Prime Minister Ariel Sharon utterly refuted what he termed “lies” being spread in the media concerning the treatment of evacuees from Gaza and northern Samaria.

“There are many untrue statements that the government is trying to break up these communities,” Sharon told the Disengagement Cabinet referring to residents of evacuated settlements who wanted to be moved together.

“It needs to be unequivocally clear that the government turned to the residents and offered to keep their communities intact. We are very interested in this, and want it to be carried out,” he said.

At the opening of the meeting, Sharon said, “the government will continue in its primary efforts to settle residents in new places, while making all possible efforts in order to shorten the time that they will need to live in uncertainty.”

He also asked SELA (the Disengagement Authority) to publicize detailed information regarding housing solutions for the evacuees, including the exact number of apartments available and their location in each community, Israel Radio reported.

Construction and Housing Minister Isaac Herzog also presented housing options during the meeting.

Vice Premier Shimon Peres suggested that the government refrain from getting into arguments with evacuees, since the public considered them a weak and victimized group.

Interior Minister Ophir Paz-Pines said he suspected that in the near future the government would run into difficulties convincing evacuees to leave the hotels where they were temporarily staying.

This article can also be read at www.jpost.com
This piece ran in the Jerusalem Post, on August 24th, 2005

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