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New Communities Planned in Lachish for Gush Katif Refugees, by Hana Levi Julian (Israel National News)
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to announce the construction of seven communities in the Lachish region that will become the new homes for a group of Jewish communities expelled from Gush Katif.
Plans that have been on the drawing board for at least ten months were reportedly finalized this week between Jewish refugees from Gaza and senior officials in the Prime Minister’s Office.
According to a report by Channel 2 television news, Olmert is expected to announce the creation of the new communities in the Lachish region.
The seven communities are planned for the area along a north-south 15-kilometer corridor east of the Beersheva-Kiryat Gat area, west of Hebron. Six of the seven are designated to house specific relocated former Gush Katif communities.
While some of the residents of the 21 communities evacuated a year-and-a-half ago have found permanent homes, the large majority of those expelled live in temporary communities. The refugee camps are constructed with caravillas, or trailers with an expected lifespan of two to three years.
Most of the residents insist on being permanently resettled together in brand new communities after watching their former homes demolished.
National Union Knesset member Uri Ariel, chairman of the lobby for the former Gush Katif residents, was not yet ready to celebrate the news. He expressed his doubts about whether the agreement was just more talk, or something more.
“It is already almost a year that we are battling with government ministries to build these communities,” he said. “Our faith will return when we see the tractors at work,” he said.
Too many promises by the government have been broken, he added. Until ground is actually broken at the sites, the Jewish refugees will not believe the project will be carried out.