Northern residents reject ceasefire deal, fearful of returning home

After fourteen months of fighting, a ceasefire went into effect as of 4 a.m. this morning (Wednesday), but residents who were evicted from their homes more than a year ago are not impressed and reject out of hand the terms of the agreement, which they say does not give them the basic security they deserve.

Families from the north are demanding that they stay in the places where they were evacuated at least until the end of the school year, and are not willing to uproot their children from the educational frameworks in which they are located.

"From the moment we evacuated, we have been dreaming of the moment when we will be able to return home to Kiryat Shmona," Yifat Elmaliach, a resident of the city and mother of three daughters, shared in a conversation with Ynet. "At the same time, we want to return with full confidence, to give our children freedom, to heal their souls and to bring them back to mental health," she said, speaking about the grave concerns, and shared the complex decision.

"We don't want to go back to the constant fear of terrorist hits and infiltration. This agreement seems lame and not in our favor. I have three girls in different frameworks, and just as it was difficult to uproot them from the city, it will be difficult to uproot them from here in the middle of the year."

Hofit Mor, who was evacuated with her husband and their four children from Moshav Kfar Yovel in the Galilee Finger, shared: "I am against the arrangement, I feel that it brings us back to the starting point, which we were at before the war. As of now, I am not leaving the Jezreel Valley and my four children will finish the school year so that they do not experience further upheavals. Our house is 100 meters from the border. I was born and lived in Kfar Yuval all my life, and after we saw the disaster in the border area, we realized what a danger we were living in. Under these circumstances, I'm not going back there."

Tali Hassin, also from Kfar Yovel and a mother of four, rents an apartment in Afula and her children attend schools in the area. "Our house in the moshav was hit by a direct hit and it is impossible to live in it. There is no water, no electricity, some of the walls are ruined and the whole house is soot. On the one hand, the children want to go back to their friends and their corner of the house, but on the other hand, there is a very great anxiety to go back. As soon as they finish renovating our house and we get the equipment back in order, then there's a chance, of course, when there will be peace and security. In the current situation, I won't go back, I have nowhere to be and there is not enough quiet."