Forgive Me! A Letter From Haifa To Gush Katif

Excerpt from an e-mail that I received from Dror Vanunu of Friends of Gush Katif:

Enclosed is the translation of the letter I got today.

Friends and family members are being injured and killed
Some of us are without a roof on our heads.
I closed my business since the beginning of the battle and I don't know what will happen.
We are wandering between family and good people.
Our family life has been impaired.
I never thought that I, a Haifa resident for 30 years, would be a refugee in my own land.
Every thing sound so familiar from the close past.

During 5 years you coped with bombs – and I didn't care
You buried family and friends - and I was indifferent
You found yourselves without a home, like that and you never had someone that listened to you.
Even when you came to visit me to my house, to explain, to convince, to share your feelings with me – I refused to listen to you.
It has already been a week. I am out of my house, without my regular routine, it is very hard to me – but the empathy, the support, and people identifying with our plight helped me go on.
You , don't even have that.
You – In guest houses, hotels and even in tents- It's not easy to say: "Who cares?!"

People from Gush Katif and the Shomron!
Forgive me!
Forgive us for letting you on your own.
Forgive us for not understanding you.
I am not a religious man, and not a mystic person.
But we cannot ignore the deep relation
Between my attitude towards you
And the price that I am paying now for my understanding.