive at any time from today.

The deadline passed at midnight (9.00am NZ time) on Wednesday for thousands of Jewish settlers to leave Gaza Strip without being forced.

The Israeli Army hopes to dismantle settlements in Palestinian territory for the first time since it was occupied in the six-day war in 1967, an operation which the army hopes to complete by September 4.

Mr Slater, 46, said: "No we are not packing up. We want to stay here. We don't think it's good for Israel. If they want to take us out, then that's what they'll have to do and they'll have to take our things."

What about the threat that they would lose a third of their compensation by staying beyond the deadline?

"I have heard about this but there are things that are worth more than money. This is important."

Mr Slater, 46, used to work for an agricultural business in the settlements which is now closed. But apart from his unaccustomed presence in the house in the middle of the day, an atmosphere of normality prevailed.

His daughter Tirza, 14, was peeling potatoes for the afternoon meal after which they went to a communal ceremony at which the residents of Neve Dekalim would pray together, possibly for the last time.

The family was, said Mr Slater, simply "passing the time." The whole family had discussed what to do.

"We told the children they could go if they wanted but they all wanted to stay."

Tirza Slater added: "It's important to be here. I don't want to leave when other people are staying and fighting to stay. It's very hard to leave and, anyway, I don't want to be separated from my parents."

The family car is being repaired outside Gaza; otherwise the Slaters had sent out only family documents and the winter clothes they won't be needing till October. Mr Slater said he had few personal feelings.

"This is not really our problem; I can get on with my life. It is a problem for the whole nation. There is nowhere in the world that would give the land to its enemies. If you run away from terror, it will come after you. It won't stop."

Mr Slater praises George Bush and Tony Blair for fighting "terror in Iraq" but when it is pointed out that both men strongly support Ariel Sharon's disengagement policy, he says he can't understand why they don't apply what he sees as the same criteria to what is happening in Israel, adding improbably "Perhaps it's because we are Jews."

Mrs Slater, 45, whose mother was born in London and who still has relatives in Manchester is less personally dispassionate than her husband.

"What do I feel?" she asks with a trace of sarcasm. "Sadness, frustration, anger. Is that enough?"

Her oldest three children were adopted. "Now they are being moved from where they know once again."

Mr Slater says they know only that they will be going to "some hotel" immediately after the evacuation. What will they do when the Army come?

"We will try and convince them, tell them they are doing something wrong, something bad. I guess we won't convince them. They're only soldiers. They are only doing the job. Then we'll go. We won't fight." 

- THE INDEPENDENT