Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Comptroller slams State's treatment of evacuees

From Ynetnews 8/3/06 ...

Seven months after disengagement, Judge Micha Lindesntrauss issues harsh report on State's failed treatment of families evacuated from Gaza; says government was not prepared for evacuation due to ongoing foot-dragging

... "Severe failures have been found in the preparation of the different bodies to absorb the evacuees, which both harmed the way they were handled and caused unnecessary suffering in a process that was in any case extremely emotionally charged and painful," Lindenstrauss said in the report.

"The failures in preparation, in budgetary allocations, in the recruitment of essential manpower for the Disengagement Authority and in the absorption of the evacuees in the local authorities were not caused, mostly, by lack of suitable laws and procedures, but by foot-dragging in the activities of the responsible bodies," he added.

The report discussed both the activities of the Disengagement Authority headed by Yonatan Bassi and the local authorities' preparation to absorb the evacuees. The state comptroller said that in spite of the significant uncertainty around the disengagement's implementation and the lack of cooperation on the part of the settlers and their leaders, there was no excuse for the inadequate preparation ahead of the plan by the State's institutions, headed by the Prime Minister's Office, the Finance Ministry and the Disengagement

"The Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office's foot-dragging shows that the prime minister and finance minister did not instruct the employees as required. Also the senior managers, including the Prime Minister's Office Director-General, the civil service commissioner and the budget director, did not act with the required urgency," Lindenstrauss charged in the report.

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