‘Treat detained settlers with care’
Sharon ask Prison Service officials to take mental anguish of settlers arrested for resisting evacuation into consideration; says, ‘they are wonderful people, not criminals’
TEL AVIV - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has told senior Israeli Prison Authority officials that they must avoid clashing with settlers who will resist being evacuated during Israel's planned pullout from Gaza next month and treat those detained in jail with care, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“Even if people insult you, you must be considerate of their pain," Sharon told the officials. "It’s important to guard their honor and understand that you are not dealing with the criminals of the type you see every day. These are wonderful people, and everything must be done to ease their crisis.”
Prison Authority officers briefed the prime minister on the preparations being made to receive hundreds of detainees during the pullout, saying they have set up a special procedure to deal with minors.
They had said in the past that a special wing will house settlers who resist Israel's withdrawal from all 21 settlements in Gaza and four of the 120 in the West Bank, set to start on August 17.
Sharon also called on the settlers to come to terms with the pullout and prepare for evacuation.
“Don’t be tempted to believe the disengagement will not be carried out. It will be,” he said.
Sharon calls for settlers to file for compensation
The prime minister also urged those settlers who have not yet filed for compensation from the Disengagement Authority to hurry up and do so. He said on Monday that half of the some 9,000 settlers slated for evacuation have already signed deals to relocate ahead of the pullout.
“Prepare yourselves for the evacuation and for the day after,” he said. “There are houses for everyone.”
Sharon criticized the pullout objectors’ proposal to house the evacuees in tent encampments.
“This is a political provocation, and it is a shame people are suffering because of it,” he said. “The government has prepared solutions for everyone. It would be a mistake to agree to this provocation.”
