----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I want to know just one thing. Where is all this money coming from? It is a sad fact that for the last three years the Israeli government has been chopping huge chunks out of the budget. Every social program has been affected. The schools are suffering terribly. Single mothers have seen their assistance programs decimated. The basket of medical services is deteriorating. Old age pensions have been cut as much as 30%. (So what, let ‘em eat cake!) Even the Israeli army budget has been cut. This is the army that is supposed to protect us from the hordes who would love nothing better than to destroy us. It is estimated that the expulsion from Gaza will cost between 7 and 10 BILLION shekel. And you know how accurate government estimates are! By the time this evil deed is done it will likely cost 3 or 4 times as much. The US has already stated it will not help pay for this. Does Sharon imagine Arafat will take his billions from Swiss banks to help pay for making Gaza Judenrein? Will the anti-Semitic Europeans pay? They can’t. They are too busy paying to keep Arafat in bullets, bombs, and rockets. In spite of all this, Sharon and his sellout cabinet think they have the money to expel 8,000 Jews from their homes, farms, factories, schools, and synagogues? I want to know where it will come from? Thirty percent of Israeli kids already fall under the poverty line. Thousands of them go to bed hungry every night but Sharon has the money to throw law-abiding self supporting Jews from their homes? The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, is embarking upon their well deserved (?) annual summer vacation. A recent report showed that the members of this august body have the worst record of attendance in the Western world. One member, David Levy, (ex-foreign minister) only attended 10% of Knesset sessions. I guess it’s difficult to make it to work when you spend much of your time in the Knesset hairdresser salon, and at home fathering twelve! Shimon Peres, who has NEVER been elected to any office in his 50year career, spends most of his time roaming the world and meeting with the enemy. Many important pieces of legislation are voted on by less than half the Knesset. It's very much a part time job with a big full time salary and dozens of perks. Only one Knesset member managed to attend all sessions. When they return from their summer vacation they will have to deal with the budget for 2005. This will not be easy. Netanyahu the Finance Minister wants to chop six billion more from a budget that has been reduced substantially in each of the last three years. Gravediggers have not been paid salaries in a year and are now striking. How much more can they take from single mothers, the poor, the sick, the cripples, and the old? Not only is the Gaza expulsion immoral, there is no way to pay for it. The army has asked for an EXTRA 2 billion to help cover the costs of forcing Jews from their homes and communities, and no one has an idea where this money will come from. Wouldn’t surprise me if they charge those being expelled with a special tax! One thing is for sure. They better settle the gravediggers strike quick, because sure as hell once the expulsion of Jews from Gaza begins, they will be like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery, and the Palestinians will kill hundreds as they flee in slow moving conveys of trucks and buses. Mike Levine Kibbutz Bahan, Israel