A law to compensate the farmers and business owners of the Gush Katif region in the Gaza Strip has passed it's second and third reading in the Knesset. MK Uri Ariel (National Union), chairman of the caucus for the Gush Katif evacuees, welcomed the law stating, "The government has proven it can work quickly. I hope that the continued treatment of the evacuees will advance at a similar speed."
The readings were conducted on the 5th anniversary of the beginning of the Disengagement in which the Israeli government forcibly removed the Jewish Gaza communities. According to reports, the total sum of exports from the greenhouses of Gush Katif, which were owned by 200 farmers, came to $200 million per year and made up 15% of the agricultural exports of the State of Israel.