Naharnet Newsdesk - Saniora Announces $33,000 Compensation Package

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Saniora Announces $33,000 Compensation Package

Prime Minister Fouad Saniora said Wednesday his government planned to pay 33,000 dollars in compensation to families whose homes were destroyed in southern Lebanon during the war between Israel and Hizbullah.
Saniora, who spoke before heading to Sweden to attend an emergency conference on humanitarian and reconstruction needs, said 130,000 homes had been destroyed or damaged in Lebanon during the war, including 50,000 in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

He said the compensation package of 33,000 dollars, plus 7,000 dollars for furniture, did not concern the latter, but did not provide details on the number of homes destroyed in the south of the country.

Saniora said he planned to ask countries attending the meeting in Stockholm to sponsor rebuilding in around 38 southern Lebanese villages that suffered heavy damage during the 34-day conflict.

It was sparked by the July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers during a cross-border raid by Hizbullah.

The Lebanese premier also said he would appeal for mobile homes to temporarily house thousands displaced by the war.

Saniora rejected criticism of his government in the aftermath of the war saying that while it may have been slow to respond at the beginning it was now "present and active" in tackling the huge challenges it faced.

"The government is bearing up to its responsibilities ... and will do its utmost to improve services," he said.

The Lebanese government has come under intense criticism for reacting too slowly to the population's needs once the war ended, while Hizbullah moved quickly to compensate victims.

Saniora appealed for national unity, saying that Lebanon's various factions needed to stick together to help the country recover.

"Today more than ever, we need national unity to help the government stand on its feet," he said.

Saniora said Thursday's conference in Stockholm was only an initial step in efforts to help Lebanon and should be followed by a donor's conference.

Much of southern Lebanon lies in ruins following the war and the government has estimated the overall cost of damage at 3.6 billion dollars.

Saniora also said that he refused to have any direct contact with Israel and Lebanon would be the last Arab country to ever sign a peace deal with the Jewish state.

"Let it be clear, we are not seeking any agreement until there is just and comprehensive peace based on the Arab initiative," he said.

He was referring to a plan that came out of a 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut. It calls for Israel to return all territories it conquered in the 1967 Mideast war, the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital and a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem -- all in exchange for peace and full normalization of Arab relations with Israel.

Israel has long sought a peace deal with Lebanon, but Beirut has hesitated as long as Israel's conflicts with the Palestinians and Syria remained unresolved.

Saniora said Lebanon wants to go back to the 1949 armistice agreement that formally ended the Arab-Israeli war over Israel's creation.

The European Commission said Wednesday it will pledge $54 million at the conference on top of the $64 million that the European Union's head office has already earmarked for emergency relief to Lebanon.(AFP-AP)

Beirut, 30 Aug 06, 15:58


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