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Peace Process

Gaza retreat officially underway


By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
August 22, 2004

While a forced evacuation is still at least several months off, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has officially began implementing his plan to transfer the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria from their homes.

Under the auspices of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Administration for Assistance to Gaza Strip Residents (SELA) opened its doors for business Sunday. The new bureau will coordinate all contact with the settlers, oversee the civilian evacuation, and deal with financially compensating those Jews who willingly leave Gaza and northern Samaria.

But few Jewish residents of Gaza are expected to take the monetary carrot being offered by Sharon, and have instead vowed to fight – in every way short of physical violence - for their right to live as Jews in the land promised to them by God.

The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip (Yesha) is set to launch a massive door-to-door campaign aimed at taking its anti-retreat message to one million Israeli homes by the end of the year.

Already the council has successfully influenced a Likud referendum, in which Sharon’s own party overwhelmingly rejected his so-called “disengagement” plan.

‘Disengagement’ underway

Yonatan Basi was named Sunday as the head of the new SELA bureau, and together with 10 other members will oversee all aspects of removing the Jewish presence from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria.

The body’s first job will be to work out the details of paying advance compensation to those settlers who willingly evacuate their homes.

Many Jewish residents of the four northern Samaria settlements slated for removal have expressed a willingness to accept the cash. But few Jews from the Gaza Strip are expected to respond positively to what many have called a bribe.

Settler leaders have accused Sharon of taking advantage of the poor economic situation by offering large sums of money the government does not have to those who will go along with his plan.

Still struggling amid a steady but slow economic recovery, the government has thus far failed to explain how it will pay a reported $300,000 to each of the evacuated families.

The forced evacuation of those Jews who remain is not expected to take place until sometime next year.

Holding fast

Most of Gaza’s 8,000 Jews say they will hold fast to their God-given birthright, and have expressed on more than one occasion their firm belief that the Almighty will keep his word and never allow them to be uprooted again.

They also insist that for Sharon to conduct a unilateral withdrawal in the middle of a “Palestinian” campaign to murder as many Jews as possible is nothing short of a reward for Islamic terrorism.

In defense of their homes, the settlers have so far influenced the outcome of a Likud referendum on the Gaza retreat with a mass information effort, and held a rally involving more than 100,000 people who formed a human chain from Gaza to Jerusalem.

Their next action will involve sending out activists with the aim of visiting one million Israeli households with their anti-retreat message by the end of the year, and gathering as many signatures against Sharon’s plan as possible.

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