Gaza communities' fortification to receive additional funding

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On consented to allot an additional NIS 600 million (approx. $152.183 million) to the fortification of the Gaza vicinity communities, the State informed the High Court of Justice on Sunday.

Olmert and Bar-On stand to bring the motion before the government next week for a vote.

Attorney Anar Helman of the State Prosecutor's Office noted in his brief that "the Prime Minister's Office informed the State Prosecutor's Office that the premier intends on bringing before the cabinet a motion to allot additional funds to the amount of NIS 600 million, by next Sunday. These funds would allow for the completion of the fortification plan of residential homes in the communities within a three-mile radius of the Gaza Strip."

The additional budget, for some reason, has been included in the government's market stimulus plan, which currently stands on NIS 21 billion (approx. $5.326 billion).

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Deputy Defense Minister MK Matan Vilnai (Labor) were said to be content with the move, as the defense establishment said that the most important thing as this time is to fortify homes which are outside the range of the Iron Dome defense system. The latter, however, has yet to become operational, and according to several assessments will not be functional until 2010.

'We are not naïve'

The cabinet stands to vote on the additional funds next Sunday, and the motion is likely to be carried through. Nevertheless, the fortification of the 4400 housing units in the Gaza vicinity communities stands to take several moths, mainly since stage A of the plan – building new fortified rooms, to which a budget of NIS 327 million ($82.94 million) was allotted in February of 2008 – has yet to be completed.

Kfar Aza resident Kobi Bugin, one of those who signed a petition by residents of the area to speed up the implementation of the fortification program, told Ynet "this decision was supposed to be reached a few years ago. It saddens us that as citizens we were forced to resort to legal measures to pressure the government into making this decision.

"We are not naïve enough to think that there is no connection between the government's decision-making process and the upcoming general elections," he said.

Haim Yalin, head of the Eshkol Regional Council, said "it must be understood that fortification is not a goal, but a tool that gives the residents the ability to survive this intolerable situation of incessant rocket attacks.

"Soon we will mark eight years since the beginning of this war of attrition, and we can only hope we won't have to go through another eight years such as these. The continued barrages are the sole responsibility of the government of Israel," he said.