JERUSALEM/ISRAEL: CARAVAN PARK FOR GAZA SETTLERS UNVEILED AMID FEARS THAT POPULATION WILL RESIST EVACUATION.

Record ID: 400455

  • Title: JERUSALEM/ISRAEL: CARAVAN PARK FOR GAZA SETTLERS UNVEILED AMID FEARS THAT POPULATION WILL RESIST EVACUATION.
  • Date: 31st July 2005
  • Summary: (BN08) JERUSALEM (JULY 31, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. GV/PAN: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON ENTERING WEEKLY CABINET MEETING 0.09 2. GV: HOUSING MINISTER ISAAC HERZOG ARRIVING FOR CABINET MEETING 0.14 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERZOG SAYING: "The first families that are pulling and leaving the Gaza Strip will be relocated in the next few days i
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM / NITZAN, SOUTHERN ISRAEL
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA25J7W2ZP4VHYDJHQEKTLL2871
  • Story Text: Caravan park for Gaza settlers unveiled amid fears that
    half of the population will resist evacuation.



    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened his cabinet on Sunday (July 31) amid fears that a mass demonstration would
    interfere with plans to pullout from Gaza in two weeks.

    But despite fears of a last-ditch bid to stop Israel's planned
    withdrawal, some 160 settler families planned to move to a caravan
    park in southern Israel, which was unveiled on Sunday.

    "The first families that are pulling and leaving the Gaza Strip
    will be relocated in the next few days in the new Nitzan area in
    the new village that we have constructed and we hope that about
    160 families will join them within the next ten days," said
    Israeli Housing Minister Isaac Herzog ahead of the weekly
    cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

    Opponents to Sharon's plan to evacuate 21 settlements in the
    Gaza Strip and four in the West Bank in mid-August said they
    expected about 70,000 supporters to gather in the southern
    rocket-hit town of Sderot on Tuesday (August 2) with intentions
    to march towards Gaza's settlements to try to evade military checkpoints and enter the sealed-off bloc.

    A similar march failed two weeks ago after thousands of police
    blocked the protesters' way to the Gush Katif settlement bloc. Eventually they left,
    many demoralised after three days in the scorching sun.

    In the past few months, settlers have tried to turn Israeli public
    opinion against Sharon's plan, but most Israelis support the
    withdrawal from the occupied territories.

    The pullout, which Israeli opponents condemn as surrender to
    Palestinian militants, will mark the first evacuation of
    settlements from land Palestinians want for a state.

    Ultranationalist Israelis are bitterly opposed to the plan which
    they see as ceding the Jewish people's biblical birthright.

    As of last week, official figures showed about 750 of the 1,800
    families due to be evacuated from Gaza and the West Bank had
    applied for state funds amid government efforts to persuade more
    to sign up.

    Officials argue that many settlers have failed to apply for
    compensation because they fear the condemnation of their neighbours.

    However, one of the settlers, Etty Ben-Dahan said she decided to make
    the first move because of her children.

    "What pushed us to make the first step is the children, our
    children...that cannot sleep any longer at night and it is difficult for them in this area. It is difficult, it hurts, it hurts that
    we have to leave our homes, but the children are expressing it
    even more. So we decided to make it easier for them, we looked
    at them and got up and made the first move,"
    said Ben-Dahan upon arrival at the Nitzan caravan site where
    she planned to move to in the coming days. Ben-Dahan was welcomed
    by several contractors who showed her the newly built caravilla, undergoing finishing touches.

    Failure to leave the settlements during a 48-hour grace period
    after eviction notices are served on Aug. 15 could prove costly to recalcitrant settlers, cutting into packages totalling several
    hundred thousand dollars per family.

    Under law, settlers still at home when security forces come to remove
    them, beginning on Aug. 17, will forfeit the right to receive a grant, ranging from 14,000 shekels to 27,000 shekels (3,100 to 6,000 U.S. dollars) per family to cover moving expenses.

    They will also risk losing another grant, 4,800 shekels (1,060 U.S.

    dollars) for each year of residence in a Gaza or northern West Bank settlement after the age of 21. For a couple with 20 years' residency, that could total almost 200,000 shekels (44,250 U.S. dollars).

    Palestinians in general welcome Israeli withdrawal from occupied land
    they seek for a state, but suspect Sharon of planning to leave them a tiny Gaza while keeping West Bank settlement blocs.


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