Tel Aviv - German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said
Thursday on a visit to Israel that his country would not renegotiate
a Holocaust reparations deal signed with Israel.
Steinbrueck, speaking after meeting with representatives of
Holocaust survivors' organizations, said the deal signed in 1952 is
'final' and Germany has no plans to expand it in the future.
However, he said Germany would try to help needy survivors via the
Claims Committee, the international organization that coordinates
compensation payments to survivors.
The Holocaust survivors were seeking an expansion of the deal,
arguing that the original agreement did not take into consideration
modern life expectancy rates or the tens of thousands of survivors
who immigrated to Israel after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Earlier this month, an Israeli paper published comments by a
minister saying Israel would want to reopen the deal, but the
minister later said he was misquoted and only wished to examine with
Germany ways to support survivors given the 'holes' in the original
agreement.
The Luxembourg agreement between the two countries stipulated that
Germany would give Israel 833 million dollars in reparations, and
Israel would look after the survivors, who would not be permitted to
sue Germany directly.
This autumn, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that for
the first time in its history, the Israeli government would need to
pay monthly allowances from its own budget to Holocaust survivors and
refugees, many of whom are said to live below the poverty line.
The Israeli government undertook to finance the 500-million-dollar
plan, but wanted Germany to contribute as well.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story