Palestinians demonstrating along the Gaza border fence, October 19, 2015.
No funding for barrier to protect Gaza border communities
The heads of the communities attended a State Control Committee meeting in the Knesset in order to find out when a project intended to create a buffer between them and Hamas was due to start. Instead, he discovered that there is no budget and it's due to be a long process.
A heated debate erupted in a State Control Committee meeting in the Knesset on Wednesday morning, after the heads of Gaza border communities discovered that the Ministries of Finance and Defense are not aware of plans for the "barrier project" intended for the area.
Furthermore, the National Security Council implied to residents that there is no budget for the plan.
Gaza residents recently broke through the fence along the border with Israel. (Photo: AFP)
The barrier project includes the placement of a "smart" fence along the length of the border (65km), similar to the one that runs along the border with Egypt. The fence is supposed to include advanced technological systems that will also provide an answer to the threat of tunnels.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon recently declared to the community heads and Southern Command officers that the barrier was the most important security issue concerning Gaza.
Nonetheless, already back in December last year the heads of communities were complaining about foot-dragging.
"It's an outrage. I'm stunned by the things I've discovered here," said Gadi Yarkoni, the head of the Eshkol Regional Council, while at the Knesset.
"Everyone knows how important the barrier is," Yarkoni continued. "The defense minister and the IDF Chief of Staff promised us that the barrier would be erected and there was a budget for it."
"You're playing with fire. Whatever is going around Gaza at the moment isn't really a fence. A couple of people alone can break through it. Every Friday there are clashes a few hundred meters from residents' houses," he said.
"With a fence like that can I really say to residents that I am protecting them? Or that the defense minister is misleading us or not telling us the truth. It should have been authorized by now."
The heads of the Gaza border communities signaled their intent to demonstrate and call for the project to receive a budget from the government.
Yael Raz, who lives in one of the kibbutzim near the Gaza border, added: "I can see them demonstrating 800 meters from my house. The army told me that if 1,000 Palestinians come to demonstrate they will not be able to protect the residents.
"If they don't make an effort to protect the area then families will not come to live here," Raz added.
The IDF conducting a search for tunnels along the border fence close to Otef Aza.
The committee discussion had been convened by Yesh Atid MK Haim Yellin, who until recently was the head of the Eshkol Regional Council.
"In August 2014, during a closed meeting of the Southern Command, the prime minister and the defense minister promised to build a border fence," Yellin said.
"The heads of the communities had requested that the IDF enter the Strip and destroy every tunnel that they knew about.
"The prime minister and the defense minister promised in the same meeting that a barrier would be built that would partly solve some of the same problems we had brought to them," Yellin continued.
"The Gaza Division, the Southern Command and the IDF Chief of Staff formulated a plan to build the barrier. The Ministry of Defense supported it. Yet to this day the Ministry of Finance hasn't actually received a budgetary request.
"The prime minister and the defense minister gave us their word and they lied," Yellin added.
Shalom Gantzer, who took part in the discussion on behalf of the Ministry of Defense, said: "The fence is not everything. We're talking about billions of shekels. The conceptual outline has been approved but it's not moving through an organized process.
"We're not in a Turkish bazaar. There needs to be a formal process and you are trying to sow panic among the public," Gantzer added. "Tomorrow it will go before the defense minister."
The head of the committee, Yesh Atid MK Karin Elharar, said: "The erection of a fence around the Gaza Strip must be part of the state's budget. It's human life and it's urgent.
"It's illogical that there is no protection, and moreover there is an abandonment of responsibility. I will receive an update after the plan is presented to the defense minister on Thursday. I am also waiting for the response of the National Security Council after they consider the matter on Tuesday," Elharar added.
On Wednesday evening it was reported that Ya'alon had spoken with Yarkoni, the head of the Eshkol Regional Council, telling him that in spite of what had been said during the committee discussion, the Ministry of Defense intends to assign a budget to the project.
Ya'alon added that the fence would be built and promised that work on the construction would begin soon.
