* The IDF has decided to revoke its self-imposed ban on enlisting youths accused of criminal anti-disengagement activity this past summer. Beginning in March of this year, the 137 youths in question will be drafted.
The decision follows a request by Yesha Council leaders to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and Chief Personnel Officer Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern. Stern also instructed recruitment interviewers not to ask potential recruits questions such as, "Where were you during the disengagement? What is your opinion of the disengagement? Who will you listen to, your rabbi or your commander?"
* The Cabinet took a step yesterday towards helping former Gush Katif communities remain whole. It decided to finance community administration costs at the expellees' temporary residential sites, to enable the preservation of community frameworks during the period of transition to permanent communities.
Communities of 20-50 families will receive up to 5,500 shekels each month; 50-100 families - up to 11,000 shekels per month; and over 100 families - up to 22,000 shekels a month.
In addition, educational institutions that continue to operate with at least 150 students will receive up to 11,000 shekels each month.
The Cabinet also decided to finance the costs involved in employing rabbis at the expelled residents' temporary residential sites. Communities of 50-100 families will receive one rabbi, and larger ones will receive two rabbis, at costs to be determined by the National Religious Services Authority.
The above sums will be supplied for two years, or until the residents move to permanent communities, whichever comes earlier. More than 75% of residents from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria currently reside at various temporary residential sites throughout the country.
Close to 400 families, however, still live in the most temporary of dwelling arrangements, such as hotels, tent cities and yeshiva dormitories.
A partial list of locations still serving as first-stop temporary quarters:
* Six Jerusalem hotels - 94 families from N'vei Dekalim, mostly awaiting pre-fab houses in Nitzan
* An Ashkelon hotel - 90 from N'vei Dekalim, Katif and Elei Sinai, mostly awaiting pre-fab structures in Ein Tzurim or Nitzan
* Chafetz Chaim - 51 families from five communities (waiting for pre-fab caravilot in Yad Binyamin or Ein Tzurim)
* Ein Tzurim - 27 from Netzer Hazani (waiting for pre-fab housing in Ein Tzurim)
* Hispin yeshiva dormitory - 23 from Netzer Hazani (waiting for pre-fab housing in Ein Tzurim)
Dozens of families are still living in encampments near Netivot and Yad Mordechai, and in yeshiva dormitories in Karnei Shomron and Even Shmuel.
Among the medium-term temporary communities, hoping to move to their permanent locations in two years, are the following:
* Nitzan, with 470 families from all over Gush Katif.
* Three communities in Yad Binyamin: 100 families from Yeshivat Torat HaChaim and others from N'vei Dekalim and elsewhere, 80 families from Ganei Tal that are headed for Chafetz Chaim, and 15 assorted families who want to build their own community.
* Shadmot Mecholah - 11 families from Shirat HaYam.
* an Ashkelon apartment building - close to 60 families from Kfar Darom.
* Karmiyah - 56 families from Nisanit and Elei Sinai. A Kassam rocket landed near this site on Friday afternoon.
* Several others.
The following communities are in various stages of moving to their permanent communities:
* Many families of Atzmonah are likely to move to Shomeriyah, some 20 kilometers north of Be'er Sheva in the northern Negev. Shomeriyah is a kibbutz of the left-wing HaShomer HaTza'ir movement that has not prospered in recent years. The remaining families will accept compensation and move out, leaving some 30 residential buildings, a dairy, chicken coop, orchard, and various public buildings behind. Several dozen caravilot (pre-fab structures) will be built on the site as well.
* Over 50 families, mostly from Moshav Katif, plan to move to Amatziah, ten kilometers north of Shomeriyah and halfway between Hevron and Kiryat Gat. Some N'vei Dekalim families currently in Jerusalem hotels plan to join them. The precise location of the new community has not yet been determined.
* Close to 80 families from Ganei Tal hope and plan to build their permanent homes in Chafetz Chaim. They have remained together as a community since the day of the expulsion - first in the Chafetz Chaim guesthouse, and now in Yad Binyamin, just a few kilometers away.
* Some 35 families from Atzmonah, as well as the pre-military yeshiva academy that was located there, are currently in Yated, in the Halutzah Sands directly south of Gaza. Their move to their permanent community, currently known as Halutzit-4 and located in the same area, has been approved.
