Shoah survivors bash Olmert proposal

Organizations call for increased aid; will conduct "march of living" protest.

By SHARON WROBEL
An umbrella Holocaust survivor organization encompassing 42 smaller groups decided on Wednesday to reject Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's proposal to gradually increase stipends to survivors over a period of four years, Army Radio reported. The survivors, who consider the prime minister's decision to be "too little, too late," demanded the implementation of conclusions reached by an inter-ministerial committee that deliberated their cause. The committee had recommended an aid package that included pensions and health support funds at a total of over 1.2 billion NIS. The survivors threatened to set an official protest campaign into motion if the government's proposition was not emended by week's end.