Gadid ( he, גָּדִיד) 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 ...

and

Moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

located in the middle of 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 ...

settlement bloc whose residents were expelled in Israel's disengagement of 2005. The origin of the name Gadid comes from the term used in the bible to describe the harvest of dates in the area.

History

Gadid was founded in 1982 as an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

by a group of 22 families, mostly new immigrants from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, as well as families from the

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva ( he, בְּנֵי עֲקִיבָא, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established in Mandatory Palestine in 1929. History B ...

Mizrachi youth group. Most residents earned their living from hothouse crops such as

leafy vegetable Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es, flowers, and herbs. A unique characteristic of Gadid was that each family's agricultural land was adjacent to its home. The village also housed an absorption center (built in 1999) for new immigrants from France. A cottage industry for herbal remedies was one of the most prominent local initiatives and operated by the Barbei family.

Unilateral disengagement

The residents of Gadid was forcibly evicted from their homes on August 19, 2005 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 ...

, and their homes were razed soon after. On the day of its residents' expulsion it was home to about sixty families, including over 310 people.

External links

Official web site
{{Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip Former Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip Populated places established in 1982 Former moshavim Religious Israeli settlements Villages depopulated during the Arab–Israeli conflict 1982 establishments in the Palestinian territories 2005 disestablishments in the Palestinian territories French-Jewish culture in Israel Orthodox Judaism in Israel