Photo by GPO

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, today, toured Sderot and Kibbutz Gabim.  He visited the structurally-reinforced AMIT Sciences-Torah School in Sderot, a refurbished shelter, a security room and a refurbished kindergarten at Gabim.  He was briefed on structural reinforcement in the area by an IDF Home Front Command representative and met with local council heads and community representatives.

Prime Minister Olmert was accompanied by Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, Sderot Mayor David Buskila, Prime Minister's Office Director-General Ra'anan Dinur, local council heads and community representatives, IDF Home Front Command officers and other senior Government officials.

His interlocutors thanked Prime Minister Olmert for the decision to allocate NIS 600 million to reinforcing the remaining homes within 4.5 kilometers from the Gaza Strip and said that it would provide a sense of security to residents and would enable them to continue their daily lives even when there is firing. 

Prime Minister Olmert said: "I am moved by this meeting with students and local council heads from the area, which has been, and will yet be, on the Government's agenda.  I share your fears and prayers, and your desire for quiet. 

PM at Kibbutz Gabim - Photo by GPO

What has preoccupied the Government is that you will be able to sleep through a quiet night, without hearing the shriek of Kassams or the noise of a hit.  The Government has invested NIS 745 million in reinforcing educational institutions, NIS 927 million in reinforcing residents' homes and NIS 150 million in reinforcing public institutions.  This is all to give you the means to allow you to carry on with your lives more calmly.

One of the most important things that you can be proud of is the achievements of Sderot's students.  Whoever thought that fear and Kassam sirens would divert the students from education's challenges – should know that that is not the case.

Not for one moment do we countenance the existence of daily life in which we need to burrow into shelters in order to defend ourselves against our enemies.  I say with full responsibility that while we know what needs to be done, we also know when to act so that you will not be fearful.  Neither will you need to run breathless to shelters.  We will never flee from our homes.  We will attack and halt, once and for all, what threatens your daily lives."

On 7.12.08, the Government approved the allocation of NIS 600 million to continue structural reinforcement in the area.  This is in addition to NIS 327 that had been allocated previously.  In the past five years, the Government has invested NIS 2.58 billion in structural reinforcement, security components and civil assistance for residents of Sderot and other communities in the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip.  NIS 745 million has been invested in the reinforcement of educational institutions, NIS 927 in the reinforcement of residential units, NIS 150 million in the reinforcement of public institutions, NIS 85 million in structural reinforcement in Ashkelon, NIS 650 million in civil assistance for residents of Sderot and the area adjacent to the Gaza Strip and NIS 325 million in assistance to residents of Ashkelon.