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Thursday, November 9, 2006

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU


U.S. Jewish groups refuse aid to refugees
Residents expelled from Gaza facing 'humanitarian crisis'
Posted: November 9, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

JERUSALEM – Mainstream American Jewish groups largely have refused to aid the thousands of Jews
evacuated last summer from the Gaza Strip, the majority of whom, fifteen months later, are unemployed,
and none of whom received permanent housing promised by the Israeli government, WND has learned.

The former Gaza residents have appealed for help multiple times to major Jewish organizations in the
U.S. but say they were mostly rejected.

Meanwhile, the U.S. groups, most of which supported Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, raised over $300
million for northern Israeli communities battered by Hezbollah rocket fire in July and August, including
large sums of money for Arab villages.

(Story continues below)

Also, the American organizations recently initiated a major task force to raise money for
underprivileged Israeli Arabs.

"With few exceptions, we have received almost no help from the mainstream Jewish American groups,
which grant billions of dollars per year," said Dror Vanunu, a former Gaza resident and the international
coordinator for Friends of Gush Katif, a major nonprofit organization representing the Gaza Jewish
refugees.

Vanunu said the U.S. Jewish groups "supported the Gaza withdrawal, telling Americans it would help
bring peace. They see us in a political light, but it shouldn't be this way. There are now thousands of
Jews who are without permanent homes and whose children are having major problems.

"We are a humanitarian case, not political. Where is the Jewish brotherhood? The people who say they
will not allow Jews to be in need? We are expecting them to become deeply involved in the restoration
of our lives and hope they respond," Vanunu said.

Refugees 'in desperate need'

In August, Israel evacuated its nearly 10,000 Jewish citizens from Gaza. Successive Israeli governments

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over the years had urged thousands of Israelis to move to Gaza and build communities there. Israel
promised the expelled residents compensation packages and new permanent housing, employment, farm
land and institutions of education.

A status report by Friends of Gush Katif found not a single Gush Katif family was provided permanent
housing.

Ninety-eight percent of former Gush Katif residents are living in temporary structures, mostly in the
Israeli Negev desert in small, government-built, prefabricated "trailer villas." Residents there live largely
in crowded conditions – in many cases lacking enough bedroom space to accommodate their families.

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New homes for Gaza Jewish refugees are 'trailer villas' in the desert

"You can punch through my wall," a resident of Nitzan, the largest Gush Katif trailer community, told
WND. "My friends come to visit me in coffee shops because there is not enough room in my living
room for them to be comfortable."

In some cases, including 50 families living in two Negev communities, former Gush Katif residents
were given notice they must vacate their trailer villas within six months. The families, who were
expecting permanent housing, say they will have nowhere to go.

Most families received compensation for their Gaza homes, although many say their compensation
packages were far less than the value of the houses they were forced to vacate. They say they are using
their aid packages to pay expenses associated with their temporary housing until permanent units
promised by the government are constructed.

Prior to their evacuation from Gaza, the vast majority of Gush Katif
residents lived in large homes in landscaped communities. Many
were farmers, tending to the area's famous, technologically
advanced greenhouses that supplied Israel with much of its produce.
The Gush Katif unemployment rate was less than 1 percent.

Now, 51 percent of Gaza's Jewish refugees are unemployed, and


only 21 percent of former Gush Katif businesses have reopened.

Residents of the Negev trailer camps are predominantly former A typical street in Gush Katif prior to Gaza
farmers, many of whom now say they're not sure what they'll do. withdrawal (photo: WND)

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"The land is much different here than what Gush Katif farmers are used to," explained Anita Tucker,
one of the pioneer farmers of Katif. "Most of the techniques used in the greenhouses in Gaza were
specific to the land and environment. Now farmers will have to develop new ways for these new lands
and the different kind of soil."

Israeli teen refugees suffer disorders, drop out from school

According to the most recent Gush Katif status report, many of the Jewish children expelled from Gaza
suffer from a full range of traumatic and post-traumatic stress symptoms, including anxiety, depression,
regressive behavior, general behavioral problems, lack of concentration and difficulty coping with new
or challenging situations.

The Forum for Israel, a nonprofit group also working with Gush Katif refugees, recently outlined for the
Knesset major problems facing Gush Katif refugee teenagers. The group pointed to an elevation in
suicidal thoughts and eating disorders. The report also said 30 percent of former Gush Katif teens either
failed to integrate to new schools or failed their final exams.

Social workers said the youths have been finding it difficult to develop relationships and increasingly
have been abusing alcohol and drugs. Some have been admitted to psychiatric hospitals.

Yet many refugee sites lack youth counselors and activity centers. Budgets for youth programs expired
last March.

"The situation is extremely grave," said Vanunu. "It is at emergency status in many cases."

Almost no assistance for the former Gush Katif residents has been offered by any mainstream American
Jewish organization, most of which publicly supported the Gaza withdrawal.

Jewish groups refuse aid, federation leader quits in protest

Until he resigned in February, New Jersey resident Buddy Macy served as a member of the board of
trustees and a recording secretary for the Jewish Federation of Greater Clifton-Passaic in New Jersey
which belongs to the United Jewish Communities charity network, the most financially endowed Jewish
charity group in the U.S.

The UJC reportedly raised over $850 million last year.

Since July, the UJC has garnered some $330 million in pledges from federation members to help Israel's
northern communities battered by Hezbollah rocket fire during the Jewish state's military confrontation
against the Lebanese militia.

