SELA is charged with implementing the "compensation" and rehabilitation aspects of the Evacuation-Compensation Bill governing the withdrawal from Gaza. Most of the expellees have strong complaints against Bassi for the way in which his office handled their situations, and the State Comptroller's report concurred with many of their gripes.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Mrs. Shimon's appointment a month ago, on the eve of the Shavuot holiday. She had been serving at the time as a senior Deputy Director in the Prime Minister's Office. Awarded a management degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, Shimon filled senior positions in the Israeli Embassies in New York, Cairo, Chicago and elsewhere.
It is likely that SELA will be charged with overseeing the resettlement of 70,000 additional residents, if Olmert continues with his plans to unilaterally withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria. Some say that the appointment of Shimon is a sign that Olmert is serious about preparing in advance for the plan - which has been gathering increasing number of opponents of late.
Others say that her appointment has to do only with those expelled last year, and not with those who might be expelled in the future. The Land of Israel Legal Forum, which has been closely accompanying the legal battles of the expelled families for over a year and a half, has called upon Shimon to replace the "worn-out clerks in SELA" and bring new life - and solutions - to the administration.
Some 50 expelled families still remain in the most temporary of quarters - in Ashkelon and Yad Mordechai - to which they moved or were moved directly from Gush Katif. Five families left their Jerusalem hotel rooms just this past week.
Well over 1,000 other families are "digging in" for a long haul in their temporary quarters. Close to 500 of them live in Nitzan, the largest of these new "camps." Half of them are from N'vei Dekalim, 90 are from Nisanit, and the others are from nearly every other former Gush Katif community.
Yad Binyamin, between Ashdod and Beit Shemesh, is the 2nd-largest concentration, with over 200 families. They include the entire community of Ganei Tal, Yeshivat Torat HaChaim of N'vei Dekalim, and others. Until a year ago, Yad Binyamin was a sleepy high-school community of some 20 families, but it is now becoming a regional center, with new apartments and roads constantly under construction.
The third-largest former Gush Katif site is just outside Kibbutz Ein Tzurim, with families from N'vei Dekalim (60), Netzer Hazani (44) and Gadid (18).
One new resident of Ein Tzurim is David Banjo, formerly of N'vei Dekalim and currently the "mayor" of the N'vei Dekalim community of Ein Tzurim. Asked about his future plans, Banjo told Arutz-7, "We are a group of more than 200 families, mostly from N'vei Dekalim, that are trying to build our permanent community in Egoz, in the Amatzia region. But we are making no progress, because the State does not want to unfreeze the area, which is currently listed as a protected forest site."
Banjo said he hopes that new SELA director Tzvia Shimon, "who has said that her main priority will be to get the permanent communities off the ground," will be able to obtain the proper permits for Egoz.
For now, however, the families - most of whom do not yet have work - can expect to remain for several years in their pre-fab structures in Nitzan, Yad Binyamin, Ein Tzurim, and elsewhere.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Mrs. Shimon's appointment a month ago, on the eve of the Shavuot holiday. She had been serving at the time as a senior Deputy Director in the Prime Minister's Office. Awarded a management degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, Shimon filled senior positions in the Israeli Embassies in New York, Cairo, Chicago and elsewhere.
It is likely that SELA will be charged with overseeing the resettlement of 70,000 additional residents, if Olmert continues with his plans to unilaterally withdraw from most of Judea and Samaria. Some say that the appointment of Shimon is a sign that Olmert is serious about preparing in advance for the plan - which has been gathering increasing number of opponents of late.
Others say that her appointment has to do only with those expelled last year, and not with those who might be expelled in the future. The Land of Israel Legal Forum, which has been closely accompanying the legal battles of the expelled families for over a year and a half, has called upon Shimon to replace the "worn-out clerks in SELA" and bring new life - and solutions - to the administration.
Some 50 expelled families still remain in the most temporary of quarters - in Ashkelon and Yad Mordechai - to which they moved or were moved directly from Gush Katif. Five families left their Jerusalem hotel rooms just this past week.
Well over 1,000 other families are "digging in" for a long haul in their temporary quarters. Close to 500 of them live in Nitzan, the largest of these new "camps." Half of them are from N'vei Dekalim, 90 are from Nisanit, and the others are from nearly every other former Gush Katif community.
Yad Binyamin, between Ashdod and Beit Shemesh, is the 2nd-largest concentration, with over 200 families. They include the entire community of Ganei Tal, Yeshivat Torat HaChaim of N'vei Dekalim, and others. Until a year ago, Yad Binyamin was a sleepy high-school community of some 20 families, but it is now becoming a regional center, with new apartments and roads constantly under construction.
The third-largest former Gush Katif site is just outside Kibbutz Ein Tzurim, with families from N'vei Dekalim (60), Netzer Hazani (44) and Gadid (18).
One new resident of Ein Tzurim is David Banjo, formerly of N'vei Dekalim and currently the "mayor" of the N'vei Dekalim community of Ein Tzurim. Asked about his future plans, Banjo told Arutz-7, "We are a group of more than 200 families, mostly from N'vei Dekalim, that are trying to build our permanent community in Egoz, in the Amatzia region. But we are making no progress, because the State does not want to unfreeze the area, which is currently listed as a protected forest site."
Banjo said he hopes that new SELA director Tzvia Shimon, "who has said that her main priority will be to get the permanent communities off the ground," will be able to obtain the proper permits for Egoz.
For now, however, the families - most of whom do not yet have work - can expect to remain for several years in their pre-fab structures in Nitzan, Yad Binyamin, Ein Tzurim, and elsewhere.