Day 679 - A former Gush Katif resident yearns to go home

Aug 15, 2025

Anita Tucker, a former Gush Katif resident and affectionately known as "the celery lady," shares her journey of establishing Nezer Hazani and the bittersweet memories of her vibrant community. She discusses the emotional weight of the 2005 disengagement, describing the deep bonds with her Arab neighbors and the agricultural triumphs that flourished in Gaza's sands. Highlighting the ideological beliefs that motivated her community, Anita reflects on the nostalgia for home and her hopes for future reconciliation in the region.

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ANECDOTE

Children Decide To Stay On Sand Dunes

Anita Tucker described arriving to bald sand dunes and deciding to stay after her children sledded down on garbage bags.
That moment convinced the family to settle and live there for 30 years.

INSIGHT

Innovation Turned Desert Into Export Farms

Gush Katif's inert sand enabled bug-free vegetables when paired with drip irrigation and precise greenhouse controls.
The community became a global model for farming in arid climates, attracting international delegations.

ANECDOTE

Practical Cooperation With Arab Neighbors

Tucker recounted close cooperation with Arab neighbors, teaching modern agriculture and designing her house with a Deir al-Balah engineer.
She describes mutual economic benefit and shared professional respect before political shifts.

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe.

This week, as Israel marks the beginning of the Disengagement from Gaza 20 years ago, we speak with former Brooklynite Anita Tucker, 79, who helped settle Nezer Hazani in 1977 and was forcibly removed from her home in 2005 alongside her husband, children and grandchildren.

Affectionately called "the celery lady" due to her flourishing Gush Katif farm, Tucker describes how her young children were the deciding factor for staking their tent pegs in the barren land of Nezer Hazani after she viewed them "sledding" down the dunes on garbage bags.

This same inert sand allowed the residents to grow their trademark, bug-free Gush Katif vegetables with the newest agricultural technology -- drip irrigation.

She talks about warm relationships with her Arab neighbors -- until talk of "peace" came and the empowerment of PLO leader Yasser Arafat. She describes how once Arafat established a foothold in Gaza, he hanged the leadership of Deir al-Balah, who were Tucker’s close personal friends.

She speaks about the terror attacks the community absorbed, but the ideological faith that their community was protecting the rest of the Land of Israel.

Former prime minister Ariel Sharon's announcement of a unilateral pullout from Gaza came as a betrayal and we hear how the youth protested against this move until the very end.

But after the pullout, the former Gush Katif residents experienced a second betrayal in that they had to fight to get compensation and rebuild their lives. Tucker and much of the original settlement refounded Nezer Hazani seven years later inside the State of Israel, but, as she says, these are their "houses," they are not their "homes."

Tucker speaks to the community's yearning to resettle the Gaza Strip and how concrete plans have been presented to the Israeli government during what the potential resettlers view as a window of opportunity.

Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Israeli Jewish settlers celebrate the Jewish festival of Tu Bishvat, marking the new year for trees in the Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim in the Gush Katif block of settlements in the Gaza Strip, January 25, 2005. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

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