State panel of inquiry to investigate treatment of evacuated settlers

Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondent


The State Control Committee decided on Wednesday to establish a state inquiry commission to investigate the government's treatment of the residents of Gush Katif and the northern West Bank who were evacuated in the 2005 disengagement.
The committee will focus on the delays in transferring the evacuees from mobile homes into permanent communities as well as the rampant unemployment among the evacuees.

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss announced at the start of the State Control Committee meeting that he supported the establishment of such an inquiry panel, saying "the report we composed in 2006 on the disengagement was submitted in real time, and I can't say that its primary points were ever implemented. On the contrary, chapters and recommendations we raised have yet to be addressed and the process continues."

"Some ten thousand citizens are currently encountering difficulty," Lindenstrauss added. "This is not a political problem, this touches all of us."

Prime Minister's Office Director General Ra'anan Dinur welcomed the inquiry, saying that the government has nothing to hide. He added that the Prime Minister's Office was "eager for a responsible adult to decide on the issue."

Zevulun Orlev, the chairman of the State Control Committee, said that ten thousand people who were evacuated from their homes were "abandoned by the government." He added that the inquiry commission would rectify the severe failures of the government in its handling of the evacuees' needs.

Related articles:
# 2005 Disengagement Website
# Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's four-stage disengagement plan
# Two years later, Gush Katif evacuees still need housing