Construction and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf submitted a plan yesterday (Monday) to Tekumah Administration head Moshe Edri for aiding the communities of the Perimeter settlements for the medium and long terms.
According to the plan, residents of the Gaza Perimeter evacuated from their homes due to the October 7 massacre will be temporarily evacuated to trailer areas in the following locations: Be’eri evacuees will move to Hatzerim, Nir Oz – Hatzerim or Lahav, Holit – Revivim, Kfar Aza – Dorot, Rohama, or Beit Kamah, while the site for Nachal Oz evacuees has yet to be determined. The other settlements will be repopulated at the end of the fighting, where temporary neighborhoods will be established within the settlement in place of the ruined houses.
Minister Goldknopf stated in his letter that even before the fighting ended, an engineering survey of the planned buildings and infrastructures must be conducted.
Maintaining and Strengthening Communities – A Supreme Value
According to the main points of Goldknopf’s plan, the government should follow two main tracks: the first is the location of temporary structures for communities whose physical infrastructures suffered a heavy blow and which will take longer to rebuild, and the second is the rebuilding track inside the original settlements at the end of the fighting, for communities whose physical infrastructure is still relatively intact.
According to the plan, these sites will be located in adopting kibbutzim in the western Negev and/or within the council’s jurisdiction, with the aim of bringing the communities back near the original kibbutz as soon as possible. This would allow them to reenter their old lifecycle once the fighting stops: work, school, and preserving the community.
The guiding principle of the restoration plan is the preservation and maintenance of communities as a supreme value, since each settlement will be given the response most appropriate to its communal and physical needs, and that every decision would be adopted in cooperation with and with full transparency for the communities.
Housing Ministry: We Have Budget Surpluses for the Start of the Process
The document also stated that an immediate order must be made for some 1,000 housing units for the five temporary sites, based on two fixed models of 50 and 100 square meters – something which should significantly improve how people are spread out on the ground. The ministry is also discussing the building of public structures for use by the community.
Due to the urgency of the matter, the Construction and Housing Ministry has begun promoting the funding for planning in Hatzerim, Lahav, Beit Kamah, Dorot, Bror Hayil, and Ruhama – these are the sites presented by the communities and regional councils as options for temporary sites in their area. It should be stressed, that the planning done on these sites is for permanent neighborhoods. To the extent it is decided to house communities from the Perimeter there, the planning will then be convertible into planning of a temporary camp.
In terms of the budgets required by the plan, the letter noted that the ministry has budget surpluses appropriate for starting the development process without need of additional funding. To the extent the administration approves the ministry’s effort to start advancing the planning and development, the ministry will be able to do so immediately.