The recent Independence Day found the former residents of Gush Katif in extremely melancholy mood as they marked 1,000 days since the disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Almost three years have now passed since the evacuation went ahead on August 15, 2005, yet despite endless government promises, nearly 80% of the evacuees are still without a permanent housing solution.
Even today, it is still difficult to make sense of all the claims and counterclaims, the mutual recriminations, and accusations of prevarication on the one hand, and lack of cooperation on the other. But the fact of the matter, is that nearly three years later, the evacuees have yet to settle down in proper homes of their own. The mental, economic, social, occupational, and even the national cost of this fact has been exceptionally heavy.
Recipe for chaos
The disengagement program was approved by the Knesset on March 24, 2004. From March 2005 onward a plan was put in place to relocate the entire Gush Katif block of settlements to the Nitzanim Sands region, to enable the settlers to maintain their communal framework. Then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was one of those who strongly backed the program and asked the relevant government ministries to speed up the relevant planning and approvals processes as much as possible. But the project subsequently came up against strong opposition from the Green Party and other environmental groups, because of the nature reserve on the Nitzanim side. This was the first point of conflict between environmental groups and evacuees and the two sides have been embroiled in a bitter dispute ever since.
Although the Nitzanim plan subsequently fell through, the communal framework remained the preferred choice of the evacuees. More than 1,400 out of the 1,667 families who formerly resided in Gush Katif (almost 85%) chose to continue living in a communal framework, and for the time being, they are living in 18 temporary sites. The remaining 250 families took the compensation and moved to new homes throughout the country, including in the big cities. 22 sites were designated for the relocation of Gush Katif communities in various locations nationwide, mostly in the South.
It appears, from a report compiled by Doron Ben Shlomi, director of the Gush Katif residents committee, that building has actually commenced at only two sites -Bat Hadar and Mavki'im, while in a further four - Yad Binyamin, Bustan Hagalil, the Golf Neighborhood in Ashkelon, and Nitzan - lots have been allocated to the potential homeowners, and the infrastructure is in place, but construction has not yet commenced, and in two more sites, Halutzit 1 and 4 in the Holot Halutza region, the lots have been developed but not yet allocated. As to the rest, residents say that construction work has not yet begun and in most of them, no agreements have as yet been signed with local authorities.
"The main problem is that most of the sites don't even have any infrastructure, largely as a result of the failure by the government to take responsibility," says Ben Shlomi. "The country has a lot of national problems, but Gush Katif is one problem that was created by the government, so it bears a heavy responsibility. The problems were expected in advance, so it is only proper that they should set about putting this injustice right with the same vigor that they went ahead with the expulsion."
Eyal, who was evacuated from the settlement of Gadid and now lives in one of the Caravillas (luxury mobile homes) at the site in Kibbutz Ein Tzurim and is waiting to move to the permanent site, explains that work on the infrastructures has not yet begun because, among other things, SELA Administration for Assistance to Settlers from the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria (later called SELA Disengagement Administration) was unwilling to pay the kibbutz the amount needed to clear the persimmon plantations to make way for the site. In addition, the kibbutz claims that they have not been paid for the land on which the temporary site was erected, and for the building of the waste treatment facility they were promised and so on. Moreover, the evacuees from Gadid and other agricultural settlements claim the land and compensation that they have been offered by SELA is far less than was promised, in addition to being inadequate, given the value of the agricultural businesses.
But there are social problems too. According to Oz Kadmon, who was evacuated from Kfar Darom, "The government is urging people to move to the Negev, and we thought that the doors would be open everywhere. But a number of council and settlement leaders in the Negev blocked the move for various reasons, one of which was that they didn't want another religious community in the region."
It is no secret that very few people today are interested or even willing to consider living in the region surrounding the Gaza Strip. Some of the former Gush Katif residents, on the other hand, are, but much to their amazement, they weren't made to feel welcome here either. "Even Sedot Negev (formerly Azata) Council leader Meir Yifrach said we could start a community right next to Shokeda, a moshav seven kilometers from the Gaza Strip, but after the local authority elections he changed his mind. The government should make good on its promises and make it absolutely clear to all those council leaders who turned us away, that there is a central government," says Kadmon.
