' Why are they only worrying about us?'
Bereaved father from the Gush Katif settlement of Netzer Hazani says government offered his family to reloctae to Nitzan, but has not yet found a housing solution for the rest of his settlement
Shmuel Hilberg lost his son Yochanan in Lebanon several years ago. Now, he says the government has given his family preferential treatment for housing now that they are being forced to leave their home in the Gush Katif settlement of Netzer Hazani.
While Hilberg is set to relocate to Nitzan as part of next week's Gaza disengagement, 50 other families from the settlement have not yet found a solution, less than one week before the pullout is set to begin.
"We are not interested in living in a mobile home by ourselves. We want to live in a community that can support us through these difficult times," he said, adding that he is unhappy with how the government has prioritized him over his fellow neighbors, just because he lost a son.
"We found out that the Defense Ministry, together with the Disengagement Administration, allocated our family a "cara-villa" (mobile home) in the Nitzanim area, without us asking for one or knowing about it." he said.
No cara-villa can comfort us
In addition, Hilberg said he is offended by the government's ultimatum giving him 48 hours to evacuate his family from his Gush Katif home.
"They are not even giving me time to see how the club, named after my son Yochanan, will be dismantled," he said.
Rather than "taking care" of his family, Hilberg said he would rather the government cancel the ultimatum.
"We are leaving our most previous belonging - our son's grave - in Gush Katif. No cara-villa will be able to comfort us, "Hilberg wrote to the Administration.
"We want a fair housing solution for all Netzer Hazani residents," he said. "Contrary to what has been published, only 320 cara-villas have been built for 1,800 Gush Katif families."
"They want to provide us with housing, while the other settlers are to be dropped at the Kissufim Crossing. Have they no shame?" he told Ynet.
The Disengagement Administration said in response that all bereaved families in Gush Katif have the option to relocate to Nitzan.
"However, we have no intention of forcing anyone to live in a certain place. We respect the will of all bereaved families, including the will of Yochanan Hilberg's family."
