Netzarim (settlement)
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The Israeli settlement of Netzarim was originally established in 1972 as a non-religious Hashomer Hatzair Nachal (Young Pioneer) outpost and morphed into a religious kibbutz in 1984 (the residents decided to change from a kibbutz to a village a few years later). The sixty family village included about 150 adults and 350 children and was often referred to in the media as a stronghold for religious ideology. The main branches of agriculture were: a mango plantation, a vineyard, hothouse yams and cherry tomatoes, and a prestigious etrog plantation. The settlement also boasted day care centers, kindergartens, a primary school, a kollel and the Jews of Gaza Heritage Institute, which documented Jewish settlement in Gaza over the generations. The development of educational institutions independent from the Gush Katif bloc was due to its isolated location and frequent Palestinian terror attacks on civilians using the only route connecting the village to 'mainland' Israel. During the last several years of its existence, transportation to and from Netzarim was permitted only with armed military escorts.
The first attack of the second intifada happened there on September 27, 2000.
The settlement was the last to be evacuated on August 22, 2005 by the Israel Defense Forces during the withdrawal of the Gaza Strip ordered by the government of Ariel Sharon. Its evacuation marked the end of the 38-year-long Israeli presence on the Gaza Strip since the end of the Six-Day War. The strong ideology and belief of its residents in God was exhibited until the very end by seedlings being planted in the greenhouses, cement being laid for a new home that very morning, and a large prayer session in the main synagogue that would later be destroyed by Palestinians after the Israeli army finally withdrew from the village on September 12, 2005.
The evening of the evacuation, the residents, who had prided themselves with not cooperating with any government agency involved in the withdrawal, were welcomed in the dormitories of the College of Judea and Samaria by the school administration, students, volunteers and residents of Ariel and the surrounding Samarian West Bank settlements. Before the beginning of the academic year, the former residents of Netzarim decided to split up into two groups. One group moved to the temporary government refugee camp of Yivul near the Egyptian border. The other group decided to stay in Ariel.
