Gov't money funneled toward illegal settlements

[kramadas]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/423998.html

Last Update: 05/05/2004 16:51

Report slams funds for settlements, hospital treatment

By Haaretz Staff and The Associated Press

The Housing and Construction Ministry has funneled nearly $6.5 million to illegal settlement construction in the West Bank in the past three years, more than half of it to outposts Israel pledged to remove, according to the annual State Comptroller's report, released Wednesday.

State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg wrote in the second part of his annual report that the Housing Ministry has funneled money to settlement construction that had not received cabinet or Defense Ministry approval - as required by law - and in cases where land ownership was still under dispute.

The money was sent even as a branch of the Israel Defense Forces was "investing resources to track down and demolish illegal construction" in settlements and outposts, Goldberg wrote.

From January 2000 to June 2003, the Housing Ministry approved 77 contracts for construction projects in 33 West Bank areas, 18 of them unauthorized outposts, the report said. Of the $6.5 million given to illegal West Bank construction, about $4 million went to the outposts, the report said.

The report deals with some 60 issues, and discusses "issues that influence the economy, the public administration in general and the Israeli society. The report presents the Knesset and the public flaws found in the operation of the executive branch."

The report also states that one in two wiretaps carried out by police are of personal conversations, including mental problems, relationship difficulties and medical issues, which have no relevance to the police investigations.

Hospital patients at risk

Furthermore, the country's hospitals are in a dire condition, with safety flaws so grave that on occasion patients are put at risk.

Goldberg also slams the medical treatment received by elderly patients who break their hips, saying that often their lives are put in danger.

Golberg also levels criticism at hospitals over the mortality rate for premature babies, saying that this, along with the rate at which they pick up infections, are higher than in most Western countries.

The committee charged with determining which drugs go into the basket of health care services also comes under fire, thus confirming several Haaretz investigations on the issue.

The comptroller also discovered that a bridge built by Israel Railway at a cost of NIS 8 million near the new terminal at Ben-Gurion International Airport will have to be demolished because it deviates from building limits for the area and interferes with the flight path at the new terminal.

The report goes on to slam the practice of fraudulent voting, saying that in the last Knesset elections, votes were cast in the names of several people who were already dead.

Around 51 percent of religious court judges, or dayanim, also hold the title of religious court president, a position equivalent to the president of the magistrate's court and one that comes with additional pay and other benefits, the report states.

In comparison, less than 2 percent of magistrates carry the title of magistrate's court president.

Turning to security issues, Goldberg's report found that Israel was slow to issue travel warnings to its citizens, in the wake of the terror attacks on an Israeli-owned hotel in Kenya and an Israeli airplane in November 2002.

The report partly blames the delays on professional disagreements between the National Security Council's anti-terrorism department and the Foreign Ministry over the release and wording of such statements.

[normalnoises]

C'mon.... you know the conservanazis in here aren't gonna touch THIS!

[kramadas]

haha - good question, wonder where the Israeli apologists are on this issue.

[mursa]

fact : the US gives israel 10$ million on a daily basis .

hmmmm now you wonder why the Us & israeli are seen as ONE in the arab world .