Prime Minister Ehud Olmert today, toured the Lachish region and declared the establishment of new communities in the eastern Lachish area, which will include approximately 4,600 housing units and will absorb approximately 400 families from among the Gush Katif evacuees. The Prime Minister said: "From now on the Lachish vision is the Government of Israel's vision. This is one of the most beautiful and inspiring parts of the country and perhaps it has waited for the appropriate people. It needs believing people, with a sense of mission. In my vision, in another 25 years, I see tens of thousands of Jews living here and serving as examples to all the rest. There are no limits on what can be done and developed here. This area has received national preference regarding tourism. It is possible to develop cultural institutions here and – of course – to continue to develop the area's advanced viticulture, as well as its flourishing classical agriculture. These communities are the opportunity by which we will turn the Lachish region into a national center for building up the country in the coming years."
Prime Minister Olmert began his tour by viewing the sites on which the new communities are due to be built.
In his meeting with Gush Katif evacuees, Prime Minister Olmert listened to their remarks regarding both the treatment they and their families have received up until now and their expectations for the future. The Prime Minister told them: "There is no limit to the area's potential and I would like, not in one year, but already within six months to come here again to see the tractors working and to breathe in the dust, to see the foundations being poured and the buildings raising, and there is no reason that this will not happen. We will do this promptly."
Prime Minister Olmert said that the communities will be receive the conditions of Development Area 'A' status, and directed Prime Minister's Office Director General Ra'anan Dinur, the Prime Minister's Adviser on Rural Settlement, Uzi Keren, the SELA Disengagement Authority and the relevant ministers to advance as much as possible the planning and implementation of the eastern Lachish region community project. The Prime Minister instructed Defense Minister Amir Peretz to resolve the issue of the firing zone adjacent to the community of Hazan.