Seven years after Israel withdrew from Gaza, next month the state will discontinue paying rent for the families evacuated from the Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif. The move will affect approximately 150 families still living in temporary mobile homes in the southern communities of Nitzan and Ein Tzurim. The Tnufa Administration (formerly the Sela Administration) established by the Prime Minister's Office to provide services for Gush Katif evacuees notified the families in question on Thursday of the termination of the funding. Until now, the state has provided eligible families with temporary housing facilities. In January 2008, it was decided to extend the eligibility of those evacuees who signed a community transfer agreement, requiring them to relocate to permanent housing. Under the agreement, the evacuees were to purchase land on which permanent homes would be built, and the state would cover the families' rent expenses for no more than 18 months. While the 18-month maximum has long expired, nearly all of the 150 families have not yet begun the process of building permanent housing. Some of them have yet to even file for building permits. The Tnufa Administration is aware of the fact that some families are experiencing financial difficulties and has offered to help them, but other families have sold their land for profit and some are waiting for an increase in the value of their land. Tnufa Chairman Rabbi Dr. Ofir Cohen said on Thursday that "the administration has taken action again and again in efforts to prevent the discontinuation of funding, but now there is no way around it. We will continue to accompany the evacuees and to work on their behalf, until every last family gets to move into its own home and resume its Zionist, productive lifestyle." In July 2011, the Knesset Finance Committee approved the transfer of 400 million shekels ($117 million) to former business owners who were evacuated from Gush Katif in 2005. Coalition chairman MK Zeev Elkin (Likud) drafted a bill to increase compensation to business owners who were forced to evacuate during the 2005 disengagement, claiming that business owners' investments in the region had not been completely recovered since their evacuation. According to the proposed legislation, business owners would receive an additional 11.5 percent of the compensatory sum they received in 2005. Land owners were given the option of receiving monetary compensation or additional property. As part of the deal, community leaders from Gush Katif and business owners would be required to forego any additional compensation, be it private, public, communal or commercial.
