The last time Julia Segal was forced from her home it was by Adolf Hitler. As Jews, her parents had particular reason to fear the Nazi assault that drove the family from Ukraine in 1941. Segal settled in Moscow and in time made her name as a sculptor of mournful but non-political works.
They can still be seen in the hilltop art gallery of her latest home, the isolated Jewish settlement of Sa Nur in the West Bank.
But it is Segal’s latest work — angry and defiant creations raging against Palestinian violence, Israel’s leaders and the prospect of again being forced out — that draw the admiration of Jewish activists who have transformed Sa Nur to a rallying point against Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull Jewish settlers out of the Gaza strip and part of the West Bank.
”In Russia, it was impossible to say no to the government,” said Segal (67). ”But here is different. This is not Russia and the soldiers who will come are not Hitler’s soldiers. So maybe, with the help of all the people who say they will stand with us, we can change what this government wants to do.”
Sa Nur is one of four West Bank settlements earmarked for evacuation. Most of the residents of two, Ganim and Kadim, appear ready to take the compensation on offer and leave. But the Israeli authority responsible for ”disengagement” says it expects thousands of opponents to make a last stand at Sa Nur and neighbouring Homesh. Already, dozens of families have decamped to the two settlements in solidarity. After the housing in Sa Nur filled up, the new arrivals moved into surplus United States army tents.
Among them is Erit Frankel, born in Belfast 41 years ago, her husband and their seven children.
”We wanted to show solidarity with people in Sa Nur. When we came we only planned to stay for three days but then we saw it wasn’t so bad and we could stay until disengagement is cancelled,” she said.
Sa Nur is also a favourite of Zionist tour groups, particularly from the US, who arrive wearing T-shirts in bright orange — the colour of solidarity with the settlers — declaring ”Not one inch” and ”Let my people stay”.
One Israeli newspaper has even portrayed Sa Nur as a modern-day Masada, the first century fortress where the Jewish population, the Zealots, killed their own families and then committed suicide rather than be captured by the Romans — an event that marked the end of the ancient state of Israel.
Nearly 50 families are living in Sa Nur now but three years ago it was all but abandoned as Segal and other -residents fled under siege by Palestinian gunmen whose attacks put an end to Israeli buses travelling to isolated settlements.
Until the violence, Sa Nur was a favoured destination of Russian immigrants who established a renowned artists’ colony, converting the top floor of a British mandate-era stone fort to an artists’ gallery. A neighbouring mosque, added when the Jordanians assumed control in 1948, is now a synagogue.
Segal’s work dominates the gallery. Resting in the middle is one of her largest creations, a pair of glasses. Viewed from one side, the lenses portray an idyllic view of West Bank hilltops. Viewed from the other, the scene is of Hamas on parade and pictures of Jewish dead with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat laughing from above.
Hanging on the wall is a portrait of Arafat suckling Osama bin Laden’s breast drawn as a hand grenade.
”The Ukrainians, the Kazakhs, the Russians did not push me out of my home but my Jewish brothers want to push me out. Not one Arab ever lived here. It was a Turkish place for soldiers. After that it was British, then Jordanian. Why is it not ours? Who says it is not ours?” she asked.
Hardline settlers have outraged some Israelis by adopting an orange Star of David, reminiscent of the yellow star forced on the Jews by the Nazis, to portray themselves as victims of a pogrom. The strategy was widely condemned as diminishing the Holocaust. But in Sa Nur they remain defiant, handing out leaflets justifying the use of the orange star.
”It is a symbol of horror before the planned ethnic cleansing of Jews from Gaza and Northern Samaria,” the leaflet says. ”The slogan of those who survived the Holocaust became ‘Never again!’. But now the tragedy that occurred in Europe is receiving a horrifying development in our home, on our land — the Land of Israel.
”Israel’s retreat to the 1967 borders will mean the expulsion from their homes of hundreds of thousands of Jews and the transfer of their property to the enemies of the Jews. This will be the beginning of the process of complete eviction of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel, and a prelude to a new Holocaust.”
The return to Sa Nur was led two years ago by Yossi Dagan, a 24-year-old member of an Orthodox Jewish group who persuaded three religious families to join him. He says he voted for Ariel Sharon because of his tough stance against the Palestinians and cannot understand why the old warrior now wants to give up settlements.
”The army won the war over terror unequivocally and then the prime minister came and for personal reasons turned the victory over terror into total political defeat,” he said.
Dagan said he hopes 10 000 Israelis will rally at Sa Nur. But the settlers and their supporters face a problem. Passive resistance may win them some sympathy even with the majority of Israelis who back disengagement. But any violence against Israeli soldiers will cost them what public backing they have.
Frankel says she believes God will steer Sharon straight, but if he does not she will not be fighting it out with the army.
”We are worried because we’ve got small children and I can’t put them on the front line. I won’t take my children into any confrontation and I think most people here will avoid confrontation,” she said.
”But I hope it will be stopped before that and the Israeli public will come to its senses and stop trying to pull us into this illogical reality.” — Â