Last update - 00:00 31/05/2007
Gov't says can't meet deadline to reinforce Sderot schools
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
It will be impossible to comply with the High Court's ruling to reinforce all classrooms in Sderot and in the communities around Gaza by the beginning of the coming school year, a senior Defense Ministry official told Haaretz Wednesday.
The High Court ruled Tuesday that the present method of designating one protected area per school is insufficient and therefore all the classrooms must be reinforced by September.
The senior official said that the steel for the reinforcement has to be brought from abroad and processed in Israel, and that this would take more time than allocated by the High Court. In addition, experience shows that planning will take longer than expected.
Various officials estimated the cost of the project at NIS 200 million, funds that have not yet been allocated.
Officials from the Prime Minister's Office and the Home Front Command held their first meeting Wednesday on implementing the High Court decision. The PMO said the necessary arrangements would be made to approve the budgets in light of the ruling.
Various officials said Wednesday that the ruling would lead to hasty planning that would not necessarily be a wise use of the money earmarked for reinforcement. One official said that a proper plan could bring about the building of better, reinforced schools in Sderot, which would meet other needs as well.
According to the present system, students have 15 seconds, from the moment the alarm sounds until the Qassam hits, to reach each school's single protected area. The High Court determined that this was not enough time and that the method does not meet the test of reasonability.
A few months ago, the cabinet allocated NIS 135 million to reinforce all classrooms for grades 1-3. However the High Court determined that all classrooms, up to the 12th grade, must be reinforced.
The additional estimated NIS 200 million to reinforce all classrooms will bring the total allocation to approximately NIS 400 million.
Ar present, some 340 classrooms are not reinforced - about half of all classrooms in Sderot and the communities around the Gaza Strip.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz pledged last May to speed up the reinforcement of the schools due to increased rocket fire. At that time, only one school was reinforced. The planning for the reinforcement of that school took three months and implementation two months, with a great deal of work still ahead.
Four new schools that were to have been built in the area around Gaza and Sderot will now be put on hold because of the need to invest in reinforcement. Instead, older premises will be rebuilt and reinforced.
One official involved in reinforcement said Wednesday, "The laws of physics cannot be bent to complete the reinforcement in the time set by the High Court."
In January 2006, the State Comptroller criticized the fact that an organized reinforcement plan had not been made. In November, PMO director general Ra'anan Dinur said the cabinet "knows only how to be dragged along after reinforcement plans