The UJC is known to set the tone for thousands of Jewish charity organizations nationwide.

Macy told WND he quit his position after more than 25 years of service to protest the UJC's refusal to
initiate a campaign fund to help the Gaza Jewish refugees.

"There are thousands of Jews in dire need and the UJC and other mainstream groups with huge
endowments are deliberately ignoring the crisis. The situation is absolutely unacceptable," Macy said.

In an e-mail to UJC President Howard Rieger that has been widely circulated among Jewish circles on

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the Internet, Macy called the UJC leadership "heartless with regard to the Jews who live and lived in
Judea, Samaria and Gaza."

In an e-mail reply also widely circulated after it was posted by Macy, Rieger retorted, "I am not
heartless. Read many of the comments which I have made publically [sic] on this subject. On the impact
that dislocation has on individuals. And I have visited many of those who are now living in the Sinai and
feel genuine concern for their plight."

Former Gaza Jewish residents do not live in the Sinai, which is located in Egypt.

Rieger in the e-mail went on to blame the Gaza Jewish refugees for their current situation:

"I do believe that in the end that the priority must be the rule of law," he said. "That many of those who
found themselves without assistance after having to be uprooted also refused to engage with the system
which was offering compensation."

The vast majority – 1,450 of Katif's 1,800 families – did not apply for government compensation ahead
of Israel's August evacuation deadline, some stating they feared if the withdrawal were allowed to be
implemented in Gaza, it would lead to other evacuations in Judea, Samaria and parts of Jerusalem.

After the Gaza withdrawal, the Israeli government reoffered aid packages and said all residents would be
fully compensated.

Almost all Gush Katif families applied.

Rieger was unavailable for comment. His spokesman, Glenn Rosencrantz, did not return several
messages left by WND at his office and on his cell phone over the past three weeks.

Vanunu said he has appealed to the UJC, Hadassah, B'nai B'rith and other major American Jewish
ogranizations, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He said
the UJC finally pledged last January to raise $400,000 for the Gush Katif evacuees, but only about
$40,000 of that money actually arrived.

"Unfortunately this support is not nearly enough," said Vanunu. "We really need significant support to
help Gush Katif evacuees build permanent homes, get back to business and be productive people."

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations, told WND his organization has been pressing the Israeli government for more assistance
and more effective outreach toward former Gaza Jews. He said his group does not raise money.

But the Conference of Presidents, together with the Anti-Defamation League and other major U.S.
Jewish groups, recently announced the formation of a task force to raise money and awareness for
Israel's Arab population.

Later this month, major U.S. Jewish groups are meeting in Los Angeles to coordinate fundraising and
awareness activities for the upcoming year. Gush Katif refugee leaders say they petitioned to speak at
the event. Event organizers told WND the issue of Gush Katif refugees is not on the agenda, but that a
small forum may allow a former Gaza Jewish speaker.

Some small groups, private donors offer assistance

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Vanunu said one UJC-linked federation in Texas made donations for a playground for expelled Jewish
children, and another local U.S. group provided funds to an employment office in a regional site housing
former Gaza Jewish residents. A federation in Ohio sent small donations to assist in summer programs
this past summer.

The Jewish National Fund, which leads efforts to populate the Negev, has offered select assistance
programs to Negev-based refugees. Also the One Israel Fund and Christian Friends of Israeli
Communities has provided some assistance.

"But there has been no real response from any of the main groups," Vanunu said. "They are ignoring this
major humanitarian problem. And the small assistance we received, which is greatly appreciated, went
for temporary solutions, like clothes and summer camps. What is ultimately needed is permanent
solutions to rebuild communities and get our lives on track."

Some other smaller American Jewish organizations have been helping. The Orthodox Union, the largest
American Orthodox Jewish organization, helped provide for evacuees' short-term needs immediately
after the Gaza withdrawal and continues to support certain activities.

The National Council of Young Israel, an American synagogue organization, provided funds for specific
campaigns under the leadership of the Council's executive vice president, Pesach Lerner.

Some private donors, such as Irving and Cherna Moskowitz of Miami, have helped. Vanunu said some
mainstream Canadian groups and philanthropists, largely located in Toronto, including David and
Rachelle Bronfman, have been providing aid. The Bronfmans, whose extended family of well-known
Jewish billionaire philanthropists largely supported the Gaza evacuation, also provided assistance last
summer to help stop the withdrawal from being carried out.

"The Toronto community has been enormously receptive," he said. "I would really like to apply that
model to the American organizations."

'Time to put politics aside and help our own people'

Young Israel's Lerner last September led a fact-finding commission to Israel to assess the situation
among the former Gaza Jewish residents. He authored a letter urging American Jewish groups to help
the expellees.

"The mainstream groups are not responding," Lerner told WND. "They supported the Gaza evacuation.
So they are not going to turn around now and offer assistance to the expelled Jewish residents."

Lerner returned to Israel today to bring Hanukkah gifts to Gush Katif refugees.

He urged major U.S. groups to help.

"I hope the mainstream groups come to see things differently. There is a Jewish humanitarian crisis. It's
time to put politics aside and help our own people."

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Aaron Klein is WorldNetDaily's Jerusalem bureau chief, whose past interview subjects have included
Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, Mahmoud al-Zahar and leaders of the Taliban.

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