Comptroller slams State's treatment of evacuees
Seven months after disengagement, Judge Micha Lindesntrauss issues harsh report on State's failed treatment of families evacuated from Gaza; says government was not prepared for evacuation due to ongoing foot-dragging
"Severe failures have been found in the preparation of the different bodies to absorb the evacuees, which both harmed the way they were handled and caused unnecessary suffering in a process that was in any case extremely emotionally charged and painful," Lindenstrauss said in the report.
"The failures in preparation, in budgetary allocations, in the recruitment of essential manpower for the Disengagement Authority and in the absorption of the evacuees in the local authorities were not caused, mostly, by lack of suitable laws and procedures, but by foot-dragging in the activities of the responsible bodies," he added.
The report discussed both the activities of the Disengagement Authority headed by Yonatan Bassi and the local authorities' preparation to absorb the evacuees.
The state comptroller said that in spite of the significant uncertainty around the disengagement's implementation and the lack of cooperation on the part of the settlers and their leaders, there was no excuse for the inadequate preparation ahead of the plan by the State's institutions, headed by the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Ministry and the Disengagement
"The Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office's foot-dragging shows that the prime minister and finance minister did not instruct the employees as required. Also the senior managers, including the Prime Minister's Office Director-General, the civil service commissioner and the budget director, did not act with the required urgency," Lindenstrauss charged in the report.
The comptroller noted that by the end of April 2005, three and a half months before the evacuation, the Disengagement Authority employed "a highly limited number of employees" - only 17 workers.
"This undermined the Authority's preparations for absorbing the evacuees immediately after the evacuation and caused difficulties and mishaps in taking care of them," the comptroller said.
As a result, Bassi felt he did not have adequate manpower to carry out the mission, as he wrote in a letter dated May 2005. However, the comptroller charged that although Bassi was aware of the difficulties and expressed himself strongly on the matter, he apparently did not raise the issues forcefully enough before senior officials.
