Loyalty to the Resistance pokes holes in Siniora`s compensation figures

Source: Daily Star, 20-4-2007
BEIRUT: Parliament`s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc lashed out on Thursday at Prime Minister Fouad Siniora`s government for allegedly "falsifying facts in order to collect compensation" for damages sustained during the summer 2006 war with "Israel". In a detailed statement on issued related to postwar compensation, the opposition bloc said that "Mr. Siniora and his team, who have defied the Constitution and ruined coexistence, are now occupying the Grand Serail as a de facto authority imposed [on Lebanon] by the US administration."
"This occupation is paralyzing the whole country on the political and economic levels ... filling the Lebanese people with concern about their fate and future," the statement said.
The prime minister had claimed earlier this week that Hizbullah had failed to continue paying compensation for Lebanese who had suffered losses during the war..
The bloc responded in the statement by saying that "we reassure the Serail ruler that Hizbullah`s relationship with the Lebanese people has never been of a material kind for the people to be outraged."
"What Hizbullah has offered and is offering is part of its duty to a people who offered sacrifices to defend its country," the statement said.
"The compensations are dedicated to all war-torn people regardless of their political or sectarian affiliations," the bloc added. "This is what has irritated the US administration and its Lebanese allies."
The bloc added that "Hizbullah`s initiative has foiled the latter`s wish to punish the resistant people for its steadfastness."
Criticizing Siniora`s statement in which he outlined compensations being paid in the aftermath of the devastating conflict, the bloc said that the government "is good at manipulating numbers."
"Siniora says he has paid a total of LL255 billion in the South so far, while the truth is that the amount being paid has reached LL209 billion out of a total of LL1 trillion," the statement said. "Around 21 percent of aid has been dedicated to the South."
As for the Dahiyeh, the statement said that the government had paid compensation for the rehabilitation of 1,376 damaged apartments, "without mentioning the total number of apartments, which is 30,000."
"Siniora`s statement says that the government has compensated 390 people for their destroyed apartments ... while the total number of those apartments is 50,000," the bloc said.
According to the bloc`s statement, government payments had not exceeded 15 percent of the total number of damaged and ruined apartments.
"The government has not paid any compensation for owners of economic institutions, cars and agricultural lands," the statement added.
Tackling the highly charged issue of the wounded, the bloc`s statement said that just 500 people were being compensated out of more than 3,000, "while the ruling coalition refuses to cover expenses of those who still need treatment."
"The government has only paid compensations for families of 450 martyrs out of nearly 1,000," the bloc`s statement said.