40 collaborator families allowed in Israel

Israel’s security cabinet on Monday decided to allow 40 collaborator families now living in the Gaza Strip to move into Israel.

The collaborator families currently live in the al-Daheena area, in the southern Gaza Strip. The ministers voted to allow them into Israel ‘in exchange for their services to the state of Israel.’

The decision will be submitted to the government for approval next week.

Al-Daheena village is inhibited by 67 families of al-Rmeilat family, according to an Israeli source.

So far, 18 families have been moved into Israel after submitting appeals to the Israeli High Court of Justice, Israeli radio reported. The Israeli Security Services, Shabak, will decide which families to be allowed in Israel. 

The families appealed to the Israeli High Court to be allowed into Israel, including legal status and residency rights. They also demanded compensation, like what the Israeli state is paying to the settlers it plans to evacuate.

“We served the state of Israel and conducted security tasks,” the families said in their appeal. “We demand to be treated as Israeli residents.”

The security cabinet decided to form a committee, including Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, to discuss the collaborators’ claims.

Some of the families already carry Israeli identity cards. An Israeli source reported that these families will be allowed into Israel under temporary legal status, and the army will level their homes while leveling the settlers’ homes in the Gaza Strip during the pullout. 

The Israeli government tried to move the collaborators into Arabic towns in Israel, but the Arab residents resisted this decision and rejected having collaborators “who betrayed their own country and people” among them.