Last update - 00:00 16/01/2008
State: We need to reinforce Israelis' endurance to rocket fire, not their homes
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The State Prosecution told the High Court of Justice on Wednesday that it was more imporant to increase Sderot residents' endurance in the face of ongoing rocket fire from Gaza than to reinforce homes in the area.
The prosecution's statement came in response to a petition by 30 Sderot residents, who demanded the reinforcement of 800 homes in the western Negev town, so that they would be able to sustain Qassam strikes.
Over 40 Qassam rockets and mortar shells struck the western Negev on Wednesday.
Acting on behalf of the State Prosecution, attorney Dina Silber claimed that "since other parts of Israel are already, or will be in the near future, subject to rocket fire - Qassams, Katyushas, shells or mortars - the state could not afford to work under the false impression that this policy would be applicable to the Sderot area only."
Silber also said that "the question that the government should address and focus on is that of the stamina of the residents in confrontation areas. Their endurance, and not reinforcement of houses, is the main feature of the issue at hand; reinforcement is all but one element of the protection of the home front against rocket fire."
The state also maintains that if a decision to reinforce Sderot houses is taken it will send "shockwaves" that would "constitute a significant precedent as to homes in numerous other parts of the country, which are or soon will be subject to rocket fire."
On 23 December the cabinet approved an anti-missile system, Iron Dome, and on 6 January it approved an aid program for communities bordering on the Gaza Strip.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset plenum on 27 December that in the course of January NIS 50 million will be allocated to "enhance the resilience of the residents of communities bordering on the Gaza Strip," by means of reinforcing houses and public buildings.
The deadline for reaching a decision on the matter is the end of February, the government said.
Related articles: