Text: Letter From Transfer Authority To Targeted Settlers

2005-02-28

SELA Administration Letter To Settlers In The Gaza Strip And Northern Samaria

Communicated by the SELA Administration for Assistance to Settlers from the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria

Following is the text of a letter sent today (Sunday), 27.2.05, by SELA Administration Director Yonatan Basi to the Jewish residents of the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria:

Dear residents,

In the wake of Government and Knesset decisions regarding the implementation of disengagement, we - the SELA Administration in the Prime Minister's Office - are offering you assistance and service in two areas designed to encompass the range of humanitarian aspects expected in the process:

• The personal, family and community aspect
• Locating new places of residence and the economic, business, employment and financial aspect.

With the goal of assisting you the residents, we have enlisted the best professionals in the country and have prepared assistance plans in various fields: Education, social welfare, psychology, medical care, employment, community affairs, religious services, economics, logistics, agriculture and legislation.

During the coming weeks, a practical information guide will be distributed to all families and professionals both in the communities that are to be evacuated and in the receiving communities as well. Also, an interactive Internet site to which it will be possible to post questions, as well as a telephone switchboard, are being established. The operators will be able to respond to residents' questions or direct them to experts in the relevant fields, such as: Dealing with the stressful situations and the distress unique to the disengagement, assisting in these situations, and obtaining financial, employment and pension advice.

These switchboards will be constantly updated by the data processing staff so that the required, updated information may be provided over time. Special emphasis in the process of preparing for disengagement will be placed on the education system, in cooperation with the Education Ministry and the local systems, in order to prepare children and young people in the best way possible to finish the academic year in an optimal fashion and to assist parents whenever the need arises. The education systems in the receiving/new communities will accompany students during the summer vacation and upon the beginning of the 2005-2006 academic year.

The disengagement process is a difficult human process that arouses disagreement and anger. Following its having been decided upon by the state institutions, the SELA Administration aspires to carry it out with the full cooperation of, and in dialogue with, the residents and the local leadership at all levels and holding to a range of views. Our goal is to make things as easy as possible for you the settlers and to assist you in the process of building anew. The Administration will be at your service, as individuals and as communities within the settlements, as well as at the service of the local leadership and institutions, regarding all issues during the preparations for, during and after disengagement.

On behalf of the entire SELA Administration staff,

Yonatan Basi

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis