Twenty-one residents of the northern West Bank settlement of Ganim asked the High Court of Justice on Thursday to allow them to receive increased compensation for their evacuation under the disengagement plan. The petition is the third submitted to the High Court in the last few weeks that contests the compensation payments.
The residents want to eliminate clauses of the Evacuation-Compensation Law that specify the amount of compensation to be received by residents of Gaza Strip and northern West Bank settlements. They claimed discrimination because the payments are lower than those received by residents of Yamit during the Sinai evacuation of 1982, which was subsidized by the United States.
The settlers said the amount they are set to receive is not sufficient to start a new life in a different place. The petition, submitted by attorney Yaron Sahar, focuses on "achieving reasonable and appropriate compensation for the residents."
The petitioners said their argument was "not political" and that they plan to leave their homes without a fight.
The committee that is to determine the compensation to be given to each evacuee is slated to convene for the first time by next Wednesday.
About a month ago, 43 Gaza Strip residents petitioned the High Court against the "financial injustice" of the Evacuation-Compensation Law, and about two weeks ago a factory owner in the Erez industrial zone area on the Gaza border told the court the compensation was not high enough to cover the expenses of opening a new business elsewhere.
