Dozens of families from two Gaza Strip settlements signed an agreement in principle yesterday that will see them move to a farming community near Ashkelon.

Representatives from the Disengagement Administration, which deals with the plan to dismantle all of the settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank, agreed to give each of the families $30,000 and a two-acre plot of land at Moshav Bat Hadar.

The families - residents of the settlements of Nissanit and Elei Sinai - agreed to leave their homes because "of the uncertainty the government has forced upon us," a resident of Elei Sinai opposed to the agreement said yesterday.

The signing of a full agreement depends on the Knesset´s approval of the evacuation-compensation bill.

In Elei Sinai, considered an ideological settlement, almost half of the residents refused to meet with the head of the Disengagement Administration, Yonatan Bassi, in order to discuss the evacuation. "At the end of the day, they will live to regret it," said one resident.

The Disengagement Administration said it was discussing with other groups of settlers their possible evacuation to towns in the Ashkelon area.

Gush Katif spokesman Eran Sternberg said he "was not surprised that Bassi boasts over every family he manages to get [to evacuate]."

"The Prime Minister Office has already speculated that most of the Gush Katif residents would evacuate willingly, but they remain strong and are not impressed by the [Disengagement] Administration´s production," Sternberg said.

Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit said yesterday that the government does not plan to establish new settlements in the West Bank to house settlers evacuated from Gush Katif. Sheetrit is responsible for the evacuation-compensation bill, which specifies the mechanisms of settler compensation. He made his comments during a session of the Knesset´s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. (© Copyright 2005 Haaretz. 02/02/05)