From North London to the North Gaza Border, My life in Kibbutz Zikim - Book Review

Reviewed by Cindy Moritz

From North London to the North Gaza Border, My life in Kibbutz Zikim, is a personal account by Rami Billis of a life spanning over eight decades, peppered by war and the nuances of kibbutz life, and made meaningful through loving family and friends. He takes us from boyhood during the Blitz in London to communal life on Kibbutz Zikim on the northern border of Gaza, now familiar to many since October 7, 2023.

Rami had completed his manuscript and was searching for a publisher when the October 7 attack happened, so he has added an extra chapter which provides an impactful conclusion to the life events he described up to then.

If one were to imagine the ideal record of history, it would not be a dense tome of dates and events, but rather an eclectic collection of personal, human stories, told from the viewpoint of those that were there to witness and tell the tale. Admittedly, even in the same series of events, one person's experience will differ from another's, but that's what brings color and meaning to the telling of history.

Presented in anecdotal and plain language, Rami takes us with him from North London via his youth movement, Hashomer Hatzair, through which he met his beloved Miriam who was a member of Habonim, he explains, to kibbutz Zikim in the south of Israel where they made a life. Through recounting his own life, he provides insight into the breadth and diversity of the Jewish story, particularly relating to the kibbutz movement and its place in Israeli history.

From the story of his mother who was born in London in 1898, just two years shy of the twentieth century, and living in the slums of the East End, to a daughter marrying a man of Afghan heritage in 21st century Israel, Rami through vignettes creates a mosaic of Jewish life across Israel and the Diaspora.

Dedicated to his beloved Miriam with whom he shared a full and happy life, the book reads like a journal that is knowingly shared with its reader and at times he addresses the reader directly. While the chapters are mostly deeply personal, he also describes the particularities of kibbutz life, the children's living conditions to which they had to become accustomed, the committees, work in both agriculture and industry and the decisions that needed to be made as the kibbutz adapted to an evolving environment.

Among his recollections are the setting up of the Erez Industrial Zone in 1970, which was to be a gesture of peace and coexistence with the Arab neighbors, and scuba diving off the east coast of the Sinai Peninsula. On living on the kibbutz, he explains, "We definitely didn't go for the 'good life' and the kibbutz wasn't located in the place we would have chosen had our goal been to have a high standard of living. The country decided that Zikim would be established where it was in order to seal off the northern border of the Gaza Strip for its defense needs." He calls the cluster of kibbutzim on the fragile border, "more of a peace than a war barrier".

When former U.S. president Bill Clinton described those kibbutz members who were killed on and after October 7 as "peaceniks", explaining to his American base that, "those kibbutzim in Israel, right next to Gaza, … the people there were the most pro-friendship with Palestine — the most pro-two-state solution of any of the Israeli communities", he was speaking of the very community Rami has described in the pages of his book. Through stories and anecdotes, he provides a vivid picture of the ideals and beliefs of those who lived – and still live – in the kibbutzim on the Gaza border.

Rami Billis has affirmed the value of eyewitness, firsthand recollections of history. Through his writings the reader comes away with a fuller, more nuanced appreciation of the people living in the south of Israel, on the northern Gaza border. He has made a valuable contribution to humanizing the kibbutz communities in this area and provided a historical reference for generations to come.