An 8-year-old boy in a red shirt focuses intently on his watercolor painting. He's drawing a house--a large structure with beige walls, a welcoming green door, and clear, wide windows. In front, children play with bikes, toy trucks, and a dog. "I used to live in a house," he explains. "But now we live here."

"Here" is a hotel in downtown Jerusalem. The boy's entire family was forced to leave their home in Gaza's Gush Katif last August during Israel's disengagement, and they now reside in hotel rooms while they wait for a temporary home.

Last January, many of these evacuated children were having fun: Thirty-six 12th-graders, volunteers from this year's solidarity mission sponsored by Bnei Akiva, the Religious Zionist Youth Movement, had organized a fair for them in the hotel's lobby. Playing carnival games and making messy craft projects presented a welcome break from the confinement of the hotel rooms.

"When I heard what was happening to the evacuees, I was very upset," says Robert Aeder, a 17-year-old volunteer from Cleveland. "Jews are part of one big family, so this mission was very important to me. I didn't feel strongly on one side of the disengagement question or the other, but it was clear that some people were suffering. They needed help, and unity is what's important."

The evacuees' dire straits resulted from last August's disengagement, when all Jews from Gaza were forced to move from their homes and farms. Six months later, several hundred of the 1,750 Gush Katif families remained in transitional housing--hotels, tents, and caravans. Farmers suffered unique problems: Few had received money from the government, and only 36 had found alternative land. Most evacuees, like the families living in the Jerusalem hotel, still live in chaos. Few have work or income, and psychological problems and depression are common among the evacuees.

The teenagers, members of Bnei Akiva chapters all over North America, came to Israel to take action in several ways. They organized the fair at the Jerusalem hotel, but prior to that, they spent several days working in recently moved hothouses and fields where relocated Gush Katif farmers hope to earn a living. The hothouses now stand in a remote location near Ofakim, a development town in the northern Negev. The volunteers helped by planting vegetable seedlings, laying irrigation pipes, and packing produce.

"Brothers have to stick together," Robert insists. "Giving the kids a little fun and helping the farmers recover was something I needed to do."

The Bnei Akiva solidarity missions began four years ago when three high school seniors decided to spend their winter vacation making a difference in eretz yisrael. Every year since, the organization has sent a delegation of volunteers to work at army bases and hospitals, pack food for the poor, and assist victims of terror. This year, the teenagers decided they should help the Gaza evacuees rebuild their lives.

"This is a critical time in Israel," notes Rafi Engelhart, a Bnei Akiva leader from Cleveland. "And because Israel is our home, it's a critical time for us, too. What affects one, affects us all."

The farm labor wasn't glamorous work, but no one complained. Quite the opposite: Everyone insisted that the opportunity was a blessing. "Working in the field, we were almost like halutzim, pioneers," says Rachel Kupferman, who hails from New York. "I asked who had farmed this land before, and they said no one had. It didn't look like good soil--it was sandy and will take many years to become really productive. So we were there at the very beginning, planting, helping make the desert bloom."

One of the displaced farmers, Gidon, made a deep impression on the volunteers. "He came to thank us," Rafi recalls. "He told us that it wasn't just that we were working. What mattered was that we cared, that we'd come all the way from North America to help, to be with them in their time of need. But isn't that what family is all about?"

"What we did was a very little thing," explains Elan Esterson of Baltimore. "But it meant so much to the people. This was the best possible way for me to spend my winter vacation, helping just a little."

Disengagement: By the Numbers

In August 2005, Israel relinquished all of Gaza and part of the West Bank to the Palestinians. Below are some of the results of the disengagement initiative:

• 25: Settlements evacuated in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
• 9,000: Israelis relocated
• 1.3 million: Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip under their own leaders
• 48: Graves moved from the Gush Katif cemetery
• 38: Synagogues abandoned in the Gaza Strip
• 5,000: School-age children needing new schools
• 45,000: Israeli soldiers and policemen who participated in the disengagement
• $1.7 billion: Cost of the disengagement to the Israeli government
• $120 million: Lost in annual revenue from flowers and produce exported from Gush Katif
• 10,000: People who were employed in Gush Katif—including 5,000 Palestinians—needing new jobs

Source: The Israel Project

...And Beyond the Numbers

Although the immediate effects of the disengagement are disheartening, Israelis hope that the disengagement will yield priceless results in the future, including:
Peace: promoted by a more effective Palestinian leadership
Support: for Israel internationally for showing initiative with the peace process
Israeli lives saved: by not being stationed in the potentially dangerous areas of the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank