Over the next several days, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will decide whether or not to support a bill aimed at removing Jews from Judea and Samaria, according to Haaretz. The bill would grant financial compensation to residents of 74 Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria who agree to leave their homes voluntarily. The communities in question are located to the east of the Judea and Samaria security barrier.
The bill is supported by several politicians, including members of the leftist Meretz party and Vice Premier Chaim Ramon, a close associate of Olmert’s. Proponents of the bill say up to 50 percent of Israelis in the communities in question would accept the offer to relocate to pre-1967 Israel, making it easier for the government to destroy Jewish towns in the area in order to sign a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority.
Community leaders in Judea and Samaria have expressed skepticism, and say that few of the area’s Jews are willing to leave their homes.