Justice Minister Tzippy Livny met last night with representatives of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, who are volunteering to look out for the residents' legal interests in case of a withdrawal. She is promoting Prime Minister Sharon's plan to build new communities in the controversial Nitzanim area, north of Ashkelon.
She reportedly said that she needs a final list of the residents who are interested in such a plan by no later than a week from today - just ten weeks before the scheduled beginning of the expulsion.
Gush Katif spokesman Eran Sternberg explained to Arutz-7 why no residents - to the best of his knowledge - participated in the meeting: "First of all, we object to being thrown out of our houses, period. But in any event, if we meet with Sharon or with his representatives, will that help make this plan realistic? Sharon is trying to sell the public that he has a plan to house the displaced residents - but it's total nonsense. First they'll put us in caravans [pictured above] - large families and elderly grandparents and everyone else - while they're building the new houses. But that will take years, what with all the lawsuits [environmentalists object to construction in the protected area of Nitzanim - ed.] and other delays that can be expected - and in the meantime, the compensation money will get used up, and families will start falling apart, and suicides will begin - the same phenomena we are familiar with from Yamit."
On the other hand, the fact that no solution is yet in sight for the residents is seen as a good omen by some disengagement opponents. Manhigut Yehudit leader Moshe Feiglin told IsraelNationalRadio yesterday that he is encouraged by the current situation:
"From working on the inside [Manhigut is a faction within the Likud Party - ed.], one can see that there are serious cracks in the Sharon camp... For instance, at this point, Passover of the year 5765, according to the government's schedule, most of the residents in Gush Katif should already have been signed up to leave. The government built its plan based on the Yamit precedent [of 1982], when the original residents left without a struggle. Sharon's men were sure that this would happen here again - but it's not happening... There are many cracks on the other side; Natan Sharansky's resignation [from the government] is the latest crack, and now is the time to push forward to destroy the enemy - Sharon's family and his gang..."
Also still unresolved is the issue of the 47 graves in the Gush Katif cemetery in N'vei Dekalim. Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, head of the ZAKA volunteer organization that has become famous for its efforts in recovering body parts of terrorist victims, says that his organization will refuse to take part in exhuming the bodies buried in Gush Katif.
Meshi-Zahav said that Defense Ministry officials asked if ZAKA would be willing to help out in relocating the cemetery in the framework of the disengagement. "I told them there was no chance that we would be there," he told Arutz-7 today, "both personally and politically. After all, I helped establish the Hatzalah branch in Gush Katif, so how could I take part in such a thing?"
He further said that he has cut down on ZAKA cooperation with traffic police for the coming months. He explained that of late, ZAKA volunteers have been taking part in police-run traffic safety courses - but that he suddenly realized that his volunteers' efforts were to be used to "free up" policemen for expulsion work in the framework of the disengagement.
In addition, Meshi-Zahav said, "I received a request to have cameras stationed on the cars, for use in photographing right-wing demonstrators. I realized that this was not for me, and decided to suspend our joint courses and reduce our relationship with the police until [for the coming months]."