MK Golan. The State is responsible
Photo: Tzvika Tischler
Northe Samaria evacuation
Photo: AFP
Will State pay for evacuees' therapy?
A bill approved in preliminary vote Thursday proposes state to fund psychological treatment for evacuees suffering from post-traumatic stress. The government decided on the evacuation, and must pay for consequences, MK Erela Golan says
The Knesset approved Wednesday in a preliminary vote a bill to state-fund psychological treatment for the evacuated settlers of Gush Katif and northern Samaria.
Initiated by MKs Erela Golan and Eliezer (Modi) Zandberg (Shinui), the proposal suggests that the welfare services will be granted the means to implement the conclusions from the Sinai settlements' evacuation, according to which suitable therapy for the evacuees from experts on the treatment of post-trauma must be provided.
The bill refers to estimates which state that more than 15 percent of evacuees are expected to suffer from post-traumatic symptoms, and more than seven percent will continue to suffer from post-traumatic stress for the rest of their lives.
The proposed bill therefore offers that various individual and group treatments are granted to evacuees, as well as alternative therapy and visits by welfare personnel to people in need of such, for the remainder of their lives.
These services will be limited to one optional treatment for each person.
'Evacuees suffer the mental consequences'
The evacuation was a government decision, and therefore it is the government's responsibility to care for the mental consequences of the evacuation, MK Golan said.
"The bill is based on the lessons of the Yamit evacuation in Sinai, and was drafted in cooperation with welfare personnel who represented the evacuated settlers." She explained.
"In private meetings with the evacuees I learned that some of them have been experiencing very difficult mental and physical manifestations, such as deterioration in concentration levels, mental unease, panic, severe distress and a feeling of detachment. The professional jargon refers to such phenomenon as post-traumatic," she concluded.
The financial cost of the bill is yet unclear. The finance ministry has asked that the Knesset oppose the proposal, but a freedom of vote granted to Likud members by the coalition's chairman Gideon Sa'ar, enabled the bill's approval.
