First Gaza evacuees complain new homes are too small
Photo: Gadi Kablo
Vice Premier Peres toured the "trailer-villa" park on Wednesday
Photo: Tzafrir Abayov
Size matters for Nitzanim newcomers
Former Gaza settlers who have agreed to live in temporary "trailer-villa" park in southern Israel complain structures are too small and many demand religious lifestyle be retained and that secular residents cover up; Housing Ministry promises to build them more places of worship
NITZANIM - Dozens of Gaza settler families have agreed to evacuate ahead of Israel’s planned pullout from the territory and to live in a “trailer-villa” park in a southern Israeli town, but most of them have not yet moved in to their new homes and complain they are too small, government officials said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday that half of the some 9,000 Jewish settlers who live in the Gaza Strip have applied for government compensation and have agreed to leave their homes before Israel begins its scheduled withdrawal from the area on August 17.
About 70 Jewish families from Gaza have already received keys to 2.5-room “trailer-villas” the government had built in the southern town of Nitzanim, a Negev desert community a few miles away from the Strip, a government official said.
Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog toured the site on Wednesday. Israel has built 320 such structures since it began construction in the site earlier in the year. Each “trailer-villa” is worth approximately NIS 100,000 and the government plans for residents to live there for two years.
Housing Ministry official briefs Vice Premier Shimon Peres on
Nitzanim plans (Photo by Zafrir Aviyov)
However, only a few former Gaza settlers have actually relocated and the homes are virtually empty, the official added. The new residents of Nitzanim, many of whom are religious and have large families, have complained in recent days that the new structures are not big enough.
“Most of our equipment is inside a container that has been moving around for two days because we cannot find a solution,” one new resident of the “trailer-villa” park told Ynet. “If they don’t find a solution, we’ll just leave the container on the front lawn.”
Religious lifestyle wanted
The religious former settlers have also voiced criticism about having to live among secular Israelis in Nitzanim and not having enough places to pray.
“We are making great efforts to solve this sensitive issue,” said Herzog. “In the coming days there will be a synagogue, mikvehs (ritual baths) and day care centers, in order to preserve the standard of living of the religious residents.
Housing Minister Director-General Shmuel Abuav said the new residents have demanded that the entire site be made religious.
“They asked for their religious lifestyle to be retained – that the roads be closed on the Sabbath, that people’s clothing be more modest.”
He said the Housing Ministry planned to designate one trailer complex for religious Jews and one for secular residents to help solve the crisis. Meanwhile, he said schools in the area would be ready to receive children of the new residents for the new academic year, which starts on September 1.
Peres said he was pleased with the development of the site, saying: “(Israel founder David) Ben Gurion wanted to live in the Negev and not in Gaza because he thought it would serve no purpose. This place is closer to the Negev and the south.”
