An immediate band-aid solution has been found for the 60 refugee families, and a long-term solution is also in sight. But beginning next week, and until at least October, the former residents of the first post-Six Day War Jewish community in Gaza will have no place to lay their heads.
At present, the yeshiva high school in Hispin, in the Golan Heights, has offered the families a place to lie down. Asked about the conditions there, one woman said, "These buildings were built in the 1960's... Let's just say that the conditions correspond to the 'refugee' status that the government has bestowed upon us."
They moved there only after having spent a couple of days at the local guest house - but they were evicted from there on Sunday morning, because of paying guests who had previously signed up.
But what are they to do after the yeshiva's hospitality runs out, such as when the school year begins? "The arrangement is that we are supposed to be housed on land outside Ein Tzurim [in the Ashkelon-Kiryat Malachi area]," spokesperson Anita Tucker said. "The children are signed up for school in nearby Merkaz Shapira. But the infrastructures and pre-fab houses there won't be ready until October, we're told. So we need a place in that area, and it must be for all of us together - an ideal that we have never given up on, and will not give up on."
Her son Aviel said, "The government is showing signs of wanting to help, but not enough. All they have to do is go to one of the hotels, pay off those guests who were supposed to come, including some extra compensation, and then we'll have a place to stay while they build homes for us to live in to replace those they destroyed. But meanwhile they're not doing that, and have not been able to find a place for us. All we need is 130 or so rooms in a hotel in the south."
In order to make sure the government doesn't forget about them, some 150 Netzer Hazanites - mostly teenagers and young parents with their children - have set up a tent city in Tel Aviv, near the northern train station terminal. "We want to make sure to stay together," they say, "and we need a solution quickly."
It was reported today that patience in the Tel Aviv municipality was not in great supply, and that they refugee squatters had been ordered to leave by Friday. However, the city later adjusted its stance, explaining that the permit for the tent city included only one large tent, not many small ones, and that if the small tents are removed, the people could stay until Sept. 1.
Aviel Tucker said that he or other Netzer Hazani representatives are in frequent touch with Ilan Cohen, head of the Prime Minister's Office. Until Cohen finds a solution, the refugees of Netzer Hazani will continue to live in tents in the streets of Tel Aviv. "After all that we've been through," Aviel said, "sleeping outside in sleeping bags won't break us."