Eliezer Orbach of Neve Dekalim, the largest of the former settlements in Gush Katif (600 families), also lives in the caravilla complex at Ein Tzurim along with 70 other families from his settlement. This group wants to start new communities in the East Lachish region, another site classed as a national priority region for which there are few takers. "We wanted somewhere that would meet our expectations and which would also have a pioneering spirit to it," says Orbach. "We found a hillside where we felt we could build (Egoz Hill), but the government was unwilling to support us because of the cost of laying the infrastructure. We tried to fight them, but we made a mistake and lost several months. The government then undertook to find us another hillside and offered Givat Hazan, between Mirsham and Shomriah. Then there was the problem of the nearby military firing zone - every snag adds a few more months."
Plenty of spin, no tractors
The East Lachish region is probably the one issue that highlights the sense of helplessness the evacuees feel more than any other. On January 23, 2007, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert toured the area together with current president Shimon Peres, and numerous other cabinet ministers. In an official press release, Olmert announced the building of new settlements in East Lachish, with a total of 4,600 housing units, of which 400 would be allocated to families evacuated from Gush Katif. Speaking at the end of the tour Olmert declared that "From this point onward, the vision for Lachish is now the vision of the government of Israel." He instructed the director general of his office, Dr. Raanan Dinur, to grant the new settlements national priority area A status, and instructed the relevant authorities to move forward the planning and execution of the communal settlement project in East Lachish.
But Olmert is not Ariel Sharon. Today, a year and half after the highly publicized tour, the site remains as barren as it was. Orbach says bitterly, "the first and only tractor to show up was one that we brought to level the ground for inflatable toys for the children, for an event we held here. In the meantime, we have had planning committees, environmental action groups, but there are no real plans on the ground." Last May saw the withdrawal of the objections submitted to the Southern Regional Planning and Building Commission to the building of the Givat Hazan and Mirsham in the East Lachish region, following changes to the scale of construction in the second of the two communities.
The former Gush Katif residents frequently mention the advertising campaign the government ran a month before the disengagement went ahead with the tag line "There's a solution for every settler", and complain about the protracted uncertainty they have found themselves in. In early April 2008, the Knesset passed the Law for the Resettlement of the Evacuees of Gush Katif, the Gaza Peninsular and Northern Samaria, promoted by MKs Zeev Elkin and Amira Dotan (Kadima). The law is designed to simulate the modus operandi of the special residential building committees which were set up during the wave of mass immigration in the early 1990s to speed up the planning procedures to allow the construction blitz that took place at that time.
The law set target dates for the signing of agreements, tendering of infrastructure works and lot allocations, and reduced the planning procedures to some extent. The residents say, however, that the Prime Minister's office is the only authority that can bring about tangible change on the ground, by getting the various ministries to uphold and expand the law. They are also skeptical about the chances of meeting the timeframe that the law set out.
The figures presented by SELA on the progress of the various programs are entirely different. The administration says in response that "We are working in full cooperation with the Gush Katif evacuees with a view to assisting them in the rehabilitation process and the building of permanent homes. As a lesson learned from the Sinai evacuation, the government is allowing all those settlers who are interested the option of communal relocation, by starting a new community or joining an existing settlement." SELA director Tzvia Shimon stresses that "there is a solution for every settler. I call on all those settlers who have not yet agreed a settlement of their claims, to visit our offices, sign the contracts and make a fresh start."
Accountant Itzik Ozer, an assistant to the SELA director is another official who, not unsurprisingly, exudes optimism. "There are 1,359 families who are eligible to join one of the 24 different relocation agreements, and 1,133 of these have registered so far," he says. "Last year, we made available 586 developed lots. The moment a developed lot is allocated, our job is done. The payment of compensation for property was completed a year or two back. This means that together with those people who made their own accommodation arrangements, more than 60% have been given the ability to start building their homes."
As for East Lachish, Ozer says the government's decision is the most detailed plan ever to have been announced. "We insisted on this so that no one could hold things up," he stresses. Because of the cost of developing the seven communities to be set up in the Lachish region, the key condition was that there would be 100 families willing to live there, but so far, around 15-20 only have signed up. "It is of no interest to us whether the people moving in are evacuees from Gush Katif or people from Tel Aviv. There is just one reason why people are not signing and that is because they think the price to non-evacuees is high and the subsidy will therefore be much higher. The government subsidy in a national priority Area A region is NIS 56,000 per lot. Lachish is not an Area A region yet the government subsidy there is over NIS 100,000. The government intends to invest NIS 300 million in Lachish and we're aiming for a community of 3,000-3,500 families there, but so far we don't have 100 signatures," says Ozer.
SELA officials are adamant. "The evacuees have to take responsibility for their future. Those who have done so have already built their homes. SELA is here to help. But it takes two to tango," they insist.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 20, 2008
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