By Aryeh Savir
JERUSALEM (TNA)- The Legal Forum for Israel sent a letter to PM Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon on Sunday, June 29, demanding compensation for the damage caused to the factory burned last night in the Sderot industrial area after it was hit by rockets from the Gaza Strip. Payment should be deducted from the funds transferred by Israel to the Palestinian Authority, according to Nachi Eyal, the Forum’s CEO.
Eyal said that any sum of money allocated for the rehabilitation and compensation of the factory owner and its employees should be taken from funds collected by Israel for the PA, even if there is no intention of transferring them to the PA now.
The plant in Sderot was damaged by the barrage of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip on Saturday night, June 28, at Sderot, as it was hit and consumed by fire. According to the Oslo Accords and the Paris Agreement, the Israeli authorities collect taxes for the Palestinian Authority. Parts of these funds end up in the Gaza Strip, directly or indirectly by the payment of salaries to workers in the PA who work in Gaza.
The Forum claims that the transfer of funds is not only prohibited by law but is immoral. Late in 2009, the Forum’s lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court against the transfer of funds to Gaza, but the state justified the transfer of funds to Gaza and rejected claims that it was a breach of the law prohibiting the finance of terrorism.
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Aryeh Savir is a staff writer for the Tazpit News Agency in Israel. He may be contacted via en@tazpit.org.il