The Jewish Agency will not assist the government in removing infrastructure from Gush Katif settlements within the framework of the disengagement plan, agency directors decided Wednesday.

The agency said it will only help in the resettlement of Israelis evacuated from the Gaza Strip into new homes in the Negev and Galilee regions.

MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) slammed the decision and called the Jewish Agency's refusal to assist in the evacuation of settlements "an attempt to torpedo the disengagement plan. This is hypocrisy and an evasion of responsibility on the part of the very agency that set up the communities."

Pines-Paz added it will not be possible to implement the disengagement plan without the Jewish Agency's assistance.

The settlers' Yesha Council, on the other hand, said it condemned the Jewish Agency for "indirectly lending a hand to the evacuation of settlers."

Jewish Agency spokesman Yarden Vatikai claimed in response to Pines-Paz that the government had never asked the agency for assistance with the evacuation of settlements.

Vatikai said "the evacuation of settlements is outside the mandate of the Agency and I am surprised that MK Pines does not remember this from the time he spent working at the Jewish Agency."

According to the Jewish Agency's decision, it will assist in reabsorbing Gaza settlers in the Negev, Galilee and Gilboa regions.

At this stage, the Jewish Agency will begin planning new communities and will coordinate the expansion of existing ones in the nation's peripheral regions in order to resettle the evacuated settlers.

The decision emphasized the government will fund all Jewish Agency activity related to disengagement.

The Jewish Agency held debates on how it would assist in the implementation of the disengagement plan after the government decided it would appeal to the agency for aid in resettling the evacuated Gaza settlers.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated his appeal for assistance at the beginning of the week during a ceremony marking 75 years since the establishment of Jewish Agency.

Several months ago, the Jewish Agency began pushing a program unconnected to the disengagement plan that develops Jewish settlement in the Galilee and Negev regions. Due to financial difficulties, however, the implementation of the program was postponed.

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