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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this morning toured the Halutzit communities, which were established for residents who were evacuated from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria, and laid the cornerstone for the first home that will be built in the communities, which are located in the western Negev. Housing and Construction Minister Zeev Boim, Prime Minister's Office Director-General Ra'anan Dinur, Housing and Construction Ministry Director-General Haim Fialkopf, SELA Disengagement Authority Director Tzvia Shimon, regional council chairmen and community representatives also participated in the tour.
Prime Minister Olmert said:
"I am very moved to be here. All our lives, we have been people of construction, not leaving, of settlement, not severing.
Your ability to look forward, without forgetting the pain of the past, but in order to continue building the future – is worthy of esteem. You are an example of a pioneering spirit, of the love of the land and its building up and I hope that many Israelis will follow in your footsteps to the Negev and will make the wilderness bloom. The agriculture that you are developing here is the most successful in the world. Its produce reaches the ends of the earth. You are people whose hands are calloused from working the land and for this I can only salute in admiration.
The Government has invested NIS 8 billion in dealing with the Gush Katif evacuees and in establishing and settling in this area, especially in order to main the communal rural settlements that you had before the evacuation of Gush Katif. We understood the spirit and the desire to preserve communal bonds and the communities that will be established here are an expression of this.
Halutzit is the beginning and I hope that in 20 years, we will be able to come here and find thousands of homes. We laid the cornerstone of the first house today and I am proud that I had the privilege of taking part."
On 24.11.05, the Government decided to establish two communities for evacuees from Atzmona and Netzarim on approximately 2,000 dunams in the Halutzit area.
Since the evacuation, the communities have lived in temporary housing in nearby Yated and Yevul and earn their livelihoods from 50 organic agriculture enterprises that were established with assistance from the SELA Disengagement Authority and the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, with most of the produce going for export. Infrastructure and roads have already been built at the site and the evacuees are currently beginning to build their permanent homes alongside public structures provided by the Authority. Construction plans for the Halutzit communities also include non-agricultural uses such as vacation cottages and arts centers.
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