A Sela Disengagement Authority spokesman said Sunday that the Authority has provided housing solutions for nearly two-thirds of the approximately 1,800 families evicted from their homes in the Gaza and northern Shomron regions three summers ago, and slammed the hundreds of still homeless refugees for making "unfair" demands on the government for reparations for lost homes and property.
Speaking at a press conference to mark 1,000 days since Jewish residents were evicted from their homes, Adiel Shomron, deputy manager of the Sela Disengagement Authority, claimed that 600 former Gaza and northern Shomron families have received plots of land and could start building new homes immediately. In addition, another 300 families who have received their compensation money and purchased homes in other areas of Israel
"We cannot forces evacuees to accept the solutions we are offering," he said, "but the situation today is that we are waiting for the settlers to come.
Settlers: 'Compensation' Unfair
Hundreds of former Gaza and northern Shomron residents attended the press conference to protest the government's inaction to provide compensation and to reimburse residents for lost property and livelihood. One refugee, Aharon Fargon, who was forced from his home in the Gaza community of Dolech. Nearly three years later, he said he still lives in a "cara-villa" with no idea when, or if, he will be able to return to a normal family situation.
"Three years later, I have no income, and I have no idea what the future holds. I don't know when I'll be able to build a home [and] don't know when I'll be able to return to work," he said.
Shomron also claimed that the average payout to refugee families was approximately 1.5 million shekels, and that the process of distributing compensation benefits was completed approximately six months ago.
But whatever the payout, Fargon said he and his former neighbors received just 39 percent of the market value for their homes, and that the refugees have been forced to pay lawyers fees for administering their benefits.
"(The bottom line is) when the government wants this to end, it will end," he said. "But the government is earning money from our suffering, so they do not want it to end."