Gaza Evacuees Said Suffering Rampant Emotional Problem
Excerpts:
“Settlers evacuated during the disengagement are suffering from a variety of serious emotional problems, but are receiving little or no treatment, according to a report by the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel.”
“For instance, the report said, people with special needs who were assisted by social workers from the Gaza Coast Regional Council are currently not receiving any such help, in part because their case files are in storage and therefore inaccessible.”
“The report, which is based on testimony from psychologists, social workers and volunteers who have maintained contact with the evacuated settlers, found that children under age 12 have suffered a variety of problems, including attention and concentration deficits and adjustment problems.”
To add to the content of above article, an email from Naomi Ragen circulated on the internet which read as follows;
(Please take into account my Editorial Comment at the conclusion of this email. Thanks. Moshe Burt)
< ----- Original Message -----> From: “Naomi Ragen”
To:
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 10:45 PM
Subject: Does No One Care?
_____
Friends,
This e-mail pains me deeply to write, as I know it will pain all of you to read. Not only are the refugees from Gaza not being helped by the authorities , they are being tortured . Outlandish red tape (produce 29 years of electric bills!, prove your son actually grew up in your home!) is keeping many of them from receiving any compensation. The majority are unemployed. These people went from large, flourishing families in beautiful homes with thriving businesses to unemployed, homeless refugees. Families are being destroyed. Children are turning to drugs, parents are having heart attacks. And some teenagers have even been hospitalized in closed mental institutions.
You won’t believe your eyes when you read the memo below, compiled by volunteers of All4Israel, a little, all-volunteer group that is working hard to allieviate some of the misery, work that should have been borne by our government and our major Jewish organizations and their well-paid directors.
SELA, with Mr. Yonatan Bassie at its head, who has personally profited by the disengagement (he owns farms thatare now selling vegetables once exclusively grown in Gush Katif, he sold land to the government to house the refugees…) has been largely responsible all of this needless suffering. Every single one of those incompetents should be fired.
[MB: Perhaps jailed, tried and imprisoned for what unquestionably is the worst scandal in Israel’s modern history.]
For shame, for shame for shame, for shame. I can’t believe my government has turned its own people out of their homes and has made no provision for them. People who were the bravest of us all, who suffered the most during the Intifada. Who lost so many parents, children, rabbis. These beautiful, brave families, that no Arab terrorist onslaught could destroy, are being destroyed by their own callous government. And no one cares.
If you are a donor to any Jewish organization, please call them and ask why no emergency funds have been set up to help the Gaza refugees. Where are our priorities?
Zalman Indig (who kindly helped me take online donations for Rachel S., every penny of which he wired directly to Israel)is the head of All4Israel. Below, he shares information gathered by his volunteers in Israel.
Every blessing,
Naomi
===========================================
Hi Zalman:
We had a meeting last night, We made calls to the head organizers of the Yishuvim to find out what is going on online. They spoke on the speaker phone and it was very sad for all of us. The lists are pilling up, the stories are unbelievable. None of the large organizations we know of have helped them out. They received from them sweaters and sweats, food packages or stoves but not real money. They are offered short term loans, but they are afraid to take them because they don’t know when they’ll be getting their compensation.
Here is a story you will love. One family has lived there for 29 years. They have asked them to produce 29 years back electricity bills. Who keeps such records? The family replied that the first few years they had generators anyway and the Electrical company doesn’t keep such records. SO for now their compensation is tied up.
One family has a soldier in the army. They had to supply proof that he was still living at home even though he was a soldier or he would not be included in the family compensation, so they had to bring photos of him with the family, in the house in uniform!!!
Should I go on? Any way I received this list, I thought maybe you can do something, be discreet with the list of course.
Regards
Some bios:
Family 1 – 6 children – husband died less than two months ago of sudden unpredicted heart attack . Two children elementary school age + soldier son-IDF service, others older recently began work very part time. Family faces many difficulties related to what happened
Family 2 -7 children – two in Yeshiva high school, one in Midrasha, two married. unemployed.
Family 3 -11 children -one in Yeshiva HS + four in higher education institutes. Wife very recently began teaching part-time
Family 4 -7 children – one in elementary school, one in Yeshiva H.S., Four in universities, one in IDF service/Husband is blind and wife very ill with Lupus disease.
Family 5 -6 children -two in elementary school, one in yeshiva H.S., one in Midrasha , one in college, one in national service.- recently began working part-time.
Family 6 – 3 children in kindergarten and nurseries. Unemployed – seeking opportunity to rebuild farm business, organized temporary morning Kollel for unemployed men.
Family 7 – 3 children – one in elementary school, one in yeshiva H.S., one in IDF service. Husband suffers from limiting heart disease, wife from other health problems
Family 8 – 3 children – serious health problems -unemployed.
Family 9 – one parent family -two in IDF service –three in Universities, God willing will have expense of wedding for daughter in month of Adar. Unemployed.
Family 10 – one-parent family -two young children — mother studying in Higher education. unemployed.
Family 11 – 6 children – two in elementary school–one in high school.. unemployed (wife may start working next week part-time).
Family 12 + 5 children – one in Kindergarten, one in elementary school, one in Yeshiva High school , two in IDF service, unemployed
Family 13 -one parent family- + 8 children -one in Yeshiva H.S.-one in Yeshiva Gevoha, 5 in universities.-unemployed.
Many thanks to Naomi Ragen for this valuable piece of correspondence.
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Editor’s Comment: This short list of families does not even begin to nick the surface in terms of the scope of the crisis.
Anyone wishing to donate funds which will be handled directly over to Gush Katif/Shomron Refugee Families, please contact me (Moshe Burt) by email; moshebur@actcom.co.il for donation mailing information.