"We demanded to evacuate, they told us we can't because it's an 'emergency routine'": "The only benefit we receive is the authority’s budget, Momi Bar Kalifa, chairman of the Manot community in northern Israel said in conversation with Maariv earlier this week.
"The residents who remained in the community find it difficult to make a living and work because of the frequent alerts, and those who vacated independently are using up all their savings while paying double the mortgage of their houses in installments - and also for rent in alternative apartments."
Manot in the Western Galilee, has 550 inhabitants and is located less than five kilometers from the border fence. Only this week, it was officially included in the list of evacuated communities located at a 5-0 kilometer distance from the Lebanese border.
Along with Gush Halav, Manot was not included in the government's decision to evacuate the residents of the northern border established last October.
At the government meeting held last Sunday - the correction was made to the injustice caused by an error in measuring the distance of the community from the border.
However, despite the amendment to the decision, the residents are not entitled to evacuation - since the IDF does not recommend it. In the explanation for the amendment, it is written that the residents are entitled to all the rights as the other evacuated residents. "The budget allocated in the government's decision for immediate and near-term for the communities in decision 975, will also be available to the localities in question without a budgetary supplement being given," it said.
However, Manot residents expressed doubts regarding this, and claim that it is "all paperwork, without providing real help.”
The community suffers from significant economic and social difficulties, as a result of its location close to the northern border and the security threats from Hezbollah. Manot residents claim: "Inclusion in the rehabilitation plan is only a formal step - which is not expected to bring about a significant change in the situation."
Momi breaks down community situation
"On the one hand, we were included in program 975 but we do not deserve eviction - nor indemnification and compensation. If they have already included the community in the decision and corrected the injustice of the incorrect measurement - the residents should be entitled to indemnification and evacuation. The state needs to come to its senses and help its citizens which are collapsing. It is impossible to abandon and neglect an entire population in terms of security and economy," says Momi.
"There are many economic losses," he continued to explain. "Many residents were fired as a result of the situation, signed unemployment at the bureau - which will also end at some point. The current situation has been going on for almost nine months, and no one knows how much longer we have to suffer like this."
He spoke of the fundraising he had to do on the matter: "Before last Shavuot, I had to get a donation from an association in the United States in the amount of NIS 180,000, and I distributed NIS 2,000 to each family that lives in the community. People cry to me, they tell me that they don't have money. I had to become a beggar, and what the state is supposed to do for its residents - I did as the head of the committee," he shared painfully.
"It's a shame that reserve money amounting to tens of millions of shekels is transferred to the coalition parties - instead of to the residents who suffer here every day. This is simply a certificate of poverty for the state," he said angrily.
He says that many families are not able to leave the children in the community and continue to deal with the emergency: "Thus, with all the sorrow and pain, they are forced to rent apartments in other places - but even this will no longer last for a long time. Families are wasting the savings they have saved all their lives, it is not Correct. Some of the families even returned to the moshav after 4-5 months of renting an apartment outside of it, because they can't last financially."
A few months ago, the High Court was approached on the issue: "And we said that the evacuation depends on routine - and not on distance. We demanded to be evacuated. In response to our claim, the former head of the Northern Command, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Alon Friedman replied to the court on behalf of the IDF that it is possible to maintain a routine in Manot.
Following this, during the last Shavuot holiday, I spoke with the Northern Command general who was staying with us. "He said that we are in an emergency routine, but I told him…it is impossible to say 'routine' and 'emergency' in the same sentence," claimed Bar Kalifa. "Thus, contrary Friedman, the general promised me that he would write a letter in which he admits that it is not possible to maintain a routine with rations. We hope that this will help us in the fight."