While the evacuees from the Gaza border towns fear their communities are falling apart due to long-term displacement amid war, the Home Front Command and the Welfare Ministry recognize the beginning of a similar process in communities evacuated from north Israel. To curb the dispersion, mediators will work inside the hotels and step in in cases of intra-communal conflicts.
More stories:
In a report sanctioned by the Welfare Ministry and Home Front Command, efforts are being made to mitigate the harm experienced by evacuees from the Lebanon border region. The timeline for their return home is still uncertain. Current statistics indicate that evacuees from the northern region are dispersed across 238 hotels nationwide, with at least 103 hotels housing over 150 evacuees each.
The report claims that "40% of hotels lack communal leadership or a properly functioning one. In 45% of hotels, hotel guests' proactivity level is low. They do not take responsibility for life in the common space, and as a result and other factors, negative social phenomena are developing in these hotels."
According to the report, 36% of hotels don't offer an organized routine and many evacuees remain idle throughout the day. At a similar portion of hotels surveyed, there is little cooperation between communal leadership and the local municipality. In 29% of hotels, there is little contact between community members and communal involvement required to produce agreements and agreed work mechanisms."
The Welfare Ministry recognized among many of the evacuees "signs of fatigue, impatience, and destabilization due to the communal life imposed on them and the lack of private family space.
"In some hotels, there has been a loss of the most basic etiquette in the public space. As a result, incidents of physical and verbal violence and repeated incidents of vandalism have taken place. At the same time, and due to living in a chaotic environment, delinquent incidents among children and youth are increasing. In most hotels, there are evacuees from several communities or regional authorities, which creates additional conflicts and frictions, to the point of fights over the distribution of resources between the communities."
2 View gallery
Inter- and intra-communal fights following months of displacement
(Photo: Shutterstock)
In order to take care of these communities, the state intends to launch a special project in the coming weeks that will focus on 120 hotels where a need for immediate intervention has been identified. The hotels will have "community referents" and experts in the field of communities who will work closely with the evacuees. Also, in some hotels mediation processes have already been carried out within the communities. The Welfare Ministry intends to introduce additional mediators that will lead to the resolution of conflicts within the communities.