The Knesset Wednesday will probably pass the first reading of the Disengagement Implementation bill after having debated the proposal all day Tuesday. The next step, more problematic and lengthy, will be review and revisions in Knesset committees.
The 89-page bill stipulates the amount of money each family is to receive for property and costs of moving and finding new jobs. It also states that uprooted residents face up to five years in prison if they congregate in groups during the evacuation, and it determines that the government will take possession of all remaining property.
MK Nissan Slomiansky (National Religious Party) said during the debate, "Ministers are trying to persuade me to vote for it because, they say, it's just a way of compensating people who're being thrown out of their homes. These ministers either don't understand anything, or they're trying to mislead. The fact is that our Basic Laws prevent a person from being thrown out of his home. In order to overcome this 'hurdle,' a special law is needed, and this is that law!”
Opposition leader Shimon Peres praised the disengagement program, saying it was a way of making up for the "tremendous waste of money" that has gone into the construction of communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza over the past 25 years.
MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union) sharply criticized the law for its severe restrictions on protest and resistance to the evacuation. "Three people who refuse to leave their home should be placed in jail for three years?" he protested. In response, Mk Meir Sheetrit (Likud) said that the punishment is only for those who "get violent and endanger a security officer."
National Religious Party MK Yitzchak Levy (NRP) advised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “to listen to your real friends, those in your own party, who are warning you against what you are doing.” He added that instead of prematurely “eulogizing” Yesha residents, “it's time to start eulogizing the government! It's is at the end of its days.”
The 89-page bill stipulates the amount of money each family is to receive for property and costs of moving and finding new jobs. It also states that uprooted residents face up to five years in prison if they congregate in groups during the evacuation, and it determines that the government will take possession of all remaining property.
MK Nissan Slomiansky (National Religious Party) said during the debate, "Ministers are trying to persuade me to vote for it because, they say, it's just a way of compensating people who're being thrown out of their homes. These ministers either don't understand anything, or they're trying to mislead. The fact is that our Basic Laws prevent a person from being thrown out of his home. In order to overcome this 'hurdle,' a special law is needed, and this is that law!”
Opposition leader Shimon Peres praised the disengagement program, saying it was a way of making up for the "tremendous waste of money" that has gone into the construction of communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza over the past 25 years.
MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union) sharply criticized the law for its severe restrictions on protest and resistance to the evacuation. "Three people who refuse to leave their home should be placed in jail for three years?" he protested. In response, Mk Meir Sheetrit (Likud) said that the punishment is only for those who "get violent and endanger a security officer."
National Religious Party MK Yitzchak Levy (NRP) advised Prime Minister Ariel Sharon “to listen to your real friends, those in your own party, who are warning you against what you are doing.” He added that instead of prematurely “eulogizing” Yesha residents, “it's time to start eulogizing the government! It's is at the end of its days.”