Last update - 00:00 18/06/2007
State asks court to rule again on Gaza border schools' protection
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The State Prosecutor's Office appealed Monday a High Court ruling which three weeks ago ordered the state to fund the reinforcement of schools bordering the Gaza Strip by the beginning of the next academic year.
The state requested the High Court hold an additional hearing on the issue in the presence of a widened bench of justices.
Sderot's Parent's Committee successfully petitioned the High Court that it instruct the Defense Ministry to immediately reinforce the roofs of all educational institutions in Sderot and other communities bordering Gaza, or provide an alternative solution that will protect from Palestinian groups' frequent and occasionaly deadly Qassam rocket attacks.
The State Prosecutor's Office asked the court to 'amend' this ruling which it argues was made on the basis of information the judges misunderstood.
In their ruling, the justices rejected the state's claim that the series of shelters and reinforced buildings known as "protected areas" properly safeguarded residents from Qassam rocket fire, and at a minimal cost.
This followed a drill held in March where 43 percent of classes in Sderot failed to reach the protected areas within 15 seconds - which is the general alert time given by the "Red Dawn" system that warns of impending rocket attacks.
State Prosecution Office Attorney Dina Zilber said: "The extent of the court's interference in the absolutely non-legal issue of setting defense policy for the homefront in the face of the war on terror," is a reason for another hearing with a wider bench of judges.
Zilber added that another reason was the court's "determining of resource allocation priorities for the protection of schools, against other security needs and other national goals."
The state also said the ruling greatly widened the scope of a convention whereby the High Court can invalidate government actions if it deems them unreasonable in the extreme, through the court's use of it in issues of security and budget allocation.