Will Former Gush Katif Residents be Stuck in Ramshackle Nitzan Permanently?

Temporary Site Will Eventually Become Permanent, Say Evacuees, by Shmulik Hadad (Ynet)

For related reports on the Regime’s abject neglect of the expelled former Gush Katif residents, click here.

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Gush Katif evacuees living in Nitzan don’t know who to turn to. They fear temporary site will become permanent, claim authorities will not take responsibility for them.

Gush Katif evacuees living in the mobile-home site Nitzan were hoping to celebrate Pessach, the festival of freedom, in a permanent location. However, the harsh reality is that a year and a half after they were removed from their homes in the Gaza strip, there is no solution for them in sight.

It looks like the 500 families in Nitzan (3,000 people) are not going anywhere in the near future and they are trying to make the site more like home.

Some of the families have started doing up their houses, improvising additional rooms. As there is no authority to supervise the building, the additions are often dangerous. Lately, a number of businesses, shops and restaurants have also opened. None of them are licensed.

Lior Kalfa, Chairman of the Gush Katif Committee, said: “It won’t be long before this becomes a permanent community, so the people here are trying to create a more permanent reality.”

The regional council is aware of the illegal building in Nitzan. “We are not going to pull down what they built. Not after what they’ve already been through,” said a council official.

“Our children go to 10 different schools in the region. We were supposed to have a school but it’s stuck somewhere in the red tape. It is quite clear that we’ll be here for at least five years,” said Yigal Meoded a former Neve Dekalim resident who now lives in Nitzan.

“Not Our Responsibility”

Another one of the residents said: “It is very crowded here. We are living in very tight spaces. It was OK when we thought it would be for a year or two, but when I realized that we’re going to be here for a while, I added the extra unit.”

The regional council, the local Planning and Building Board, the Construction and Housing Ministry and the Disengagement Authority are all shirking responsibility regarding the people of Nitzan, said Kalfa. “No one is taking responsibility. They write a letter after every meeting and that’s it.”