Etti Fahima Gush Katif Forest Grove Dedicated in Central Israel

L-R: Eli Eskozido, Gabi Fahima, and Haim Messing. Photo: KKL-JNF Spokesperson Unit

On Thursday, June 6, 2019, a ceremony dedicating the Gush Katif Forest Grove took place in the Netzer Hazani community in the Nahal Soreq Regional Council. The forest is named for Esther Fahima, of blessed memory, who was murdered in Gush Katif by terrorists in November 2001.

The inauguration of the Eti Fahima Gush Katif Grove.
Photo: KKL-JNF Spokesperson Unit

Participating in the moving ceremony were members of Etti Fahima’s family, her husband Gabi Fahima, Nahal Sorek Regional Council Head Eli Eskozido, KKL-JNF Central Region Director Haim Messing, Community Rabbi Yehiel Yaish, KKL-JNF representatives, and Netzer Hazani residents. The community bears the name of the original Netzer Hazani settlement in Gush Katif, which was evacuated during the Gaza disengagement in 2005. Its former residents have built their lives anew in this central Israeli region. The creation of the forest grove included the replanting of trees from Gush Katif that until now had been cared for at KKL-JNF’s tree nursery in Gilat. Now these trees have a new home in the Gush Katif Forest Grove in Netzer Hazani.

At the ceremony, KKL-JNF Central Region Director Haim Messing said, “The Gush Katif forest grove was created in memory of the 21 communities evacuated during the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. During the evacuation, palm trees and olive trees, which belong to the seven species of the Land of Israel [as listed in the Bible], were transplanted here. These trees were originally planted and raised in the Gush Katif region, and they will now provide fruit and shade in their new location.

“In addition to commemorating the evacuated communities, the forest grove is dedicated to the memory of Etti Fahima, of blessed memory, a resident of the original Netzer Hazani community. Etti was murdered by terrorists in Kislev 5762 (November 2001), at the Gush Katif intersection. She is survived by four children, who became orphans. To Gabi and the children we say that we can only hope that you might find some small comfort at this site, that, just like the initials of your former and present community that form the Hebrew word for “eternity” [נצ"ח – netzach], will eternalize her story forever.

Gabi Fahima, wife of Etti Fahima Z"L, plants a tree in the Gush Katif Grove.
Photo: KKL-JNF Spokesperson Unit

“The need to resettle our brothers and sisters from Gush Katif is our social and moral obligation. By dedicating this forest grove today, and by building the new Netzer Hazani community, we are taking yet another step towards fulfilling this obligation. You, the original residents of Netzer Hazani, after having been moved around from guesthouses, to seminaries, and to caravans, have once again chosen to become pioneers in settling the land. This is an act of redemption of the land, community life and true Zionism.

“As a society, we have yet another debt towards the communities of the Western Negev and this entire region, who suffer from distress, tension, anxiety and sleepless nights between each ensuing round of fire with the Gaza Strip. Children and their parents run to their protected rooms, farmers watch all the fruits of their labor going up in flames. KKL-JNF supports our firefighters who even now are battling the flames, and our teams who are committed to the swift rehabilitation of our forests.”

Nahal Sorek Regional Council Head Eli Eskozido thanked KKL-JNF for its contribution in creating the forest grove.

KKL-JNF works in close collaboration with the Nahal Sorek Regional Council and is active in organizing many social and educational programs, both in informal and formal educational frameworks.