A spokesman for former Gaza Strip settlers, on a six-day trip to Jewish federations in the Northeast, thanked local donors for their support and urged fund-raisers to do even more for those displaced by Israel’s evacuation of Gaza in August 2005.

Dror Vanunu, international coordinator for Friends of Gush Katif, expressed appreciation for the $2.5 million allocated to Gaza evacuees by the national United Jewish Communities’ Israel Emergency Campaign.

Earlier this year, national UJC heeded complaints by former settlers and their supporters that the Israeli government was not moving fast enough to meet the needs of the evacuees. The umbrella body of North American Jewish federations passed a resolution pledging to act on settlers’ still lacking permanent housing and other amenities a year and a half after Israel evacuated the settlements.

UJC MetroWest contributed $80,000 to the Gush Katif community. “We anticipated the closing of the settlements in the Gaza Strip by authorizing funding to assist the residents even before the evacuation took place,” Arthur Sandman, associate executive vice president of program services at United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ, told NJ Jewish News, “We made our first allocation of those funds during the week of the evacuation itself, and over the 19 months since, we’ve continued to allocate funds for programs that have improved the quality of life for evacuees from the Gaza settlements.”

“The fact is that…the federation system has decided to recognize the needs of our people,” said Vanunu during a March 19 stop at UJC MetroWest’s headquarters in Whippany. “We see this as a good start and we look to continued support from national UJC, as well as the different federations, to help in processes that have not been covered by the government. And that’s a lot.”

The purpose of his visit, Vanunu said, was to ask “North American Jewry to become involved in this very important project of pulling together 10,000 people and giving them the ability to restore their lives.”

His March 14-20 trip included stops in Toronto, New York, and four NJ communities.

The most pressing need, he said, is housing.

“Our vision and our hope is that the federations will adopt a model of the Toronto federation in adopting one of the Gush Katif communities and help them to rebuild and become vital again.”

About 10,000 former settlers — 8,800 from Gaza and 1,200 from northern West Bank settlements — are living in more than 20 towns throughout Israel. Vanunu, his wife, and three children are among 500 families from Gaza now living in Nitzan, the largest concentration of former residents.

He described the area as “a modern refugee camp.” Nineteen months after the removal, 98 percent of the evacuees are still living in temporary residences, he said.

Unemployment is also a major problem, said Vanunu.

“While the rate…in Gush Katif was about 2 percent, according to our report, it’s [now] 37 percent, [but] the government puts it at 53 percent,” said Vanunu. A brochure from Friends of Gush Katif, which maintains its U.S. headquarters in Teaneck, states that about 500 families are “using compensation money intended for building new homes” for day-to-day expenses.

In addition, Vanunu said, 3,400 students have lost almost a full year of schooling, and about 30 percent of high school students have dropped out, creating what Vanunu called “an education gap.”

He expressed frustration over Israel’s slow pace in helping the displaced families rebuild their lives. “In the same way they knew to say that on Aug. 15 [2005] there wouldn’t be any more Jews in Gaza…we want the same determination and efficiency” in coming up with a solution.

Vanunu said his organization was seeking aid only on a temporary basis.

“It’s not a project for life,” he assured NJJN. “Most of the people are strong people, with a lot of abilities. The moment we will be able to fulfill some of our dreams, these people will become productive people. Their contributions to the Negev and the State of Israel are unlimited.”

When it comes to describing what happened to the members of his Gaza settlement in August 2005, Vanunu said he avoids the word “evacuation.”

“Usually I use the word ‘expulsion,’” he said.

Regardless of their political point of view, he said, he hopes members of the North American Jewish community would “show a real Jewish brotherhood, a solidarity in helping the people to stand on their feet again.”