As war rages, evacuees from Israel's North long to return home - opinion

I recently received a call from a friend who a couple of years ago had relocated to Kiryat Shmona from Jerusalem with her husband. They loved the pastoral idyll, the beautiful and spacious homes, and the low cost of living. But now they had been evacuated to a hotel in Jerusalem. When I went to see her, she introduced me to some members of the Kiryat Shmona community. Since October 7, the entire community has spread over 230 hotels and rented apartments in Tiberias, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv. All I did was listen as they described how they feel like refugees in their own country and asked how one can abandon a whole region. 

Kiryat Shmona was founded in 1950. Most of its 24,000 residents emigrated from Middle Eastern countries. Even before October 7, Kiryat Shmona suffered from shelling, a weak economy, and long wait lists for medical services. One woman remarked that in the center of Israel, one doesn’t hear missiles unless one turns on the TV. The residents feel that they have no leverage and suffer from, in their words, “beaten woman syndrome.”

After more than seven months of no normal schooling, it is the children who are paying a high price for being away from home. The number of students graduating and obtaining their bagrut (matriculation) is down to 45% in comparison to 90% pre-October 7. The prolonged stay in hotels is one of the causes for increased alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking by minors. The economic toll of closed-down businesses is enormous, with no cavalry in sight. The general consensus is that the majority of the young people will not return to Kiryat Shmona. 

The mass exodus from Kiryat Shmona

On one of the days that I met with the evacuees, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented that nothing would seriously happen if the residents of the North returned home a few months after September 1, traditionally the beginning of the school year. They were all enraged at how out of touch Netanyahu is with the evacuees’ plight and how oblivious of their sense of urgency to return home. Israelis, especially the people of Kiryat Shmona, have not forgotten Netanyahu’s response to Orna Peretz’s “query” a couple of years ago about a lack of medical facilities in her community of Kiryat Shmona: “You don’t interest me. You are boring.” 

That is how they feel now as a community – marginalized. Meanwhile, Avichai Stern, the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, is forced to spend most of his time seeking philanthropy, as the government is not sufficiently involved.

One retired police officer said it best: “A hotel is for recreation; it is not a home.” He went on to say that they have all reached the point of saturation after “quenching their thirst.” Whole families being confined to living in small hotel rooms is not tenable in the long term. Eating three industrial meals a day does not contribute to their health and well-being. And for those in rented apartments, they are at the mercy of landlords who keep on raising their rents.

An older person said that the irony of the situation is that most of the Kiryat Shmona population had been Likud voters, and now they feel let down by a government that perpetuates its rule by prolonging the war in Gaza with no victory in sight and a slow destruction of the North. Where is the strategy for the day after, they asked.

The most poignant criticism was from Smadar, a postal manager. She said that prior to October 7, all people cared about was economic security – being able to own a home and earn a decent living. But now they are longing for security per se. She complained that she can’t even plan her daughter’s wedding, as family and friends are spread all over Israel. Meanwhile, she is busy helping others wherever she can with medical appointments and other issues. Overall, the people I have spoken to sense a lack of leadership and mutual responsibility in the government. Real victory is not only when the hostages are released but also when all those torn from their dwellings are able to return to their homes safely.■

Shoshana Tita is a writer, scholar, and international teacher based in the US, Spain, and Israel.