"What is today called the country of Gaza is definitely a part of the land of Israel," former education minister, Rabbi Yitzhak Levy, who also chairs the Gush Katif Heritage Center, said at the 10th Katif Conference for National Responsibility held Monday.
"Today, Gaza is at the heart of the discourse in Israel. Who will rule there?" Levy added, saying that for those who were evacuated in the disengagement, the feelings surrounding the situation in Gaza today and discourse around it are complex.
"Returning to abandoned places. A destroyed school, a destroyed synagogue. None of this would have happened if we had stayed where we were," he said.
Our "thoughts travel to when we will rebuild our settlement and return home," he added.
Importance of unity
Levy also touched on unity among Israelis, saying that it is important to add a unity of love for Israel. "Who knows if one of the reasons for the trouble that came upon us at Simchat Torah was hatred."
Finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chair MK Yuli Edelstein, and Israel's Defense and Security Forum founder Amir Avivi, were scheduled to attend the conference.