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An Israeli settler family, coming from the West Bank, unload their belongings as they remove their house to the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gush Katif block of settlements in the Gaza Strip Monday, April 4, 2005. The Jewish settlements in Gaza Strip are planned to be evacuated under the Israeli government's disengagement plan in the summer. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 6, 2005 |
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With Israel's pullout from Gaza looking inevitable within months, Jewish settlers gave their first indication of grudgingly accepting their fate, discussing with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the possibility of moving to Israel as a bloc.
The meeting Tuesday was the first between Gaza settlers and Sharon in months. Participants said that later this week, Sharon would visit a site where the settlers could move, and more talks would take place in 10 days.
The encounter followed what even the most rabid opponents of the pullout concede was the failure of attempts to scuttle the plan in the parliament, when lawmakers voted against holding a referendum and then endorsed Sharon's budget, giving his government a lease on life to get it through the summer.
"We understand that there is no choice. We are one people, we want to remain one people, so that's why we met with the prime minister," said Eliezer Yaakov, a representative of the Gan Or settlement at the two-hour meeting.
The settlers have vigorously opposed Sharon's "disengagement" plan, holding huge rallies, plastering the country with protest slogans and spreading vague threats of civil war.
But with the July pullout approaching, some settlers have begun worrying that if they do not negotiate with the government now, they will have little say in their fate.
"We don't think the battle is lost yet, but we have to take out life insurance because we know we are in a political struggle that we can lose," said Aharon Hazut, a settler at the meeting.
Under discussion was a new plan that would relocate settlers from many of the 21 Gaza settlements to between seven and 10 new communities near the Israeli town of Nitzan, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Gaza Strip.
The plan would require a major overhaul of the government's earlier compensation program, which allocated $900 million to be divided up by the settlers based on complex calculations, including length of time they lived in their settlement, the size of their houses and their salaries. After receiving the money, the settlers were expected to fend for themselves.
The Gaza Regional Council -- which represents 8,500 settlers slated for evacuation -- said it still opposes evacuation, but favors the move to the Nitzan area if the withdrawal goes through. Some settler leaders say as many as 1,100 of the roughly 1,600 affected settler families would evacuate quietly under that plan.
Other settlers deeply opposed the meeting, the first between the two sides in months, saying it gave Sharon an important victory.
"The prime minister will use the meeting as propaganda. He will tell everybody, 'I know them. I met them. I looked in their eyes and now I can do what I want,"' said Eran Sternberg, a settler leader.
The new plan faces several obstacles, including the potential opposition of residents near the planned communities and protests by environmentalists concerned that the government could be destroying natural sand dunes and desert wilderness.
"We shouldn't be enticed, for the sake of dialogue with the settlers, to sacrifice one of the most unique natural areas in Israel, and perhaps the world," Environment Minister Shalom Simhon. "We can't solve one problem by creating another."
The communities would also take several years to build, creating a dilemma of what to do with the settlers until the new houses are ready.
Also Tuesday, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said Israel will ask the United States for money to help with the withdrawal. Peres spoke hours before he was to leave for Washington to meet Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials to discuss the pullout. Sharon is to meet with Bush next week.
Peres refused to say how much money Israel is seeking from the United States, but an official close to the Bush administration said there are expectations in Washington that Israel would request $500 million.
The AP contributed to this report.
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