Israeli newspaper Yethioth Ahronoth revealed on Sunday what is described as “the most uncovered secrets surrounding settlers’ evacuation from Gosh Katif settlement Bloc in eth Gaza Strip.
The “secret†issue here is the secrete negotiations conducted between the settlers and the Israeli government in order to receive compensation while they appear on TV’s and in front of the public as the “biggest fighters against disengagement†and “recruit†the public opinion in Israel against it.
Shay Granot, an Israeli lawyer and Author in Ramat Gan, arrived to Nissanit settlement on June, 2004, three years after presenting the disengagement plan, and suggested that settlers should initiate negotiating with the Government about compensations.
The newspaper revealed that settlers resorted to lawyer Granot office after signing the Oslo agreement September, 1993, and asked him to prepare a list of demands prior to evacuation, if should it be carried out.
The plan was suspended after the collapse of Camp David negotiations between the Palestinian Presidents Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister at the time Ehud Barak, in 2000.
According to the news paper the negotiations managed to reach advanced levels with the government and settlers before it was suspended until recently.
Ofeir Shelah, the military analyst at the newspaper said that the assigns team for preparing a draft plan for carrying out disengagement, will present after two weeks the suggested draft to Ariel Sharon, this will be accompanied by finalizing a plan by the army concerning planning the evacuation, according to the Israeli Minister of Internal security, Shaul Mofaz.
Shelah said that that disengagement plan can’t be unilateral in any way, its currently needs the final political approval and above all it is connected with the settlers and Palestinians, which according to Shelah, are the main two sides who have a broad effect on the plan.
“Failing to reach an agreement with those two sides, raised skepticism even among the biggest supporters of Sharonâ€Â, Shelah said.
According to Shelah, army prepared a plan to control the Gaza Strip, if army was subjected to any shootings while evacuating the settlement, but the plan revealed by Major Dan Heriel, Head of the southern division, contains problematic issues since there are side in the Israeli government which believes that agreements concerning this issue should be reached with the Palestinians leader, such as Mohammad Dahlan, in order to guarantee a†peaceful evacuationâ€Â, and bar the resistance from controlling the evacuated areas.
Shelah added that the “compensation law†is composed of several parts;
1. Settlers will be compensated according to the period of time they lived in the Gaza Strip; a settler who have been living in the Gaza Strip since many years will own a home similar to the home he used to own in the settlement or a farm similar to his farm, the cost of this article could reach the maximum amount of 1.5 Billion NIS.
2. Compensations; paying huge amounts of money as compensations for losing sources of living such as jobs.
3. Settlers who own businesses or factories especially at Eretz industrial Zone, in addition to private compensations to be paid to the settlers according to the number of years they lived ion the settlement.
This according to Shelah could reach the amount of 3-3.5 billion Shekels
