Request for budget for more freeze inspectors denied

The joint Defense Budget Committee, which is made up of members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and the Finance Committee rejected on Tuesday Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request to increase the Civil Administration's budget by NIS 12 million ($3.19) to hire inspectors to oversee the construction freeze in West Bank settlements.

The requested budget was meant to employ 40 Civil Administration workers, 29 of which would serve in the construction freeze enforcement unit.

The request was rejected with a majority of four votes against it and two in favor. MKs Zeev Elkin (Likud), Uri Ariel (National Union) Miri Regev (Likud) and Amnon Cohen (Shas) voted against the motion and the committee's chairman MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) and MK Ronnie Bar-On (Kadima) voted in favor.

MK Ariel told Ynet: "While the Palestinians are freely building illegal villas, Defense Minister Barak is busy seeking a budget for inspectors of the draconian freeze order."

On Sunday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a document outlining the compensation to be awarded to those who have suffered damage as a result of the freeze. However, the criteria according to which compensation will be awarded have yet to be determined.

The draft was prepared by a team headed by Cabinet Secretary Zvi Hauser and including experts from the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Ministry and the Justice Ministry. The outline determines that uniform criteria for compensation will be decided upon for three main groups: Purchasers of homes, building contractors in possession of a construction permit, and, in some cases, one-off awards to local authorities.

Details of the criteria will be released soon, and the compensation package will be handled by a special committee which the cabinet decided to establish during the same sitting. This decision does not require any legislation or additional permits, and can therefore be implemented without delay. Private bills put forward by various MKs regarding this issue are thus made redundant.

Eliezer Schwarz, an economist from the Knesset's Information and Research Center, estimated that the cost of compensation for apartment buyers would amount to NIS 90 million ($23.9 million). He based this estimate on data of 3,000 claims filed by apartment buyers who did not receive their homes in time requiring housing alternatives in the area that cost an average of some NIS 3,000 per month ($796) for the duration of the 10 month freeze.