JERUSALEM, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Thousands of Jews who had to leave their settlements in Gaza last year under Israel's disengagement plan marked the event's first anniversary Tuesday.
The Israeli national news service Arutz Sheva reported the former residents of Gush Katif and Samaria settlements have planned a series of memorial events this week culminating in the capital, Jerusalem.
The first of the events was near Kibbutz Kisufim, along the route leading into the Gush Katif area of Gaza. It featured a Gush Katif Torah Scroll, which will be brought to Jerusalem and deposited at the Western Wall until it is restored at Gush Katif.
An exhibit planned in Jerusalem will show 35 years of Gush Katif and the various achievements of the 21 uprooted communities.
Lior Kalfa, head of the Gush Katif Communities Council, told a news conference despite strong feelings against the Israeli army for its role in their expulsion, the communities support the soldiers as they fight Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Kalfa said Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nasrallah had compared Israel to a spider web that collapses into nothing but needs to understand Gush Kaif communities "are continuing to build and perpetuating the pioneering spirit of Zionism."
