After announcing that an entire community of about 20 families - Pe'at Sadeh, in southwestern Gaza - has agreed to move en masse to a moshav near Ashkelon, he admitted that the number is very small in comparison to the approximately 1,500 families living in the areas the government wants to dismantle.
Bassi, who said two months ago that close to one-third of the families had begun to process applications to receive compensation in return for their leaving voluntarily, refused to state the exact number of those interested in leaving. He said only that he has been “in contact with a large number,” warning that “time is running out… first come, first served.”
Bassi told reporters he wanted to bring Pe'at Sadeh residents to the press conference, but that they refused to come “because of the pressures” from other Gush Katif residents. A resident of Pe'at Sadeh who spoke to Arutz-7 said that she knew of no such pressures.
Residents of Pa’at Sadeh said they remain totally opposed to the evacuation plan, and will not leave one moment before they have to. “The pain of disengagement is immense, and we have no intention of leaving on our own free will from Gush Katif, where we established our community 16 years ago and changed a deserted and empty place to a wonderful area,” said Shai Hamo.
Another woman, Ela, explained that there would be no physical resistance. "We will not allow a situation in which soldiers come in here to take us out," she said. "One of them could be my very own son. On the other hand, we're not like some other individuals who want to take the compensation money and run. We will continue to fight - with words - against this plan. But if there is a decision by the government and the Knesset, we will stay here until the end of May [according to the agreement with the Evacuation Authority], and then we will walk off by ourselves."
Asked why they couldn't wait another month before making this decision, and does she not feel that it is a "breach in the wall" of the Gush Katif resistance, Ela said, "We didn't make calculations of timing. We want to make sure to stay together, and we did it now. There are other communities that are also considering doing this, and so maybe we're the first."
Bassi will relocate the families of Pe'at Sadeh in Moshav Mavki’im, half-way between northern Gaza and Ashkelon. The agreement is the only one Bassi has been able to conclude, and it requires Knesset approval.
Gaza Regional Council spokesman Eran Sternberg dismissed the significance of the Pe'at Sadeh decision, and said that Bassi has “proposed unauthorized offers to naive people."
The women’s organization “Return,” a supporter of the government plan to transfer Jewish land to Arabs, blamed the low number of applications on the inadequate compensation the government has offered.
Knesset Member Effie Eitam of the National Religious Party disputed this, however, saying that Bassi’s statistics “prove the failure” of his agency to convince residents “to sell their values in return for money.” Eitam added that the facts “prove that residents believe they are not alone and that they depend on hundreds of thousands of Israelis who will appear when necessary to bodily prevent evacuation.”
Pe'at Sadeh is just the exception that proves the rule, according to the optimistic prognosis of Avner Shimoni, head of the Gaza Coast (Gush Katif) Regional Council. "Bassi said a few weeks ago that between a quarter and a third of the families had turned to him," Shimoni told Arutz-7 last night, "and now he admits that it's only 1-2%. Maybe soon it will go even lower than that."
Shimoni said he did not blame the residents of Pe'at Sadeh for their decision: "It's their right, especially after having being barraged by so many mortar shells. But it's not acceptable to me."
Bassi, who said two months ago that close to one-third of the families had begun to process applications to receive compensation in return for their leaving voluntarily, refused to state the exact number of those interested in leaving. He said only that he has been “in contact with a large number,” warning that “time is running out… first come, first served.”
Bassi told reporters he wanted to bring Pe'at Sadeh residents to the press conference, but that they refused to come “because of the pressures” from other Gush Katif residents. A resident of Pe'at Sadeh who spoke to Arutz-7 said that she knew of no such pressures.
Residents of Pa’at Sadeh said they remain totally opposed to the evacuation plan, and will not leave one moment before they have to. “The pain of disengagement is immense, and we have no intention of leaving on our own free will from Gush Katif, where we established our community 16 years ago and changed a deserted and empty place to a wonderful area,” said Shai Hamo.
Another woman, Ela, explained that there would be no physical resistance. "We will not allow a situation in which soldiers come in here to take us out," she said. "One of them could be my very own son. On the other hand, we're not like some other individuals who want to take the compensation money and run. We will continue to fight - with words - against this plan. But if there is a decision by the government and the Knesset, we will stay here until the end of May [according to the agreement with the Evacuation Authority], and then we will walk off by ourselves."
Asked why they couldn't wait another month before making this decision, and does she not feel that it is a "breach in the wall" of the Gush Katif resistance, Ela said, "We didn't make calculations of timing. We want to make sure to stay together, and we did it now. There are other communities that are also considering doing this, and so maybe we're the first."
Bassi will relocate the families of Pe'at Sadeh in Moshav Mavki’im, half-way between northern Gaza and Ashkelon. The agreement is the only one Bassi has been able to conclude, and it requires Knesset approval.
Gaza Regional Council spokesman Eran Sternberg dismissed the significance of the Pe'at Sadeh decision, and said that Bassi has “proposed unauthorized offers to naive people."
The women’s organization “Return,” a supporter of the government plan to transfer Jewish land to Arabs, blamed the low number of applications on the inadequate compensation the government has offered.
Knesset Member Effie Eitam of the National Religious Party disputed this, however, saying that Bassi’s statistics “prove the failure” of his agency to convince residents “to sell their values in return for money.” Eitam added that the facts “prove that residents believe they are not alone and that they depend on hundreds of thousands of Israelis who will appear when necessary to bodily prevent evacuation.”
Pe'at Sadeh is just the exception that proves the rule, according to the optimistic prognosis of Avner Shimoni, head of the Gaza Coast (Gush Katif) Regional Council. "Bassi said a few weeks ago that between a quarter and a third of the families had turned to him," Shimoni told Arutz-7 last night, "and now he admits that it's only 1-2%. Maybe soon it will go even lower than that."
Shimoni said he did not blame the residents of Pe'at Sadeh for their decision: "It's their right, especially after having being barraged by so many mortar shells. But it's not acceptable to me."