From Hotels To Nitzan – by Rachel Saperstein, Neve Dekalim/Nitzan
Excerpts;
“The cartons and suitcases had been trucked in a week earlier. Family, friends, teenage volunteers, two granddaughters and my eighty-nine year old mother in law arrived to begin the process of moving into the notorious ‘caravilla’ that we will call home for the next two to three years. The Expulsion Authority had sent us our final warning: leave the hotel or we will cease payment for your stay. We took a few extra days to put our caravan into order so that we would move into a livable home.”
“We came into the Nitzan refugee camp. There are 240 families here, each of us locked into our dun colored trailer with its red tile roof. The water pipe on the lawn is still there. We have put blocks of wood around it to remind us that danger lurks under our feet.”
“During the first week old neighbors from Neve Dekalim and from the hotel brought us prepared food. Our first Shabbat we were welcomed by Rav Yigal Kaminetzky. A family from Kibbutz Shalavim delivered our Shabbat meals. We wanted to be alone in a quiet setting after months of shared meals. We prayed, we ate, we slept. The first Shabbat of our new lives in the refugee camp of Nitzan.”
Displaced Gush Katif Settlers Get Help From Toronto Project
Excerpts;
“Eran Sternberg used to live a prosperous life in the picturesque bloc of Gaza settlements called Gush Katif.”
“Today, more than five months after the settlements were evacuated, he is unemployed and residing in a crammed mobile home that is prone to water leaks.”
“’It’s not a good feeling to be in this mobile house,’ he said. ‘It’s depressing.’”
“Their situation has prompted Jewish philanthropists in Toronto to lend a hand.”
“Spearheaded by Kurt Rothschild, the Toronto group has established the Netzarim Development Fund, which aims to raise more than $1 million to assist former residents of Netzarim, the last settlement evacuated.”
“Like many of the other 9,000 or so former residents of Gush Katif, Sternberg hasn’t yet benefited from compensation packages promised to the settlers by the Israeli government.”
“’I get an unemployment payment, but I didn’t even get one shekel’ in compensation, he said. ‘I don’t know the exact numbers, but the impression I get is that there are thousands like me.’”
“According to a report compiled by a committee of former Gush Katif residents, about 50 percent of the evacuees haven’t received any down payments. Close to 90 percent haven’t received “full compensation,” which is based on lost land, lost wages, family size and other factors. About 2,100 people lost their jobs.“
State Rejects High Court Proposal to Pay Evacuee’s Rent – Already Paid for Caravans in Qassam Range
sadistic, perverse
What a country.