Last update - 10:38 04/10/2006
MK Elon: Use U.S. aid to pay Arab families to leave Gaza
By Haaretz Service
MK Benyamin Elon, an advocate of "voluntary transfer" of Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said Wednesday that Israel should make do without U.S. foreign aid, and that the funds should be given to Palestinians who agree to leave the territories.
"If we really want to be creative and courageous, the only solution is this: If, for 20 years, Israel itself went without U.S. foreign aid, it could be given to every family of the million refugees of the Gaza Strip. We must finally solve the problem of the refugees, which is the heart of the conflict.
"This money would be given to every family of the million refugees of the Gaza Strip region, and each family would emigrate with $100,000 dollars." The money would be given them as they emigrate, Elon said.
"Many countries would absorb them if they came not as refugees, but with $100,000 dollars."
Asked if the plan were at all practicable, Elon told Israel Radio, "The state of Israel has never seriously considered this.
"This would be far more inexpensive than all the ammunition, and this is the only humanitarian solution."