Few Israeli families take money

2005-05-02 22:32

Jerusalem - Fewer than 100 of the thousands of Jewish families set to lose their homes when Israel withdraws from Gaza and four West Bank settlements have accepted government compensation, Israeli sources said on Monday.

"There are a little less than 100 families who have signed. Most of them from northern Samaria," a source close to the so-called disengagement plan told reporters when asked how many settlers had accepted offered compensation.

"More than half the families there have asked for compensation," the source added of the northern West Bank which is known as Samaria in Israel.

About 1 500 families live in the occupied Gaza Strip, with another 200 scattered across four isolated outposts in the northern West Bank that are to be dismantled under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned pullout this summer.

That means that less than six percent of those families slated for relocation have already agreed to their compensation rights, less than three months before the disengagement plan is scheduled to begin.

"Only 10 or even less" of those families to have signed live in the main Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif, the source said.

There, only 50 further families have been in contact with the Israeli government to inquire about voluntary evacuation.

On the other hand, more than 50% of those affected families in the West Bank have already begun the process of leaving their homes and requested their compensation packages, the source added on condition of anonymity.

Jewish settlers who refuse to leave their homes voluntarily before July 20 - the date from which the withdrawal is slated to begin - will see their compensation slashed by a third.

Compensation rights per family, not including lost business interests, range from $200 000 to $300 000, said the source close to the disengagement plan.

The Israeli parliament has approved a total budget of $1bn to bankroll the pullout.

- AFP