"They will be among the last to leave" if the government carries out its threat to dismantle Jewish towns and villages and transfer their residents, Gane Tal administrator Meir Tzachor told Arutz-7 Monday evening. Gane Tal is one of 18 Jewish communities in Gush Katif in southern Gaza, and three others are in the north, near Ashkelon.
"They even were distributing fliers" against the government plan to hand over the land to Arabs, he said.
Tzachor denied reports in the Haaretz newspaper that farmers in Gush Katif are on the verge of collapse. Thailand's government has sent its ambasador in Israel to encourage its citizens working in Israel to leave Gush Katif because of constant mortar shelling. One shell killed a women Thai worker and injured two others last week.
The ambassador recently met with 150 Gush Katif foreign workers asking them to leave. He discovered that despite several dozen who said they wanted to leave, most want to remain.
"The situation is stable and they are more at ease," said Tzachor. "They know what Gush Katif is. They have good conditions and like it here. Many of them have been with us since the beginning of the Intifada. They leave and then come back." Foreign workers in Israel must leave the country after their work permits expire but may re-enter on new permits.
More than 400 workers from Thailand work in the hundreds of greenhouses in the Gush Katif communities, which formerly gave employment to thousands of Arabs before the Intifada. Several still are employed despite the risks of being killed as "collaborators."
Tzachor explained that work in the greenhouses which grow vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes, is semi-skilled and cannot be done by volunteers or yeshiva students.
"They even were distributing fliers" against the government plan to hand over the land to Arabs, he said.
Tzachor denied reports in the Haaretz newspaper that farmers in Gush Katif are on the verge of collapse. Thailand's government has sent its ambasador in Israel to encourage its citizens working in Israel to leave Gush Katif because of constant mortar shelling. One shell killed a women Thai worker and injured two others last week.
The ambassador recently met with 150 Gush Katif foreign workers asking them to leave. He discovered that despite several dozen who said they wanted to leave, most want to remain.
"The situation is stable and they are more at ease," said Tzachor. "They know what Gush Katif is. They have good conditions and like it here. Many of them have been with us since the beginning of the Intifada. They leave and then come back." Foreign workers in Israel must leave the country after their work permits expire but may re-enter on new permits.
More than 400 workers from Thailand work in the hundreds of greenhouses in the Gush Katif communities, which formerly gave employment to thousands of Arabs before the Intifada. Several still are employed despite the risks of being killed as "collaborators."
Tzachor explained that work in the greenhouses which grow vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes, is semi-skilled and cannot be done by volunteers or yeshiva students.