The cabinet made a U-turn yesterday regarding anti-missile reinforcements for communities near the border with Gaza.
One week after the cabinet rejected a proposal by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his deputy to increase protection against rocket damage in the area, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the High Court of Justice that he intends to find the money to carry out the work. The new funding source: Finance Minister Roni Bar-On's new national economic stimulus plan.
On November 12 the cabinet discussed a proposal made by Barak and Deputy Defense Minister MK Matan Vilnai (Labor) to increase by about NIS 500 million the budget for reinforcing Israeli homes near the border with the Gaza Strip. In February, the cabinet approved the first stage of the program, including reinforcing communities within 4.5 kilometers of the border with Gaza. Barak sought to increase the distance to 4.7 kilometers, to include kibbutzim Magen and Be'eri, at an additional cost of NIS 55 million, as well as to expand the original program by about NIS 500 million. However, Olmert and Bar-On objected, on economic grounds.
In the state's response to a High Court of Justice petition filed by an Ashkelon resident on the issue of expanding the reinforcement, Attorney Aner Helman of the State Prosecutor's Office wrote that among the measures proposed to Olmert by the treasury on November 16, within the framework of the economic stimulus proposal and according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, was the reinforcement of homes in the Sderot region as part of the planned spending of billions of shekels on infrastructure projects.
"The prime minister announced that despite the cabinet's November 12 decision not to change the reinforcement plan ... he sees fit to accelerate the reinforcement of homes in the Sderot-Gaza envelope region." Helman wrote. Helman indicated he would brief the High Court on any decisions in this regard by November 30.
