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| Israel-Palestine |
| Cabinet OKs Payment to Jewish Settlers |
| 2004-09-15 |
| Israeli Cabinet ministers approved cash advances Tuesday of up to $115,000 to Jewish settlers willing to leave their homes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank - the first concrete step toward carrying out Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's contentious pullout plan. Sharon wants to pull out of all 21 Gaza settlements and four small ones in the West Bank in 2005, removing 8,500 settlers from their homes. After four years of conflict with the Palestinians, Sharon says the moves are needed to improve security and pre-empt new international peace plans. The prime minister hopes cash advances will entice many settlers to leave voluntarily, averting confrontations between settlers and troops. Tuesday's 9-1 vote endorsed guidelines that would pay uprooted families a total of $200,000 to $350,000, depending on the size of their homes and how long they lived there, according to data presented to the ministers. In the meantime, cash advances of up to one-third of the final compensation package will be offered from reserve funds, a senior official said on condition of anonymity. He said the funds could be available ``within days.'' Legislation formalizing the guidelines is expected to go to the parliament in November, the official said. Settler leaders bitterly oppose any withdrawal. Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, spokesman for the Settlers' Council, said the vote ``proves this is a destructive, illegitimate government.'' |
| Posted by:Steve White |