Last update - 00:00 07/01/2008
20 percent of evacuated Gaza settlers have sought psychological help
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Approximately 20 percent of the settlers who were evicted from their homes in the Gaza Strip in 2005 have sought psychological treatment in the period since then, according to a study being submitted Monday to the Knesset Subcommittee on Evacuee Affairs.
According to the study, compiled by social worker Ronit Shoham, who coordinates welfare services for the evacuees, some 1,700 settlers have sought counseling at the Ma'anim mental-health service. An additional unknown number have also sought help in private clinics.
No fewer than 710 families of evicted settlers required welfare services, an increase of 77.5 percent, as compared with the period before the eviction.
The conditions under which many of the evacuees live has led to such problems as the following, according to the report (which recommends continued provision of mental-health services to the evacuees): "diminished parental abilities, continued helplessness on the part of parents in creating a financially safe future for their children, discordant conjugal relations and increased tensions in the family in general, a diminished sense of belonging and frustration to the point of depression."
The committee for the evacuees of Gush Katif says construction of permanent homes has begun in only two of the 25 settlements designated for absorbing the evacuees.
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