Prime Minister's Office director-general Ilan Cohen blamed
political leaders of Gush Katif for creating "confusion and
denial" among settlers and preventing pragmatic dialogue
about the "day after." However, Attorney Yitzhak Meiron, a
representative of the settlers, said that the relocation
solutions being offered were only theoretical and cannot work
out in practice.
In a report to the Knesset Finance Committee, Cohen said that
settlers cannot not make decisions about their future because
of the politically motivated actions of the leadership. Cohen
said that the government was operating amid uncertainty and
was building a "tool box," to the best of its ability, of
solutions.
He said that settlement leaders have instructed residents not
to talk to the government or to contact the disengagement
administration. He said that the leadership was telling
residents that a miracle will happen and there will be no
disengagement, and therefore there is no need to worry about
jobs or to make arrangements for schools for the coming
year.
The result is a difficult situation. With less than three
months until the planned evacuation of the Gaza Strip and
northern West Bank, government officials admitted that
arrangements to relocate settlers are stalled.
MK Zvi Hendel, a Gaza settler, called Cohen a "liar."
During the meeting, SELA administration head Yonatan Bassi
said that thus far only 99 families have submitted claims, 69
of them northern Shomron residents. Some 200 families live in
northern Shomron and 1,500 families live in Gaza.
The government was summoned to the committee to give a report
on its preparations for the evacuation. It said that for the
evacuation, it is reserving hotel rooms and planning to
transfer Gaza residents to temporary homes, including rental
apartments.
Avraham Shochat (Labor) criticized the plan to purchase
luxury mobile homes at a cost of NIS 500,000 each to house
settlers temporarily. Cohen said the expense for the homes is
within the budget approved.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee that the fate of evacuated
settler homes and Israel's presence on the Philadelphi route
were still undecided. He warned that settler homes in the
northern Gaza Strip were liable to be used to store Kassam
rockets and that they could be used as a base to attack
Ashkelon unless they are destroyed.
As far as the Philadelphi corridor between Egypt and Gaza,
Prime Minister Sharon wants to evacuate the area but the
Defense Ministry wants to keep Israeli forces there. Shalom
said that if Israel remains there it could be used as a
pretext for attacks, and Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip would not be recognized internationally.
He also predicted that Palestinian elections would be delayed
until after the implementation of the disengagement and not
be held as scheduled on July 17. Shalom said Palestinian
leader Mahmoud Abbas was interested in elections after the
disengagement so that he could present them as a diplomatic
achievement. Other observers said that Abbas was worried that
a decisive victory by Hamas in the elections may upset the
plans.
Shalom said that the PA was not interested in discussing the
withdrawal with Israel since in any case they would be
getting the territory and if they cooperate with Israeli they
antagonize the militant Islamicists.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in America to meet with American
Jews and not US leaders, said that Israel will proceed with
the disengagement plan on schedule, no matter what else
happens. Sharon also praised PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for
his strategic decision to condemn terrorism and violence, but
Sharon said that Abbas' practice of reaching, or trying to
reach, agreements with the terrorist organizations is
mistaken and will produce the opposite of what Abbas wants to
achieve. Sharon also said that Israel is working to ease the
plight of Palestinians, thereby fulfilling its commitments at
the Sharm el-Sheikh conference. Sharon also said that his
government "will not negotiate Jerusalem."
Internal Security Minister Gidon Ezra told The Jerusalem
Post that the government would like to complete the
evacuation within three weeks, which would come out to Rosh
Chodesh Elul since the it is to begin on 10 Av. However the
final cutoff date is a month later, the eve of Rosh Hashana
29 Elul. That will be the fifth anniversary of the outbreak
of the intifadah.
Ezra also said that NIS 1 billion would be saved if the
settlers agree to evacuate "quietly" and of their own accord
without police and military intervention. The massive forces
that will be necessary are expensive.
