The topic of the Gush Katif Refugees, why they fought to the end by all means short of armed confrontation against expulsion; why they, and many of us, begged, cried and wailed against it may seem redundant to some, but it is very much in need of repeating in light of the continuing campaign of systematic propaganda and dehumanization conducted against them by the regime to this day.
This continuing campaign of malicious and false propaganda is exemplified by Ehud Olmert’s recent deliberate blantantly false and bogus assertion, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, that “80 percent of the evacuees who asked for compensation have received it, at an average of NIS 1.4 million per family.”
First, let us recall this fundamental and axiomatic point; When the Gush Katif refugees fought through the courts, through demonstrations, through protests, through campaigning for “No” votes in the Likud referrendum as Talia Hatuel and her children were killed a little over 2 years ago enroute to doing, it was NOT for the money, NOT for their jobs, NOT for their personal property and real estate. What they fought so tenaciously for was a far higher purpose — the inseparable link for all time between a Jew and His Land, be it in Gush Katif, in Chevron, in Jerusalem, at Har HaBayit, at Kever Rachel, in Beit El, as well as in Modiin, Tel Aviv, Netanya or Haifa. They foresaw, as did countless others, that after a Gaza withdrawal an Islamic enemy would arise in void left with weaponry capable striking urban centers beyond Sderot.
And sure enough Netivot, Ashkelon have been hit repeatedly. In fact, they/we correctly foresaw the reasoning of “the nations” that “if the Jews, by withdrawing from Gaza, deny or equivocate about the Jewish biblical, historical claim to Gaza, what claim can the Jews possibly have to Chevron, Jerusalem, Modiin, Tel Aviv, Netanya or Haifa?”
Indeed, we only have to look as far as recent statements by SANA- Official Syrian News Agency concerning large urban areas such as Haifa, as reported by IMRA and posted to this site.
This author contacted Dror Vanunu, formerly the Director of the Gush Katif Region Development Fund and who is now heads the Gush Katif Committee which monitors and reports on the Current Conditions of the former Gush Katif Communities.
The purview of this post is restricted to matters concerning or related to compensation of Refugees and their families as mandated by the
“Disengagement Compensation Law” which was voted into law in the Knesset in the months before the expulsion.
The statistics which contradict Olmert’s 80% assertion appear to be as follows;
1/ Of the 4,560 compensation claims documents submitted by the refugee families and family members, 76% of the claims have been processed, reviewed and approved by the SELA bureaucracy. However, NONE of these claimants (representing the 76% of processed and approved claims) has received their entire compensation.
2/ 24% of the claimants have not received compensation because of unsecified delays.
3/ In the Housing section of the report, there is a point regarding 650 private appraisal claims for property which were presented but none alloted.
4/ 500 families in poor financial state are reduced to receiving food packages and assistance from welfare bodies. This seems to tie directly to the matter of compensation. This represents 29.8 % of 1677 families.
These statistics, issued by The Gush Katif Communities, seem to clearly demonstrate that Olmert’s “80% Comment” is a propaganda, gross exaggeration and media spin to deceive and brainwash masses of voters. It seems apparent that the true numbers of those who have either been compensated or fully compensated fall substantially short of Olmert’s representation.
As more data comes out in subsequent reports from Gush Katif Communities, this site will inform it’s readers. MB
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