State won't pay rent for Kassam victims

The Elei Sina residents left after four members of a family were wounded by a rocket attack.

By DAN IZENBERG
The state on Wednesday rejected a High Court proposal to pay the rent for 41 former residents of the Gaza Strip settlement of Elei Sinai, who left their temporary homes in Kibbutz Karmiya because they were unprotected against Kassam rocket attacks. The residents left after four members of a family were wounded when a rocket hit outside their home. Attorney Orit Koren said the state had already paid all of the rent for the mobile homes in Karmiya and could not pay a second rent. But Court President Aharon Barak said, " The sympathy of all of us is with the petitioners. They suffered a previous trauma because of the disengagement and we must not forget that." He said the court would hand down its ruling in the next few days.