The Knesset State Control Committee held a special session Tuesday on the situation of those families uprooted from Gaza and northern Samaria in the context of the Ariel Sharon-era Disengagement. The session marked two years since the state 
The committee members demanded answers from the government offices responsible.
carried out the unilateral withdrawals.
The committee members demanded answers from the government offices responsible for the displaced families, noting the ineffectiveness, failures, delays and poor results of the treatment the families have received thus far.
Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party-National Union) opened the meeting by saying that the purpose of the special session was not merely to expose the failings in relation to the uprooted families, but to discuss how to remedy the situation.
Members of the committee posed serious questions to the representatives of the various government ministries who attended the meeting. Among the issues raised was the delay in establishing permanent communities for the uprooted families and the rehabilitation of the families until those homes are built.
Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima), associate chairman of the Gush Katif Evictees Lobby in the Knesset, addressed the Director of the Prime Minister's Office, Raanan Dinur, with the demand to know why the state has so completely failed in establishing the displaced residents' new communities. "According to the statistics presented to us," Elkin said, "it appears that the construction of the permanent communities for 500 families will only begin in another year, in July 2008, and will continue for at least two years. That means that from the time of the Disengagement until the families move into their permanent communities, at least five years will have passed. Why does it have to take so long to solve the permanent housing issue, and why has the state failed to estimate correctly how long it would take to build the houses?"
In his report to the committee, Dinur explained that there were many roadblocks in implementing housing decisions, not the least of which is difficulty in receiving the permits to use the intended lands for residential development due to objections by environmental activist organizations. In another case, the area to be used for housing is currently part of a military firing range, he noted.
Responding to Dinur's explanations, MK Amira Dotan (Kadima) asked, "If these problems have been known for some time, why are there still no alternative solutions?"
As Dinur presented figures regarding the compensation offered to the former residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, and their various housing and employment situations, MK Dotan interrupted him and called attention to the evictees' representatives at the committee meeting. Judging by their body language Dinur read the statistics, Dotan exclaimed, there is a marked difference between the Prime Minister's Office litany of figures and the facts on the ground.
In his statement, a representative of the former residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, Chairman of the Settlers Union, Lior Khalfa, thanked the Knesset for holding the special session and expressed the hope that it would change the pace with which the state addresses issues of the evictees' welfare. He also emphasized the seriousness of the evictees' sense of uncertainty about their own personal and immediate future.
"The treatment of the expelled people was thoughtless and disorganized, as finds expression in every area. As of today, we must pause and engage in a joint reconsideration," said Khalfa. "The situation on the ground cannot be argued with. The temporary residential areas have not changed and the expectation is that [the evictees] will remain in them for a yet longer period of time. Most of the government offices are unprepared for this situation. There was no thought given to the future beyond 2007; therefore, an inter-ministerial reorganization is needed for an extended stay in the temporary locations," Khalfa recommended.
Micha Lindenstrauss, the State Comptroller, told the Knesset committee that his office warned the government early on about the state of extreme distress in which the displaced families have been living. According to Lindenstrauss, many of the issues the State Comptroller's Office raised have not been addressed: "To my great sorrow, they did not hear what we said clearly and unequivocally in our Comptroller's reports on this matter."
The State Comptroller's Office will soon begin carrying out ongoing supervision of the implementation of its recommendations.
In order to encourage the government into action regarding the evictees' well-being, Lindestrauss announced, the State Comptroller's Office will soon begin carrying out ongoing supervision of the implementation of its recommendations from past Comptroller's reports. "A large team in our office will be assigned to this matter and will cause things to move faster," Lindenstrauss said.
Turning to the uprooted families directly, the Comptroller said, "Your distress is not in dispute."
Emphasizing the issue of implementation, MK Dotan said that there were many decisions made regarding proper treatment of the displaced families, but they have not been put into action. "We don't want to censure, but we do want to receive an orderly schedule of activity."
Among other questions raised by the MKs during the special session were: Why are 70% of the farmers of Gush Katif still without land to work? Why are there still no solutions for those who were farmers and small business owners, despite the state's written commitments to supply those solutions? How will the state compensate the farmers for the lost seasons and lost markets as a result of the delay in providing them with alternate farmland? How does the state intend to handle the needs of the communities created as a result of the extended stay in what were to be temporary accommodations? Direct answers, however, were in short supply.