Last update - 00:00 24/05/2007
Sderot residents showing little interest in Gaydamak's tent city
By Yigal Hai and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondents
Registration for billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak's tent city for Sderot evacuees began Thursday in the embattled western Negev town, but thus far residents have shown little interest in the initiative.
Gaydamak aides said earlier this week they expected some 1,000 residents to be brought Thursday evening to the tent city, in Tel Aviv's Park Hayarkon, but by Thursday afternoon only 210 residents had signed up.
In the wake of the low turnout, the billionaire's aides conceded Thursday that it was unlikely 1,000 people would register by the day's end.
The Sderot Municipality appointed three employees to assist residents in signing up for the tent city. One of the employees confirmed the minimal interest, saying it was due to the fact the residents don't want to be evacuated to tents after their neighbors were hosted by Gaydamak in hotels.
The Prime Minister's Office recently adviced the Jerusalem and Tel Aviv municipalities that they not allow Gaydamak to set up tent cities in their jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, Jerusalem refused to allow Gaydamak to evacuate Sderot residents to Sacher Park in the capital, saying the park was not suited to absorb the evacuees and that it was adjacent to a major road.
Instead, Gaydamak contracted a private company to set up a giant tent compound in a 23-dunam forest in Hayarkon Park. The company received permission from Ganei Yehoshua, the municipal company responsible for the park, to host up to 1,400 people for an indefinite period of time.
"To avoid overcrowding, we permitted Gaydamak to put up some 1,000 people there, after advising the police, who did not object," said Haim Ronen, Ganei Yehoshua director general.
Ronen refused Gaydamak's earlier request to erect the tent compound on the park lawns, saying that the food fair Taste of the City and the Hebrew Book Week were due to be held there in a few days.
The forest was found suitable for habitation as the grounds have running water and power lines, are fenced in and are filled with Eucalyptus trees, which will provide shade for the evacuees.
Producer David Nitzani, who produced Gaydamak's Independence Day events in the park and organized the tent compound in Nitzanim during the Second Lebanon War, is in charge of building the tent city in the park.
The compound franchise-holder will be paid a few thousand dollars a day, and the expenses for maintaining the tents and providing the evacuees with five meals a day will total a few tens of thousands of dollars a day, Nitzani said.
"One of the lessons we learned from the tent city in Nitzanim is that it's important to keep the people busy, so we'll give them free entrance to Meimadion Water Park and the Luna Park Amusement Park. We will also run work shops and bring performing artists," he said.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office said that the Defense Ministry has sent thousands of Sderot residents to fine resort sites. "They're staying in hotels, guest houses and Soldiers' Welfare Association facilities. The government is well-prepared to meet the growing need for respite from the rocket fire. Therefore we told Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that there was no need for improvised solutions like a tent city," the PMO's statement said.
"The important thing is to find a solution for Sderot's residents," the Tel Aviv municipal spokesman said.
Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Yael Dayan said: "If the government has taken care of everything and there's no need for local action, why have they kept it a secret until now? I believe that the city can put its social and health services, in coordination with the state, at the disposal of Gaydamak's tent city."
After refusing Gaydamak's bid to erect the tent city in Sacher Park, Jerusalem offered to let the businessman accommodate the evacuees at a resort hotel in the capital, but he turned down the offer, announcing that he would instead set up the tent city in Tel Aviv.
"Gaydamak's refusal to accept the offer is unfortunate," the city responded. "It appears that Gaydamak is determined to turn Sderot residents into beggars in the city center, instead of granting them humane living conditions."
The Jerusalem Municipality has provided some 500 Sderot evacuees with accommodation at the city's Shalom Hotel, it said.
Gaydamak has on numerous occasions provided Sderot residents with accommodations outside the embattled town in order to provide them with a respite from the ongoing Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.