Supreme Court endorses paying millions more in compensation to former Gush Katif settlers
Millions of shekels to be paid out in settlement after families claim committee undervalued their homes.
By YONAH JEREMY BOB
The Supreme Court on Tuesday endorsed a settlement between the state and around 220 families who were evacuated from Gush Katif in 2005 to receive substantial additional compensation for having lost their homes.The compromise involves an even larger number of families, around 600, each of who will receive a range of compensation estimated in the tens of thousands of shekels.Although no net total number was given, the implication was that millions of shekels would be paid out in the settlement, resulting from an appeal to the Supreme Court by the families against the decision of a special compensation committee established by a law for implementing the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza.The families had claimed that the committee had undervalued their homes in setting their compensation amounts, and they paid for their own private home value estimations.As part of the settlement, the compensation will be at a level of approximately 80 percent of the home values provided by the private estimates.The pay-out of the settlement is not immediate and also depends on the families evacuating temporary residences they have been living in, in favor of moving to permanent residences.The state said that it “viewed the signed agreement as an important step and substantial achievement for the entire public toward evacuating the temporary residences and for moving those residing there to permanent residences.”