Jewish settlers look into compensation package

JERUSALEM – Dozens of Israeli settlers have asked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office for details of compensation for leaving their homes voluntarily under a government evacuation plan, political sources said yesterday.

Israel’s cabinet approved in principle last week the plan to evacuate 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the West Bank by the end of 2005. A second vote will be taken next year on implementing a four-stage pullout.The interest in the compensation offer, just a week after the plan was approved, was the first indication that many settlers would leave voluntarily despite insistence by settler leaders that buying them out was not an option.The sources said dozens of settlers, most from the enclaves slated for removal in the northern West Bank and the rest from Gaza, contacted Sharon’s office following news the government was preparing to issue cash advances.Lawyers representing settlers seeking compensation were directed to a Justice Ministry committee, the sources said.Israel plans to pay an average of $300,000 per family in compensation to settlers who leave voluntarily, government officials said on Friday.The sum would be enough to buy a one-family house or large apartment in many Israeli towns.Cash advances could be available by August under a draft formula charted by government committees working on details of the plan, with final compensation calculations likely by November, the officials said.Yesterday, Sharon told the cabinet he intended to make sure the pullout kept to its timetable.”I told those in charge of the committees to start work without delay,” he said.- Nampa-ReutersA second vote will be taken next year on implementing a four-stage pullout.The interest in the compensation offer, just a week after the plan was approved, was the first indication that many settlers would leave voluntarily despite insistence by settler leaders that buying them out was not an option.The sources said dozens of settlers, most from the enclaves slated for removal in the northern West Bank and the rest from Gaza, contacted Sharon’s office following news the government was preparing to issue cash advances.Lawyers representing settlers seeking compensation were directed to a Justice Ministry committee, the sources said.Israel plans to pay an average of $300,000 per family in compensation to settlers who leave voluntarily, government officials said on Friday.The sum would be enough to buy a one-family house or large apartment in many Israeli towns.Cash advances could be available by August under a draft formula charted by government committees working on details of the plan, with final compensation calculations likely by November, the officials said.Yesterday, Sharon told the cabinet he intended to make sure the pullout kept to its timetable.”I told those in charge of the committees to start work without delay,” he said.- Nampa-Reuters