EREZ, Israel— Atop a hill where 10 of his colleagues from the Palmach are memorialized,
Yehuda Shachor recently recalled the eerie time at the end of Israel's War for Independence in 1948 when no one quite knew where the border with the Gaza Strip lay. This very memorial rock, he said, was located in "no man's land."

While Egyptian and Israeli negotiators on the Greek Island of Rhodes debated the location of Israel's and Gaza's border as part of a 1949 bilateral armistice agreement, the remaining members of his Palmach unit camped in tents at nearby Kibbutz Or Haner.

In the main, this unit of 120 soldiers consisted of 19-year-old boys from Petach Tikvah who had grown up on the ideals of socialistic Zionism and were now ready to start a kibbutz on the Egyptian-controlled Gaza border. They planned to defend the new Jewish country against external aggression and, through agriculture, help build its economy.

If the boundary line could be drawn in such a way as to put the "no man's land" inside Israel, their future kibbutz would be located above a "good aquifer" that would add immeasurably to the new kibbutz's chance for success. But how could the Egyptians be induced to give up this piece of
land?

Shachor gave credit to Yeruchem Cohen, who represented the Israeli side in the negotiations conducted under United Nations auspices by mediator Dr. Ralph Bunche (who later was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation).

In 1942, Cohen—a Yemenite Jew whose father had been a janitor at Herzliya High School— had been recruited by the Jewish Agency to learn as much as possible about the ways of the Arabs. Seven years later, the post-Independence War negotiations were the test of what he had learned.

The Egyptians pointed out that the ceasefire line had cut the region surrounding the Arab village of Abasan almost in half. They demanded that the area, located about 25 miles south of the no-man's land, be reunified under Arab rule.

Cohen adamantly refused their request. If the Abasan area was reunited, it would mean that a piece of Gaza would protrude into Israel. It would look just like a nose, and Israel did not want the Egyptians to get their nose into its business.

Thus the Arabs became committed in the negotiations to obtaining Abasan, while the Israelis, who had kept mum about their desire to control the aquifer, pretended that the "no-man's land" was of marginal interest to them at best.

Finally, after more refusals and consultations, the deal was struck. All of Abasan would go to the Egyptians, but the no-man's land along the northern border of the Gaza Strip would become part of Israel.

With the war concluded, the Palmachniks transformed themselves into civilian kibbutzniks, gathered up their tents and relocated to what no longer was no-man's land. At a spot a bit to the northwest of the Gaza Strip¹s northeast corner, they founded Kibbutz 'Erez,' meaning cedar trees.

Among the kibbutz's founders was Moshe Gilboa, who later would become a member of Israel¹s Foreign Service, occupying consular and ambassadorial posts around the world, including in the United States.

"When we came here, we got nothing from the government," Shachor said. "We lived in tents and had two tractors. We got as much plowing done as possible before the rains. Also, we received some money from the Army to guard the border" in the days before the Army took over that responsibility completely.

Although the new kibbutz started with 120 soldiers, "after the war a lot of people left. By 1952, there were only 50 people here. .. When we started we were 19 years old, we were children, and we played 'kibbutz.' Slowly, slowly, we learned to build a business."

As Shachor was remembering the old days, a line of cows passed by in the kibbutz fields, located outside its barbed wire enclosure. Cows for milk and meat, poultry, citrus trees, honey— that was how the kibbutz was supposed to make its living, from agriculture.

Such agriculture still employs some kibbutz members; however, over the years, it earned Kibbutz Erez less and less money. The kibbutz¹s general secretary, Amitai Itzhak, said eventually the kibbutzniks did the unthinkable: they made industry the main focus of Kibbutz Erez's economy.

Today, Kibbutz Erez earns income from three industries, according to Itzhak, who came to the kibbutz in 1965. Erez Thermoplastic Products Ltd., employing 50 kibbutz members and 20 other workers, manufactures plastic sheeting that is sold internationally, with sales running "between $10 and $20 million per year," Itzhak said.

Flexible plastic containers that can be placed inside steel containers are a popular application for this product. "You can ship wine in the flexible container, then reuse the steel container for another product," explained the general secretary.

A "gym toy" factory produces various playroom and playground items such as a playhouse, a tunnel, a room with plastic balls, and an obstacle course for kids who like to roll around. "It is distributed only in Israel to mall stores, kindergartens; it is too expensive for family use," Itzhak said.

A third business also uses plastics. It is the manufacturer of what Itzhak described as an "ecological bubble, built like a green house." Small caged animals and ponds of fish, along with a variety of vegetation and science demonstration stations for elementary school students, all are kept inside the fetid walk-through demonstration model on Kibbutz Erez.

Before the second intifada there had been hope that with the ecological bubble, joint science projects might be created to involve youth from Kibbutz Erez and from inside the Gaza Strip.

However, this dream has receded, especially since last March 30, when the Israel Defense Forces intercepted and killed two armed terrorists who had crossed over the Gaza Strip boundary and were trying to infiltrate Kibbutz Erez.