Dugit ( he, דּוּגִית, lit. dinghy) was an

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

located in the northern tip of the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

closest to the shore of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

in a mini-settlement bloc including

Elei Sinai Elei Sinai ( he, אֱלֵי סִינַי, ''lit.'' Towards Sinai) was an Israeli settlement in the north of the Gaza Strip. Founding Elei Sinai was established in 1982 (Sukkot 5743) by a group who had been evicted from Yamit in the Sinai Penins ...

and

Nisanit Nisanit () was the largest Israeli settlement in the northern tip of the Gaza Strip in a mini-settlement bloc including Elei Sinai and Dugit. While Nisanit was under the municipal authority of the Hof Aza Regional Council it was not physically ...

. While Dugit was under the

municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

authority of the

Hof Aza Regional Council The Hof Aza Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית חוף עזה, "Gaza Coast Regional Council") was a regional council of Israel until 2005 when its residents were evicted from their homes and the area was liquidated as part of Israel's ...

it was not physically in the

Gush Katif Gush Katif ( he, גוש קטיף, , Harvest Bloc) was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. In August 2005, the Israeli army forcibly removed the 8,600 residents of Gush Katif from their homes after a decision from the Ca ...

bloc where the bulk of the Gush Katif settlements were located.

History

The non-religious village was founded in May 1990 by a group of three families of fishermen close to the Shikma Beach with the assistance of the Amana settlement organization. These families, and others that joined later on, lived in trailers for about ten years until permanent homes were built. Another building expansion project was already in advanced planning stages.

Economy

The main source of income was from the sea:

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, rescue services, fish ponds, tourism, fish restaurants, etc.

Unilateral Disengagement

Unlike virtually all the other settlements slated for destruction as part of the disengagement plan, whose inhabitants were forcibly evicted by the

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...

and

Israeli Police The Israel Police ( he, משטרת ישראל, ''Mišteret Yisra'el''; ar, شرطة إسرائيل, ''Shurtat Isrāʼīl'') is the civilian police force of Israel. As with most other police forces in the world, its duties include crime fightin ...

, the families of Dugit chose to co-operate with the eviction orders and most had already packed and abandoned their homes before the official date.

Rebuilding attempts

Avi Farhan from Elei Sinai and a part of his family established a new group including families from Dugit and Nisanit with hope to establish a new community. The government agreed in 2006 to acclimatize this group in

Palmachim Palmachim ( he, פַּלְמַחִים) is a kibbutz in central Israel. Located about ten kilometers south of the Gush Dan, Tel Aviv area along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, among the sand dunes, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gan Raveh ...

. The plan was then changed to resettle in the

Givat Olga Giv'at Olga ( he, גבעת אולגה, "Olga's Hill") is a neighborhood of the Israeli city of Hadera. It was named after Olga Hankin, the wife of the Zionist activist Yehoshua Hankin. It was founded in 1949 around the house Hankin built known ...

beach neighbourhood of

Hadera Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nbs ...

. As of 2009,

Neve Yam Neve Yam ( he, נְוֵה יָם, ''lit.'' Sea Oasis) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located around twenty kilometres south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The kib ...

is attempting a rejuvenation project by attracting these families by allotting them land adjacent to the sea for permanent housing. The new project would give the evictees a housing and employment solution similar to that of their original homes. The

Israel Union for Environmental Defense The Israel Union for Environmental Defense ( he, אדם טבע ודין, ''Adam Teva veDin'', lit. ''Man Nature and Law'') is an environmentalist group in Israel. Tel Aviv islands In November 2002 the Israeli Government appointed a six-member co ...

is struggling to prevent the project it deems is too close to the beach.

References

{{Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip Populated places established in 1990 Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip 1990 establishments in the Palestinian territories