Of the 1,600 families that were thrown out of their homes in Gush Katif nearly 15 months ago, some of them agreed to move to Amatzia, between southern Judea and Kiryat Gat. The understanding was that a road would be paved between their homes to the town of Shomeriya, 7 kilometers to the south, where the children were to go to school.
The government originally set a paving deadline for the beginning of the school year, and then another one five weeks ago - but the road is still not ready. In fact, due to the recent rains, the road has now become muddied to the extent that it is no longer passable. This morning, faced with the option of taking a bypass route via Kiryat Gat - some seven times longer than the straight route - the parents decided to keep their children home instead.
The parents also note that the route has no cell-phone reception, presenting a security hazard. Miri Farija, whose three children traveled every morning - until today - on the hazardous route, said, "Every journey fills both me and my children with dread, uncertainty, and the fear of getting stuck without being able to call them. We feel helpless."
The Knesset Audit Committee's subcommittee on the Disengagement held a session today on the continued suffering of the displaced Gush Katif and northern Shomron residents. Chairperson Amira Dotan (Kadima) issued a call to Prime Minister Olmert to get personally involved in speeding up the process of dealing solving the residents' ongoing problems. She said that another session would be held within two weeks in order to track the efforts, or lack thereof, to solve the problems.
One former Gush Katif resident said that the meager financial compensation offered the residents for their businesses does not reflect the difficulties they have in starting new ones. "If they had continued to live in Gush Katif," she told the committee members, "they would have continued earning money, coming home to their families every day proud of their day's work. Instead, now they are stuck at home and have become tattered dishrags."
MK Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima) noted that over 60 MKs had signed a bill calling for changes in the Compensation/Evacuation Law, and said that even if Prime Minister Olmert objects to it, "he will have to follow the law as it is legislated." Elkin called for a clear timetable to solve the residents' problems, and said, "It is clear that the Disengagement itself was not carried out the way the residents' rehabilitation is being carried out - or else it never would have happened."
The head of the Gush Katif Residents Committee, Lior Kalfa, said, "The stuck-in-the-mud school bus from Amatzia is a reflection of the situation in which all the uprooted residents are stuck... A year and three months after the expulsion, and not even one permanent house has been started for even one resident!"
A major issue of concern is the youth, and MK Elkin noted with concern that the Education Ministry had actually decreased its funding for educational and social help programs. The Knesset Committee for Children's Rights, headed by MK Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor), visited some of the residents' new temporary communities this week, and heard first-hand of the "deterioration of the orange youth." The committee members were informed of high drop-out rates, young marriages, lack of trust in the State and government, loss of parental authority, attempted suicides, drugs and other problems.
Yechimovitch, a staunch supporter of the Disengagement, said, "After the State implemented such a controversial and traumatic process and brought these communities to an end, it must take responsibility for dealing with the problems of both the youth and the adults. It is not being done at this time, and we in this committee will enlist to help to the best of our ability in obtaining allocations and in pressuring the government to help in education and welfare."
The government originally set a paving deadline for the beginning of the school year, and then another one five weeks ago - but the road is still not ready. In fact, due to the recent rains, the road has now become muddied to the extent that it is no longer passable. This morning, faced with the option of taking a bypass route via Kiryat Gat - some seven times longer than the straight route - the parents decided to keep their children home instead.
The parents also note that the route has no cell-phone reception, presenting a security hazard. Miri Farija, whose three children traveled every morning - until today - on the hazardous route, said, "Every journey fills both me and my children with dread, uncertainty, and the fear of getting stuck without being able to call them. We feel helpless."
The Knesset Audit Committee's subcommittee on the Disengagement held a session today on the continued suffering of the displaced Gush Katif and northern Shomron residents. Chairperson Amira Dotan (Kadima) issued a call to Prime Minister Olmert to get personally involved in speeding up the process of dealing solving the residents' ongoing problems. She said that another session would be held within two weeks in order to track the efforts, or lack thereof, to solve the problems.
One former Gush Katif resident said that the meager financial compensation offered the residents for their businesses does not reflect the difficulties they have in starting new ones. "If they had continued to live in Gush Katif," she told the committee members, "they would have continued earning money, coming home to their families every day proud of their day's work. Instead, now they are stuck at home and have become tattered dishrags."
MK Ze'ev Elkin (Kadima) noted that over 60 MKs had signed a bill calling for changes in the Compensation/Evacuation Law, and said that even if Prime Minister Olmert objects to it, "he will have to follow the law as it is legislated." Elkin called for a clear timetable to solve the residents' problems, and said, "It is clear that the Disengagement itself was not carried out the way the residents' rehabilitation is being carried out - or else it never would have happened."
The head of the Gush Katif Residents Committee, Lior Kalfa, said, "The stuck-in-the-mud school bus from Amatzia is a reflection of the situation in which all the uprooted residents are stuck... A year and three months after the expulsion, and not even one permanent house has been started for even one resident!"
A major issue of concern is the youth, and MK Elkin noted with concern that the Education Ministry had actually decreased its funding for educational and social help programs. The Knesset Committee for Children's Rights, headed by MK Shelly Yechimovitch (Labor), visited some of the residents' new temporary communities this week, and heard first-hand of the "deterioration of the orange youth." The committee members were informed of high drop-out rates, young marriages, lack of trust in the State and government, loss of parental authority, attempted suicides, drugs and other problems.
Yechimovitch, a staunch supporter of the Disengagement, said, "After the State implemented such a controversial and traumatic process and brought these communities to an end, it must take responsibility for dealing with the problems of both the youth and the adults. It is not being done at this time, and we in this committee will enlist to help to the best of our ability in obtaining allocations and in pressuring the government to help in education and welfare."