Attorney Yitzchak Meron, the head of the Land of Israel Legal Forum that has been representing the Gush Katif expellees on a pro-bono basis, has written a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Excerpts:
"Over 70 days have passed since, at your initiative, some 9,000 people were thrown out of their homes. Almost none of them have attained their permanent [housing] solution. At the earliest, they will reach it two years from now, and others will apparently have a final housing solution in only 3-4 years.
"No less severe is the fact that 2/3 of the people still do not even have a temporary solution. As it appears now, a large portion of them will reach this only 3-6 months from now.
"The temporary solutions themselves involve great suffering for the residents. They will have to live in very crowded conditions of 10-12 square meters [12-14 square yards] per person. Much of their furniture and belongings do not even fit into the small houses; their belongings will have to remain in containers or warehouses. The people have to buy furniture and equipment that fits their new houses - and it goes without saying that the law provides for no compensation for this."
"In short, the State has taken away from thousands of expelled residents their houses that they built with great toil, and these people are now without a home. They live in crowded hotel conditions. Some of them will have to remain this way for months to come. Physical and psychological ramifications of this situation are already noticeable, and experts say they will only get worse.
"We warned in advance that the state did not concern itself with providing appropriate housing solutions in advance. We warned of a double uprooting, and now it appears that some people will have to be uprooted three and even four times."
Meron contests the claim that the residents themselves did not cooperate sufficiently with the Disengagement Authority, but adds,
"In any event, ever since the expulsion, certainly there is no such claim! Yet despite this, everything that has been done has been too late, too little and too slow...
"Among the issues that have not been solved and that could be solved by your personal intervention are the families that lived in the area for many years - including young couples who were born there and families who rented privately - but because of various technical definitions, [are not yet receiving compensation]. The uprooted people themselves are not even involved in various negotiations between the government and the locations where caravila communities are planned - and they stand helpless on the sidelines."