State won't relieve mortgage of Sderot's 'house hostages'

Another repugnant act decree from the Israeli government. From State won't relieve mortgage of Sderot's 'house hostages':

The Cuzin family is one of a few hundred families who want to leave Sderot but cannot because they are "house hostages," as lawyer Yuval Albashan, the deputy director-general of the Association for Community Empowerment (ACE), puts it. The state refuses to help families leave Sderot in an effort not to project an image of defeat, effectively holding them hostage, Albashan said.

Cuzin pays a mortgage of NIS 2,500 a month for an apartment with a garden that she bought a decade ago. Her eldest son left for Ashkelon, her husband works in Holon. She worked for a solar panel company that shut down because of low demand, and the tiles on the walls of her office were torn down by the impact of a Qassam rocket. "I love my home, I fixed up the garden nicely, but I'm constantly scared," she said.

No one will rent or buy the place. Even if she were to sell, she said, the money she would receive in return would not allow her buy an apartment anywhere else. Nor can she pay the mortgage while also renting an apartment in central Israel. "I don't see a solution. I can't help my children, or myself," Cuzin said.

Those with mortgages are not the only ones unable to leave. Thousands of people who live in public housing are also in the same predicament. Dozens have asked the Housing Ministry to leave, many of whom are senior citizens. But the security situation is not considered a valid argument to receive alternative accommodation.

See, what Israel should do is arrange for the temporary evacuation of all Jews from Sderot, and when that has b een completed, daisy-cut all the rocket launching sites and ammunition tunnels of the Muslim aggressors. Then, as soon as the threat is eradicated and the stench of burning flesh is out of the air, move the Jews back into their homes. Problem solved. That's the way to do it: evacuate, incinerate, allocate.