Last update - 00:00 01/02/2007
Gov't to grant 'frontline community' status to four northern Arab villages
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
The government announced Thursday that it intends to recognize the northern Arab villages of Fassuta, Ma'ilia, Jish (Gush Halav), and Arab al-Aramshe as "frontline communities" - a move that would make the villages' residents eligible for increased compensation for damages incurred during the second Lebanon war.
The villages are located along the border with Lebanon, in the vicinity of Jewish towns that were previously recognized as "frontline communities."
The government is essentially accepting the villages' petition against Finance Minsiter Abraham Hirchson's decision to exclude them from the list, which was presented to the High Court of Justice in the wake of the war.
The petitioners were represented by attorney Samuel Dahwar, himself a resident of Fassuta. Dahwar wrote in the petition that "the legal situation was reflected in the discriminatory instructions, which constitute disproportional harm to basic constitutional rights."
"The instructions had no appropriate purpose and were disproportional," the petition continued.
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Second-class compensation