Away from the Holy Land
Finnish-born David Strasburg lives in the Gaza Strip in a Jewish settlement that will soon be emptied. He plans to move to the West Bank, because he can further the cause of the Jews there as well.
By Laura Junka
Two large aquariums bubble softly in the small living room of David Strasburg. Strasburg has hung pictures of his deceased mother, Israeli nature, and Helsinki on the walls of the cosy room. The only window of the room is full of well-tended house plants.
A tall electric fence stands some tens of metres away from the window.
Strasburg, 41, lives in Katif. It is a settlement of around 350 inhabitants, one of the 21 such settlements that Israel has set up in the Gaza Strip. It is a part of the larger settlement grouping of Gush Katif, in the southern part of Gaza.
The electric fence surrounds the settlement, which is built in the middle of Palestinian territory. Access to Katif is only possible through one gate, which is carefully guarded by the Army.
On the outside, Strasburg’s home resembles the other houses in the quiet and modest settlement. The red roofed houses, painted white, have been built side by side on a sandy slope. The centre of Katif, a little way further up the hill, contains a store, the synagogue, two day care centres, and a school.
Soon Katif, and Strasburg’s home along with it, will be bulldozed, as the government of Ariel Sharon begins to realise its plan to withdraw the Israelis from the Gaza Strip.
Strasburg hails from Helsinki but has lived in Katif for the past 16 years. He moved to Israel for religious and political reasons – and because of the Finnish weather.
"I would have left in any case, because I do not like the long and cold winter", Strasburg laughs. "But I wanted to move to Israel because it is the promised land of Jews. I felt that here I could be most useful to the Jewish people."
Arriving in Israel as a recent high-school graduate with a tourist visa, Strasburg lived first in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and in kibbutzim, studied the Holy texts of the Jews, and worked at odd jobs. After spending four years in the country, he became convinced that he wanted to stay. Strasburg applied for Israeli citizenship and began to search for a place to settle down in.
Strasburg wound up in Gush Katif after friends invited him to come visit Gaza.
"At first I considered moving to Judea or Samaria, in other words, to the West Bank. But it can snow in the winter near Nablus or Jerusalem! In Gaza, on the other hand, it is always warm."
Life in the settlement on the coast of the Mediterranean offered Strasburg sun and a purpose for his life.
The decision of the Israeli Prime Minister to hand the settlements over to the Palestinians was a profound shock for him.
"I do not want to give Jewish land to anyone, especially not the Arabs, who kill and murder us every day."
"Ariel Sharon has betrayed the Jews", Strasburg proclaims. According to the former Finn, Sharon, known as a supporter of the settlements, decided to withdraw from Gaza to save his own skin:
''When the press began to accuse Sharon of corruption a few years back, he began to speak of the withdrawal to draw the attention of the media elsewhere."
Strasburg vehemently defends his right to live in Katif. According to him, Katif is not a settlement built in Palestinian territory, but a regular village built on Jewish soil.
Life in Katif has not been easy. Strasburg spent the first thirteen years in one small room with an attached modest bathroom. He began to rent his current two-bedroom house only in 2002.
The long wait was due above all to the fact that Strasburg is single. The purpose of the settlements has been to fill the Holy Land, and young couples and families with children have always been favoured.
"This house was built in 1991 but stood empty for eleven years", Strasburg recalls. The house was built after the Minister responsible for construction had authorised the building of 40 new houses.
It has also been difficult to find work when living alone. One of Katif’s main livelihoods is agriculture, and the farming lands of the settlement are jointly owned by the farming commune of Katif, the moshav. Just under half of the residents of Katif are owning members of the moshav. Only couples and families can join.
Strasburg found work as a security guard. His job has been to guard the Palestinian construction workers who come to Gush Katif to work for the day.
"The law says that each construction site that employs Arabs must have a security guard, armed with a rifle, who has gone to the Israeli Army", Strasburg explains.
Through his work, he has come into contact with Palestinians and picked up some Arabic. The language has done little to bring him closer to the Arabs. "I would like to learn more Arabic. If I know the language, the workers will not dare to plan any mischief."
Due to the plans for withdrawal, Strasburg and the Palestinians he has guarded have wound up unemployed. For the past couple of years, it has not been allowed to build anything new in Gush Katif.
Like many of the settlement residents, Strasburg planned to resist the withdrawal by sitting at home until soldiers come to carry him away. But now he has already been looking for a new home, in Judea or Samaria.
Strasburg expects to be compensated some 108,000 euros by the government, and believes the money will buy him an apartment of his own in the West Bank, where housing is cheaper than in Israel. And in the West Bank, he can still feel he is furthering the cause of Israel.
Strasburg would like to live close to his current neighbours in the future as well. One of them introduced him to the care of aquarium fish five years ago, and fish have since become his favourite hobby.
As far as Strasburg knows, the representatives of Katif have negotiated with the Israeli government about their withdrawal, but no one seems to know where the residents of the village will move to. According to Strasburg, the people of Katif will most likely be set up in a hotel for one or two weeks, and then placed in temporary flats for a couple of years. During this time, the state will build new houses for the villagers.
Strasburg, however, is not keen to move many times, but plans to buy his own place right away, and also use the compensation to get his largest aquarium in proper shape. It was left standing idle and empty in the middle of the living room when the unemployed Strasburg could not afford the necessary pumps.
Strasburg admits with a grin that his financial standing will surely improve once he is forced out of the settlement. "But the future of the Jewish people is more important than personal good", he is quick to add.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 7.8.2005
Helsingin Sanomat
