JERUSALEM, July 31: Israel fears that half of the Jewish settlers slated for evacuation from occupied Gaza next month will stay put rather than agree to relocation, forcing troops to remove them, a cabinet minister said on Sunday.
In separate remarks, Israel’s deputy defence minister repeated an Israeli threat of a large-scale ground offensive in Gaza if settlers and troops came under fire from Palestinian militants during the evacuation due to begin on Aug 17.
Some 9,000 settlers are to leave Gaza and a corner of the West Bank under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to “disengage” Israel from fighting with the Palestinians.
Although Israeli ultranationalists condemn the pullout as a betrayal of Jewish claims to biblical land and a reward for a 4-1/2-year-old Palestinian revolt, the government has reported a rise in the number of settlers applying for relocation funds.
Opening a caravan park to provide temporary housing in southern Israel for Gaza evacuees, authorities handed keys to the red-roofed, airconditioned trailers dubbed “cara-villas” to several families due to move in later in the week.
But Housing Minister Isaac Herzog said half of the Gaza settlers were likely to stay on in the narrow, coastal territory — fuelling fears of confrontations during the pullout.
“Our working assumption is that around half of the families will, on the morning of the evacuation, still have foregone (state-funded relocation),” Herzog told Army Radio. “We are doing everything for this figure to be much less.”
Speaking on Israel Radio, Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim said the pullout could be suspended for 10 days to two weeks to enable “large forces to enter Gaza to land a major blow against the terrorists” if militants tried to disrupt the evacuation.
“We are talking about a broad offensive, on the scale of Defensive Shield,” he said referring to an Israeli operation to reoccupy West Bank cities in 2002 after suicide bombings in Israel.
The Palestinian Authority has pledged to deploy forces to ensure the pullout proceeds peacefully.
As of last week, data furnished by the government’s Disengagement Authority showed that about 750 of 1,800 families to be evacuated had applied for state funds.
Officials argue that many settlers have failed to come forward because they fear the censure of their neighbours. But some would-be evacuees accuse the government of foot-dragging.
Rachel Dahan of the northern Gaza settlement of Nisanit said her family applied for relocation in April.
“As of today, we haven’t received an answer,” she told Israel Radio by telephone while touring the Nitzan caravan park.
Another Nisani settler, Amos Halfon, complained the 60 square metre caravan was too small for his family of five.
“It has 2-1/2 rooms,” he said. “It’s all miniature.”
Hundreds of ultranationalists have set up tent encampments in Gaza settlements, to reinforce resistance to evacuation. The YESHA settler council has called for non-violent protests only, but Israeli officials say some mavericks could turn militant.
Failure to leave the settlements during a 48-hour grace period after eviction notices are served on Aug 15 could prove costly to recalcitrant settlers, cutting into packages totalling several hundred thousand dollars per family.
Palestinians welcome Israeli withdrawal from occupied land they seek for a state but suspect Sharon of planning to leave them tiny Gaza while keeping West Bank settlement blocs.
The World Court has determined settlements Israel has built on land it captured from Jordan, Egypt and Syria in the 1967 war are illegal. Israel disputes this.—Reuters