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| Israel-Palestine |
| Most Gaza settlers accept Israel relocation-paper |
| 2005-05-27 |
| JERUSALEM - Most Jewish settlers slated for evacuation from Gaza have agreed to go without a fight, a newspaper said on Thursday, signalling a breakthrough in Israeli government efforts to prevent civil strife over the pullback. Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest daily, said at least 1,000 settler families -- constituting more than half of 8,500 Israelis living in the Gaza Strip -- had signed an agreement to be moved en masse to a new community up the coast in Israel. "We seek unity, not divisiveness," Yedioth quoted the settlers as saying in a collective letter to be presented later on Thursday at Israel's High Court of Justice, which has been hearing petitions over the "disengagement plan". The new community would be built by the government to relocate settlers from Gush Katif, the largest Gaza settlement, at Netzanim, a strip of prime real estate near the southern town of Ashkelon after the evacuation, due to begin in mid-August. A lawyer for the Gush Katif settlers, Yitzhak Meron, told Yedioth they wanted clarification from the government on the full terms for moving to Netzanim. "Amid all the uncertainty, people want to take their fate into their own hands," he said. Justice Minister Tzippi Livni had set Thursday as the deadline for Gush Katif settlers to sign up for Netzanim or risk losing relocation perks such as priority on interim housing, school arrangements, and other amenities. In recent months, smaller groups of Gaza settlers agreed to move voluntarily to Israel, but their leaders said they would still put up passive resistance to soldiers sent to evacuate them under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's withdrawal plan. Many hardline settlers have insisted they would spurn any negotiations on relocation and have vowed to stay put. |
| Posted by:Steve White |