High Court asks gov't to build more safety rooms near Gaza

Barak urges that safety rooms be built in nine kibbutzim, even though they will not be protected by Iron Dome.

By DAN IZENBERG
Sderot shelter 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
Sderot shelter 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
The High Court of Justice recommended on Monday that the government reconsider its decision not to build safety rooms in nine rural settlements within a 4.5 kilometer radius of the Gaza Strip because of a policy disagreement between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Monday's hearing on the petition, which was filed in August, came as a result of a request by the petitioners for an urgent hearing as a result of recent developments in the Gaza Strip. According to Ya'acov Bogin, of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, Barak warned Olmert that Hamas has introduced new and more lethal weapons since the cease-fire agreement went into effect. As a result of the warning, said Bogin, the petitioners asked the High Court to convene an urgent hearing on the petition. Barak urged that safety rooms be built in the nine kibbutzim which, even though they will not be protected by Iron Dome - the planned missile defense missile system - when it is deployed in another two years, did not receive government funding to build them at the government's expense. The state said it would report back to the court after the end of Succot recess on October 22 on whether or not the government would hold another meeting on the subject. Presiding Justice Miriam Na'or said that if it did not agree to hold such a meeting, she would convene another hearing immediately to decide what to do. The petition was filed in August by representatives of nine kibbutzim within the 4.5 kilometer radius, including Kfar Aza, Sa'ad, Alumim, Or Haner, Sufa, Nirim, Nir Yitzhak, Nir Oz and Yad Mordechai. On February 24, 2008, the government, under heavy public pressure, agreed to provide immediate funding to build reinforced concrete safety rooms for homes with tile roofs in 12 settlements within the 4.5 kilometer radius. These included Sderot, Nir Am, Gavyam, Erez, Avim, Zikim, Netiv Ha'asara, Nahal Oz, Kerem Shalom, Kissufim, Miflasim and Carmiya. The government made the distinction between the first and second groups according to the results of an examination of the number of Kassam rockets and mortar shells that fell on each community within the 4.5-kilometer radius during a period of time leading up to the decision. The petitioners called the distinction "arbitrary, unreasonable, unegalitarian and absurd."