Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, flanked by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking at the cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday. (AP)
Last update - 12:25 20/08/2006
Olmert to head ministerial committee on rehabilitating north
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday the creation of a special ministerial committee for the rehabilitation of towns in the Galilee and the Haifa region.
"Bolstering the north is a national mission of the highest degree," Olmert said as he opened the meeting.
The steering committee for development of the Galilee and Haifa will be headed by Olmert, and will include deputy premier and minister for Galilee and Negev development Shimon Peres and Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson.
On September 3, the cabinet will receive a proposal for the Galilee, including a schedule and pricetag for each project.
The Jerusalem economic ministries expect the cabinet to approve NIS 2.5 billion for Galilee development in 2006 and 2007 above and beyond the regular development budgets and moneys earmarked for repairs, and that world Jewry will contribute NIS 1.5 billion for that purpose.
The cabinet was also expected Sunday to approve a joint Olmert-Peres-Hirchson proposal for a directors general committee on the Galilee headed by Prime Minister's Bureau chief Raanan Dinur.
Directors general of four ministries are expected to head relevant subcommittees. Interior Ministry director general Rami Belinkov is expected to chair a committee drafting recommendations for aid to local government. Treasury director general Jospeh Bachar is expected to prepare plans for financial aid to residents and businesses in the North.
Health Ministry director general Avi Israeli will prepare a plan to handle social and socio-psychological issues. The director general of the Education Ministry, Shmuel Abuhav, will head a committee drafting guidelines for assisting teachers and schoolchildren in northern Israel with the beginning of the new schoolyear.
Former Defense Ministry director general Amos Ron will apparently be appointed Sunday to coordinate rehabilitation efforts for the coming year. He will report to Olmert and be paid a director-general's salary.
The proposal would put Peres in charge of raising non-governmental resources, mostly from world Jewry, for the North. An emergency campaign in the U.S. raised $220 million for rehabilitation of the affected region. Peres will also establish a national task force of business leaders for rehabilitating and developing the Galilee.
The Galilee is currently handled by the director general of the Ministry for Development of the Negev and Galilee, Efrat Duvdevani. Duvdevani is scheduled to meet with representatives of the PMO, the treasury budgets division and the directors general of all the ministries right after today's cabinet meeting to hear their plans for 2006 and 2007. This information will be incorporated in the final proposal.
The liaison committee for national institutions and the cabinet will meet this week for the first time in a long time, to draft a plan for assistance to the North. The goal is for all entities and budgets to work together to better leverage projects.
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