NITZANIM -- Everything’s ready for the evacuees: Beginning Sunday, hundreds of former Gaza residents will be housed in luxury mobile homes (“cara-villas”) in Nitzanim.
Some 320 temporary apartments have been erected so far, and in the next two weeks, there will be another 30.
Interior Minister Ophir Pines visited the site Friday morning.
“The rate of construction is amazing and is breaking records in the State of Israel,” Pines said. “We’ve never before built a community this quickly.”
Muka Cohen, the Disengagement Authority official responsible for the site, said that 130 families are expected to move in Sunday.
That number will grow daily by 20-30 families.
In addition to the housing units, the site will have two synagogues for a total of 260 worshippers, three kindergartens, a clinic, a market as well as stores and offices.
Of the 320 luxury mobile homes (“cara-villas”), 220 are apartments with four rooms each located on 90 square meters of land.
Work on the Nitzanim site began on April 20 when the area for desolate, and already there is a paved road leading to a another site for permanent housing, which will be ready in two years.
The deputy director-general of the Defense Ministry, Victor Bar-Gil, said at the end of August, there will be another cara-villas built on 90 square meters of land.
In a previous visit two months ago, Pines noted that the area was completely flat.
“They introduced superior standards here, and I will make sure that this is a precedent for the future," he said. "But … the real test is if families see this as their new home.”
'Rate of construction is amazing.' Nitzanim (Photo: Meir Fartush)
Pines condemned the Yesha Council
for planning to organize Tuesday a vigil and march, calling it “illegal” and attempt at “rebellion and a putsch.”
Settlers upset at slow pace of work
Meanwhile, Disengagement officials say that as of last week, 588 families from the Gaza Strip and another 168 from the northern West Bank, out of a total of 1,700 families slated to be evacuated, have applied for evacuation compensation.
This means about 45 percent of all families have resigned themselves to the withdrawal, with pullout officials noting new compensation requests are being filed daily. Meanwhile, more than 42 families have left the northern West Bank voluntarily, whiles dozens of Gaza families also chose to depart.
More cara-villas are also being built in Mavki’im, south of the town of Ashkelon. The housing there is earmarked for evacuees from the Gaza settlement of Pe’at Sadeh, but settlers are furious and say the pace of development is inadequate, with only 10 of the 23 cara-villas ordered already in place.
Ela Amin, one of those who had formulated the plan to transfer the settlement to Mavki’im, said the settlers have set August 11 or 12 as the date of their departure from Pe’at Sadeh.
“We do not want to be involved in the mayhem that will take place once the forceful pullout begins,” she said.
“But the way things appear as of now, it is certainly possible that despite all of our preparations we will not move to the temporary homes in Mavki’im, but rather to substandard hotels the Disengagement Authority is offering.”
The Disengagement Authority said in a statement, “There was a delay in moving the cara-villas to Mavki’im, but all of them will be ready by August 15.”
Another eight cara-villas are expected to arrive by the coming Sunday, with another five arriving by the end of next week, the company that provides the housing said.
Several days ago, an agreement was signed with the company tasked with setting up the water and sewage infrastructure in the area. At this time, however, there are no access roads to the cara-villa area and no street lighting, while heavy dust lingers in the air.
-- Diana Bahur-Nir contributed to this report
First published: 12:22, 07.29.5