Minister denies asking Germany for more Holocaust reparations - Haaretz

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Mon., November 12, 2007 Kislev 2, 5768

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		Minister for Pensioner Affairs Rafi Eitan. (Yaron Kaminsky)

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Last update - 20:38 11/11/2007

Minister denies asking Germany for more Holocaust reparations

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent

tags: reparations, Germany, Israel

Minister for Pensioners' Affairs Rafi Eitan said Sunday that he never proposed reopening the 1952 agreement between Israel and Germany on reparations for Holocaust survivors.

Eitan told Israel Radio that he only sought to establish a professional team made up of German and Israeli officials that would reexamine the survivors' needs in their old age.

"I feel that the responsibility of this issue lies with Germany, who must fund part of the expenses," he said. Eitan maintains that he spoke with Berlin on this matter a year ago.

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German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck's spokesperson released a statement over the weekend, maintaining that Steinbrueck has no intention of opening negotiations with Israel when he comes to Israel in two weeks' time.

The statement came in response to the Haaretz article, where it was reported that Eitan, the minister in charge of the talks with Germany on reparations for Holocaust survivors and retrieving Jewish property,
is seeking to reopen the reparations agreement between Israel and Germany.

Eitan's comments caused a great stir in the media in Germany over the weekend. Germany's finance ministry in Berlin released a conclusive denial statement that negotiations on the agreement were taking place.

"The German finance minister will not meet Mr. Eitan when he visits Israel, and he has no intent of discussing these issues," said Steinbrueck's spokesperson.

Eitan told Haaretz that the original reparations agreement, the Luxembourg Agreement, did not take into account many issues relating to Holocaust survivors and should therefore be reopened. That agreement stipulated that Germany would give Israel $833 million in money and merchandise, and Israel would look after the survivors, who would not be permitted to sue Germany directly.

A state comptroller's report on the treatment of Holocaust survivors, released this past August, said that in the 50 years between 1954 and 2004, the government had spent some $3.5 billion on the survivors, more than four times the sum transferred by Germany.

"We see Germany as responsible for the Holocaust survivors," Eitan told Haaretz. "The agreements with them had many holes. Nobody estimated the high cost of the last stage of life in the modern era, or that people would live at least ten years longer on average than they did in the 1950s."

The Luxembourg Agreement also failed to take into account the arrival of many additional survivors to Israel. "Nobody thought that 175,000 Holocaust refugees from the former Soviet Union would come to Israel," Eitan said. "That changed the entire picture, even if the Germans aren't interested."

An agreement between the Israeli government and survivors' organizations, which the cabinet approved earlier this week, provides for payments and benefits to survivors totaling NIS 2 billion over the next three years. The government undertook to finance the plan, but now expects Germany to contribute its share.

Over the last four months, while government officials were negotiating the agreement with survivors' representatives, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other ministers said in closed forums that Israel ought to ask Germany to cover the increased payments. However, this is the first time a minister has said so publicly.

The German weekly Der Spiegel reported this week that Eitan sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in August, demanding that Germany waive an Israeli debt of 500 million euros, after which Israel would deposit this money in a fund dedicated to survivors' needs. The German deputy finance minister rejected the idea, and Eitan told him: "So just give us the money," Der Spiegel reported.

Eitan responded that he did not make demands of Germany, and that this was merely one of many ways in which Germany could finance the survivors' stipends.

Sources in the Ministry for Pensioner Affairs said that Accountant General Yaron Zelekha was the one who thought of waiving the debt.

The Foreign Ministry is concerned that Eitan's demands might damage the delicate relations between Israel and Germany. "I never denied that my approach is problematic, but it's based on facts and the truth," Eitan responded. "I'm acting for the good of Holocaust survivors."

"It's not enough to work with one minister or another," Eitan said. "We told the Germans that we must set up a professional team to examine the issue in a professional way."

A senior German Foreign Ministry source told Haaretz that Germany would accept some of the Israeli demands, and that Merkel had instructed officials to handle the matter "sympathetically." However, the German treasury wants to avoid setting a precedent by reopening the reparations agreement.

Eitan is convinced that "ultimately, Germany will agree to the demands. They have their own 'treasury boys,' as we do, who guard the public coffers; they're right from their point of view. They're doing their job, and I'm doing mine."

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1.	At any price...	12:09	\|	Esther	11/11/07

2.	Protest party	12:21	\|	Ethan	11/11/07

3.	Israels national motto?	13:15	\|	Natallie Durson	11/11/07

4.	What is wrong with Minister?	13:22	\|	Shahin	11/11/07

5.	For Natallie Durson, on Israel`s national motto # 3	13:46	\|	Clickfool	11/11/07

6.	# 1 to esther in ta	13:54	\|	eric	11/11/07

7.	Rafi Eitan is a nasty depicable person ..	14:23	\|	redmike	11/11/07

8.	Meanwhile in Outer Mongolia	14:38	\|	Chris Linthwaite	11/11/07

9.	"WAIVING THE DEBT"....???	15:05	\|	Robert	11/11/07

10.	What is a Schnorrer? #5	15:29	\|	Jonathan S	11/11/07

11.	ANd how much $$$ has the world `donated` to the Pals?	15:31	\|	Petra	11/11/07

12.	It was his twin	15:40	\|	Mark Lincoln	11/11/07

13.	Wikipedia definition, for Jonathan S # 10	15:59	\|	Clickfool	11/11/07

14.	#11 Israel repays her loans ...	16:23	\|	American	11/11/07

15.	Israel pays back their loans?	16:41	\|	Jens	11/11/07

16.	#3	17:29	\|	Levi	11/11/07

17.	ClickFOOL, to be added to Wikipedia	17:36	\|	Jonathan S	11/11/07

18.	Petra # 11 Israel has never repaid any loans received	17:56	\|	American in NY	11/11/07

19.	Jonathan S. - it`s enough!	18:03	\|	Frank	11/11/07

20.	Enough: Israelis, BECOME MEN stop being weak and helpless	18:05	\|	US MARINE	11/11/07

21.	# 17 is Israel a Schnorrer?	18:12	\|	Dav	11/11/07

22.	Desperately tortuous, Jonathan S # 17	19:23	\|	Clickfool	11/11/07

23.	Redmike, what`s the deal with Pollard?	20:17	\|	Wiktor	11/11/07

24.	Jonathan S - get the hell out of Germany!	20:23	\|	Wiktor	11/11/07

25.	Petra and failed Petri dish experiment!	20:29	\|	Wiktor	11/11/07

26.	# 24 Victor. re:Jonathan S.Who The Hell Are You To Tell Jonathan	02:30	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

27.	# 16 Jens.Israel pays back their loans?Of course It Does.BUT!	02:38	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

28.	# 8 Meantime in Mongolia.Typical of Chris` repartee..	02:43	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

29.	# 19f Frank old boy. WE WANT OUR PROPERTIES BACK.AND ALL THE	02:48	\|	FED-UP	12/11/07

30.	# 13 Clickfool.You are being despicable as usual. Jonathan...	02:56	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

31.	# 10 Jonathan thanks for the interpretation.And applies to click	03:01	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

32.	fed up 29	06:53	\|	realism	12/11/07

33.	# 32 A for you" Get Real" No Such Thing As	13:44	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

34.	# 2 Ethan Protest party..	13:56	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

35.	# 30 Clickfool An Addendum...Just read if It comes Out!	14:59	\|	Fed-Up	12/11/07

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