Ministers vote down proposal to pay settlers to evacuate

Meretz MK Gilon who proposed bill says many settlers are "disillusioned with the settlement deceit and are just waiting for the opportunity to leave."

By LAHAV HARKOV
Structure removed from Migron outpost in 2012 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Structure removed from Migron outpost in 2012
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation rejected a Meretz bill to pay Jewish residents of the West Bank to leave their homes Sunday.
The proposal by MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz), which was signed by the entire Meretz faction, would have compensated those leaving the West Bank.
Their former homes would have been under state control, but the government would not have been able to use them.
In addition, like in the 2005 Gaza disengagement, the bill called for the government to found an administrative body that would have been responsible for implementing the plan.
Gilon said that any ministers who support a two-state solution should have voted for the bill.
“Settlers support this plan.
Many are disillusioned with the settlement deceit and are just waiting for the opportunity to leave,” the Meretz MK said. “I have no doubt that evacuating settlements today will save money in the future.”
“The time has come to free the settlers from the territories and the territories from settlements,” according to Gilon.
All of the ministers in the panel voted against the legislation, except for committee chairwoman Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who abstained.