As withdrawal date nears, some Israeli settlers say they'll stay

Published: 2005-07-26

NETZER CHAZANI, Gaza Strip (CNS) -- Ma'ayan Yadai rattles off instructions to three teenage girls helping her clean a small house in preparation for two new families coming to this Gaza Strip settlement. The families will arrive despite an Aug. 17 date that Israel has set for the beginning of unilateral withdrawal of Israeli settlers from 21 communities in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the West Bank. In mid-July, in an effort to prevent opponents of the plan from derailing it, the Israeli army said Israelis who do not live in the Gaza Strip cannot enter settlements in the Gush Katif region. As renters, Yadai and her family could just pick up their things and leave before the chaos of the planned withdrawal begins. But Yadai said she will not leave her community, where her husband is a sought-after cow-hoof trimmer. Instead, she is helping to find housing in the settlement for outside supporters who are moving there in protest.

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