Only three percent of the former residents of Gush Katif communities have begun building permanent homes 1,000 days after the government expelled them and destroyed their communities, turning them over to the Palestinian Authority, which now is run by Hamas in Gaza. Friends of Gush Katif officials said that only 20 percent the owners of farmland have been able to return to agriculture.

In addition, the unemployment rate is 15 percent, and another 23 percent are underemployed, unable to work in their previous professions. The government previously had promised "there is a solution for every resident."