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PM Ariel Sharon holds a meeting with senior officials about the fate of Gush Katif evacuees' homes. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners May 3, 2005 |
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's afternoon powwow with senior officials -- including Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Vice Premier Shimon Peres -- has resutled in an even more heated debate about the fate of "settlers'" homes.
The proposal crafted at the high-level meeting is to be debated and approved by the government in the coming weeks.
The government had decided in the past to demolish the houses of settlers slated for evacuation following the implementation of the pullout plan. But in January, officials publicly recommended against such a policy, as no Israeli interest would be served by destroying the homes.
A report -- the joint work of military, police and government officials -- raised a number of objections regarding the demolition plan. From nearly every angle: legal, economic, and environmental, it was decided it would be better to leave the houses standing.
Weighing in against these considerations were the public?s feelings and the fear that terrorists would celebrate in the former houses of settlers.
The defense establishment also argued against demolishing homes following the pullout, in favor of transferring them to the Palestinians, agreeing that synagogues, cemeteries and IDF posts would however, be moved to Israel.
During the meeting, an altercation broke out between Netanyahu and Peres. Peres said that destroying settlers' homes would look very bad in world opinion, and the ex-settlements could be used as vacation resorts for Palestinians. Netanyahu retorted that the settlements would be used as resorts for Hamas, and leaving the houses intact would be a moral victory for terror.
Minister Haim Ramon warned that tearing down the houses would delay the disengagement significantly.
The government's final decision will be pushed off until next week.
Meanwhile, opponents of the disengagement plan argued that a governmental decision to leave the homes would be an amendment to the Disengagement Implementation Law, and therefore the bill would have to be presented to the Knesset again.
"If this essential clause [of the Disengagement Implementation Law] is altered, then the Knesset needs to vote on the bill again," Likud rebel leader Uzi Landau told Army Radio. "It is clear here that the prime minister is scorning the establishment. The main message coming from his office is, 'This is what I want, so this is what will be. What can't be done by force will be done by even more force."
Speaking for the Prime Minister's Office, director general Ilan Cohen said that the matter would be thoroughly investigated. "The issue [of whether to demolish homes] has been discussed at length by the government and relevant ministers," Cohen told Army Radio. "The prime minister will have to decide how to present [such a proposal] and to whom. He must present it somehow, and there is no doubt that he will bring it before the Knesset," he said.
At the same time, "settlers" met with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni for four hours last night discussing housing solutions for Gaza evacuees. Livni recommended the settlers accept the Nitzanim Plan, which would get public funding. According to the plan, four communities would be set up in the area of Niztanim, north of the coastal city of Ashkelon.
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