Few Gush Katif Farmers Have New Land
Excerpts;
“Six months after the disengagement from Gaza, none of the 130 farmers from Gush Katif who have settled for the time being in Nitzan has received new plots of land in Israel as they and the government trade recriminations over who is responsible for their plight.”
“However, both settler leaders and high-ranking government officials say that the Disengagement Law did not provide for full compensation for farmers’ greenhouses and that if the farmers want to build them again they will have to make up the difference, which amounts to 20 percent to 40% of start-up costs.”
“… The situation of the farmers is particularly acute because as they were self-employed, they have not received any unemployment benefits and have used the compensation money they were given to build new homes to feed their families.”
“The state hurt the farmers twice,’ said Yoram Musavi, a farmer from Bedolah and the leader of the Forum for those Injured in the Disengagement. ‘It hurt their soul and their family, and then took from them what was theirs and didn’t give it back.’”
“Additionally, since the state compensated the farmers for only 60% of the value of their greenhouses, even if they wanted to take the land, they were not financially able to build new farms. ‘If the state takes from you 100% it needs to return to you 100%,’ Musavi said.”
“To make up the difference, Ishay suggested the farmers use the money they received from selling their greenhouses to the World Bank just before the disengagement… ”
“Musavi rejected that suggestion, citing Israeli property law as stipulating that the farmers were entitled to full compensation from the state itself.”
“‘It doesn’t matter if the bank came to buy the greenhouses. According to the law of the state, if the state takes land it needs to give it back.'”
“On Monday, Musavi’s group picked up high-level government support for its demands as Knesset Speaker MK Reuven Rivlin (Likud) sent a letter to the Legal Forum stating that the government had not done enough to ease the suffering of Gush Katif evacuees.”
“‘It seems that it was a failure of the government, which did not do enough to appease those evicted from their homes,’ wrote Rivlin. He went on to say that the government had abandoned the evicted families.”
Excerpts;
“Town’s residents set to file suit against Palestinian Authority, demand NIS 50 million compensations for damages caused by rocket attacks.”
“A group of the town’s elders is currently formulating a legal case, to be filed to an Israeli court, in the framework of which they plan to sue the Palestinians for NIS 50 million (about USD 11 million) as compensations for damages caused to buildings, for businesses that went broke and for the residents’ emotional suffering.”
“‘We demand everything, from compensations for holes in roads, to psychological treatment for children,’ Arieh Cohen, one of the people behind the lawsuit explained.”
“‘Someone has to bear the expenses. We shouldn’t have to pay for this,’ he added.”
High Court: Israel Discriminates Against Arabs
Excerpts;
“The High Court of Justice unanimously ruled Monday that the Israeli government has exercised discriminative policies against the Arab population in the country, and stated the government must set clear criterions to define National Preference Zones, where affirmative action is implemented.”