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January 22nd,
2010 - Israel Pays U.N. $10.5 Million over Gaza Damage |
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Israel Pays
U.N. $10.5 Million over Gaza Damage By Patrick Worsnip Reuters January 22, 2010 United Nations - Israel has
paid the United Nations $10.5 million for property damage and injuries the
world body suffered during Israel's attack on Gaza a year ago, a U.N.
spokesman and Israeli diplomats said on Friday. "With this payment, the
United Nations has agreed that the financial issues relating to those
incidents ... are concluded," spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters. A senior Israeli diplomat at
the United Nations, who asked not to be named, said, "We have decided to
make an ex gratia (without liability) payment to the United Nations and we
have indeed done it." "It has to do
specifically with damages done to the United Nations," whose Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA) cares for Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in
the Middle East, the diplomat said. He and Nesirky both quoted the figure of
$10.5 million. U.N. officials said the
world body had made claims for damage done during previous Israeli military
operations, but they believed this was the first time Israel had paid. A U.N. inquiry last year put
the cost of damage to seven U.N. buildings in Gaza during the December
2008-January 2009 conflict at $11.2 million, almost all of it caused by
Israeli forces. Loss adjusters hired by the U.N. subsequently reduced that by
$750,000, Nesirky said. No Responsibility The main damage to U.N.
property in Gaza came on January 15, 2009, when Israeli shells, some
containing the incendiary substance white phosphorus, hit an UNRWA compound,
badly damaging a warehouse and training center. Several U.N.-run schools were
hit in other strikes. Israel said it attacked Gaza
to end rocket launches by Palestinian Hamas militants into Israel, and that
damage to U.N. premises was caused unintentionally when its troops responded
to Palestinian fire. The Jewish state, however,
agreed to consider a U.N. reimbursement request sent in July. Nesirky said
that claim related both to the property damage and to minor injuries suffered
by 11 U.N. employees. Israel insisted throughout
that it bore no legal responsibility, although the United Nations disagreed. In the end, "the United
Nations and Israel agreed to put the question of legal responsibility to one
side for the purposes of settling the organization's claim," Nesirky
said. The Israeli diplomat said
his country was not terming the payment compensation and portrayed the
negotiations as having being conducted with U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon personally. "We understand that
there have been damages and that the Secretary-General cares about it, and
this is important for him, and it's also important for us what the U.N. is
doing in Gaza," he said. Israel's onslaught on Gaza
killed more than 1,400 Palestinians, including civilians and Hamas fighters.
A total of 13 Israelis were killed. Editing by Vicki Allen. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012202605.html |