Gov't panel okays funding of 100 projects in settlements

A special government committee has approved the funding of some 100 projects in settlements slated for evacuation under the disengagement plan, the Prime Minister's Office announced Wednesday.

The PMO said the approved projects, which include municipal activities and essential services, are necessary to guarantee the settlers' safety or to ensure "a normal routine."

The committee, which deals with exceptions to the disengagement plan, examined a total of some 387 construction projects in the settlements slated for evacuation. None of those projects had received government funding by June 6, the day the government approved the disengagement plan.

The committee withheld funding from some 100 other planned projects in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. The pullout plan calls for Israel to pull out of all 21 Gaza settlements and four settlements in the northern West Bank in May 2005.

The committee - which is headed by the PMO chief of staff and includes the directors general of the justice, finance and labor ministries - has also examined 200 projects that were completed after June 6 but have not yet received funding.

The total cost of all the projects examined stood at NIS 82 million, but the cost of the approved projects was not published.

Katsav objects to use of orange badges to protest pulloutPresident Moshe Katsav expressed disapproval Wednesday of some Gaza settlers' use of orange badges emblazoned with a Star of David to protest the disengagement plan, saying national symbols should not be used in protest activities, Israel Radio reported.

"I understand the feelings of the settlers, but there is no justification for making use of a badge that constitutes a reminder of a terrible period in the history of the Jewish nation," said Katsav. He called on settler leaders to conduct their struggle via legitimate means.

Even Knesset members who oppose the plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank have objected to the use of the badges, which is intended to evoke the yellow badges the Nazis forced Jews to wear.

Wednesday is the date - the 10th of Tevet by the Jewish calendar - on which the Kaddish prayer is said for all Holocaust victims whose day of death is unknown. Organizers are planning to distribute the badges to residents of the Gaza settlement bloc of Gush Katif on Wednesday and head up to Jerusalem, where they will demonstrate while wearing the badges. A number of Holocaust survivors from elsewhere in Israel have agreed to join the demonstration.

National Religious Party chairman Effi Eitam, a staunch opponent of the disengagement plan, held a meeting Wednesday with Holocaust survivors from Gush Katif and asked them to stop using the badge.

"Your justified humanitarian cry has stunned every household in the State of Israel, but the use of symbols that disturb other Holocaust survivors and many of the country's citizens obligate an end to the use of these symbols," Eitam told the survivors. "I reject any attempt to compare the Israeli government and IDF soldiers with the Nazi dictatorship, and I also believe you did not intend to do so."

Shinui chairman Yosef Lapid, himself a Holocaust survivor, said the badges "stain the settlers as well as the memory of the Holocaust."

The idea for wearing orange badges to protest the pullout plan was the brainchild of Ronny Bakshi, a resident of Neveh Dekalim who is a leader among the hard-liners. "A Gush Katif resident who is a Holocaust survivor came to see me, with tears in his eyes, and told me - Sharon wouldn't wait a few years for me to die in peace, instead he wants to deport me anew," Bakshi said. "Following that conversation, a meeting was held with several Holocaust survivors who live in the Katif bloc and we decided to restore the badge."

The initiative is the latest in a series of actions and statements attesting to a radicalization of the campaign in Gush Katif. Until recently, the people who set the tone for the anti-disengagement struggle were those activists, led by Rafi Seri, who favored a moderate, positive struggle that sought to include other groups in Israeli society.