Gaza Strip settlers were given seven days on Wednesday to sign up for a plan to relocate to the Nitzanim area after they are evacuated from their homes under the disengagement plan.

The announcement was made after a meeting of the ministerial committee for disengagement, headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, to examine progress in the Nitzanim plan and in the installation of temporary housing in the Nitzan area and communities outside Gaza.

Speaking at a joint press conference with the director-general of the Prime Minister´s Office, Ilan Cohen, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni warned that those who do not sign up within a week will not be part of the communal evacuation.

The justice minister said that 426 families have signed up for the plan so far, and the government is still answering inquiries. Livni said the decision to make a public appeal to the Gaza settlers to join the scheme was made in the wake of recent contacts with several groups.

"It is only fair to deliver the message to the settlers directly, rather than through intermediaries," Livni said, adding that the government wanted to ensure that every family received the message in the wake of the divisions between the various groups representing the settlers.

Livni added that, in her opinion, the number of families that have already signed up for the plan necessitates the construction of at least one new town in addition to the expansion of Nitzan.

Yitzhak Meron, head of the Legal Forum of the Land of Israel, which is representing the settlers, said Tuesday that three points of contention remain between the settlers and the cabinet regarding the Nitzanim plan.

First, the settlers are demanding the evacuation be postponed until their permanent new homes are built. They want to avoid "double uprooting," or the need to move twice - first to temporary housing and then to permanent homes.

When the government refused to delay the disengagement, the settlers demanded placing temporary trailers on land slated for their permanent future homes in Nitzan and north Ashkelon. Any other site would be a "future refugee camp," they said.

The government refuses this too, saying there is no way to complete the planning for the permanent lots prior to the placement of temporary trailers. A lot for 450 homes is being prepared in Nitzan alongside a lot for 450 temporary structures.

Second, the settlers are demanding the acceleration of procedures for purchasing land in the Nitzanim area. They want the government to confiscate the land in the same fast-track method that was applied to the Gaza Strip evacuation under the Evacuation Compensation Law.

Third, the settlers are demanding to increase their compensation by amending the law, if the High Court of Justice decides not to intervene. Among their demands is the compensating of farmers for two to three seasons of produce.

"It is unthinkable that a person should emerge from the evacuation process poorer than he was before the disengagement plan was declared," said Meron.

The settlers are demanding that the government confiscate land in Nitzanim to facilitate the building of new homes and increase compensation for evacuating Gaza. The settlers also object to moving to temporary housing prior to moving into their permanent homes.

The disagreement between the settlers and the government on these issues has held up implementation of the Nitzanim plan.

Livni on Tuesday blasted some political leaders among the settlers for refusing to negotiate with the government over the Nitzanim plan, and for calling it a "surrender plan."

Livni said these leaders are harming the rest of settlers´ interests by preventing them from proceeding with the evacuation plans.

Meron on Tuesday accused Livni of conducting psychological warfare rather than finding appropriate solutions to ensure implementation of the Nitzanim plan.

During the visit to the Ashkelon coast and western Negev, Sharon asked housing minister Isaac Herzog to speed up on preparations for the absorption of Gaza evacuees. "We need to work quickly. There´s not a moment to waste. Go full steam ahead," he said.

Herzog and Disengagement Authority head Yonatan Bassi joined Sharon on the secret tour of the Yavul, Carmiya, Miflasim and Nitzan communities.

The ministerial committee charged with addressing evacuation-related matters decided Tuesday to authorize the purchase of caravans as a temporary housing solution for would-be evacuees. "When things start getting serious, we will bring caravans as temporary housing here," Herzog said.

Herzog told Sharon that the area is attractive to developers, so the evacuees would have to be quick on deciding whether they wish to move there.

Sharon also surveyed the Niztanim cemetery in Nitzan. The kibbutz was given 12 dunams by the government, in order to expand the cemetery, thus allowing Gush Katif settlers an alternative to reburying their dead.

While Sharon refused to meet with a local Nitzan representative of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, Interior Minister Ophir Pines is scheduled to visit the protected dunes of Nitzanim Friday with local council head Shimon Cohen.

Meanwhile, Defense Shaul Mofaz visited settlements in northern Gaza and met with residents, who expressed fears about the impending disengagement.

Mofaz told them the government would contact those who have loved ones buried in the area to discuss disinterring arrangements.

The leadership says the vast majority believes the official settler line, that there should be no cooperation with the government. The leadership has held gatherings in homes and sent out fliers opposing the Nitzanim plan, and held large anti-Nitzanim gatherings.

In a request that settlers refuse to sign up for Nitzanim, settler leader Avner Shimoni wrote: "Our signature is tantamount to agreement to moving to a refugee camp." (© 2001-2005 Koret Communications Ltd. 05/18/05)