Leaders of the Gaza Strip Gush Katif settlers Saturday canceled a meeting scheduled for Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The move indicates strong differences around the proposed entire move to Nitzanim sand dunes.
‘There is no reason to meet the prime minister as long as he has no answers for us, and right now he has no answers,’ one of the settler leaders said Saturday.
The Israeli cabinet will hold Sunday a discussion on preparations for evacuating settlers from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank. A plan for temporary and permanent housing of settlers will be presented by the Prime Minister’s Office director general Ilan Cohen.
Gush Katif settlement leaders, who held last week two large meetings to close ranks, are debating the usefulness of holding direct contacts with the premier.
Most settler leaders argued against direct contacts with Sharon, even to discuss moving the settlers to the Nitzanim sand dunes.
However, settler leaders decided to permit indirect contact with the prime minister.
‘If we’re doomed to be deported, the council’s duty is to see to it that we don’t leave here as refugees,’ said Avner Shimoni, Gaza Coast settlements council head.
