Elei Sinai

Elei Sinai ( , lit.¹ Towards Sinai) was an Israeli settlement in the north of Gaza Strip . It was established in 1982 ( Sukkot 5743) by a group who had been evicted from Yamit . It was named for the yearning to return to the Sinai desert, where Yamit was located. Avi Farhan, a Yamit expellee, and Arik Herfez, whose daughter had been killed by Palestinian militants, were two of the most notable residents. Among the arguments in opposition to Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , which stated that the settlers should be evicted from Elei Sinai, was a proposal by Farhan allowing the settlers to remain in their homes as Palestinian citizens, an idea which was rejected by the Palestinians and by the Israeli government. About 100 families lived there at the end. The village was surrendered on 21 August 2005 and later demolished. The residents had actually left their homes voluntarily but returned after realizing that the government had no place to send them. After the forced eviction, a group of fifty families established themselves at the Yad Mordechai junction as a protest that the government hadn't found a community solution for them. Others were sent to the Shirat HaYam hotel. The rest of the settlement later split into a few groups including those which are found in: Karmia - promised future homes in Talmei Yafeh close to Ashkelon . Or HaNer - promised future homes in the Bat Hadar neighborhood close to Ashkelon. Farhan and a part of his family establish a new group and hope to establish a new community in the center of the country. The government agreeed in 2006 to acclimatize this group in Palmachim . Interview: Israeli settler Avi Farhan Some settlers choose Gaza over citizenship One small victory in a lost battle²