* Some 55 families of Netzarim are currently in Yevul, in Halutza, and their permanent move to Halutzit-1, in the same area, has been approved.
The decision follows a request by Yesha Council leaders to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz and Chief Personnel Officer Maj.-Gen. Elazar Stern. Stern also instructed recruitment interviewers not to ask potential recruits questions such as, "Where were you during the disengagement? What is your opinion of the disengagement? Who will you listen to, your rabbi or your commander?"
* The Cabinet took a step yesterday towards helping former Gush Katif communities remain whole. It decided to finance community administration costs at the expellees' temporary residential sites, to enable the preservation of community frameworks during the period of transition to permanent communities.
Communities of 20-50 families will receive up to 5,500 shekels each month; 50-100 families - up to 11,000 shekels per month; and over 100 families - up to 22,000 shekels a month.
In addition, educational institutions that continue to operate with at least 150 students will receive up to 11,000 shekels each month.
The Cabinet also decided to finance the costs involved in employing rabbis at the expelled residents' temporary residential sites. Communities of 50-100 families will receive one rabbi, and larger ones will receive two rabbis, at costs to be determined by the National Religious Services Authority.
The above sums will be supplied for two years, or until the residents move to permanent communities, whichever comes earlier. More than 75% of residents from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria currently reside at various temporary residential sites throughout the country.
Close to 400 families, however, still live in the most temporary of dwelling arrangements, such as hotels, tent cities and yeshiva dormitories.
A partial list of locations still serving as first-stop temporary quarters:
* Six Jerusalem hotels - 94 families from N'vei Dekalim, mostly awaiting pre-fab houses in Nitzan
* An Ashkelon hotel - 90 from N'vei Dekalim, Katif and Elei Sinai, mostly awaiting pre-fab structures in Ein Tzurim or Nitzan
* Chafetz Chaim - 51 families from five communities (waiting for pre-fab caravilot in Yad Binyamin or Ein Tzurim)
* Ein Tzurim - 27 from Netzer Hazani (waiting for pre-fab housing in Ein Tzurim)
* Hispin yeshiva dormitory - 23 from Netzer Hazani (waiting for pre-fab housing in Ein Tzurim)
Dozens of families are still living in encampments near Netivot and Yad Mordechai, and in yeshiva dormitories in Karnei Shomron and Even Shmuel.
Among the medium-term temporary communities, hoping to move to their permanent locations in two years, are the following:
* Nitzan, with 470 families from all over Gush Katif.
* Three communities in Yad Binyamin: 100 families from Yeshivat Torat HaChaim and others from N'vei Dekalim and elsewhere, 80 families from Ganei Tal that are headed for Chafetz Chaim, and 15 assorted families who want to build their own community.
* Shadmot Mecholah - 11 families from Shirat HaYam.
* an Ashkelon apartment building - close to 60 families from Kfar Darom.
* Karmiyah - 56 families from Nisanit and Elei Sinai. A Kassam rocket landed near this site on Friday afternoon.
* Several others.
The following communities are in various stages of moving to their permanent communities:
* Many families of Atzmonah are likely to move to Shomeriyah, some 20 kilometers north of Be'er Sheva in the northern Negev. Shomeriyah is a kibbutz of the left-wing HaShomer HaTza'ir movement that has not prospered in recent years. The remaining families will accept compensation and move out, leaving some 30 residential buildings, a dairy, chicken coop, orchard, and various public buildings behind. Several dozen caravilot (pre-fab structures) will be built on the site as well.
* Over 50 families, mostly from Moshav Katif, plan to move to Amatziah, ten kilometers north of Shomeriyah and halfway between Hevron and Kiryat Gat. Some N'vei Dekalim families currently in Jerusalem hotels plan to join them. The precise location of the new community has not yet been determined.
* Close to 80 families from Ganei Tal hope and plan to build their permanent homes in Chafetz Chaim. They have remained together as a community since the day of the expulsion - first in the Chafetz Chaim guesthouse, and now in Yad Binyamin, just a few kilometers away.
* Some 35 families from Atzmonah, as well as the pre-military yeshiva academy that was located there, are currently in Yated, in the Halutzah Sands directly south of Gaza. Their move to their permanent community, currently known as Halutzit-4 and located in the same area, has been approved.
* Some 55 families of Netzarim are currently in Yevul, in Halutza, and their permanent move to Halutzit-1, in the same area, has been approved.