Sharon orders terror aid for Arabs targeted by Jews

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has told Israel's Justice Ministry to amend a law denying Arab citizens bereaved or wounded by Jewish militant attacks the same government aid accorded to victims of Palestinian violence.

Survivors of a shooting spree by a far-right Jew which killed four people in an Israeli Arab town last month were outraged to discover they were ineligible for full state compensation as they were not recognised as "terror victims".

The policy aggravated anger long simmering in the Jewish state's Arab minority over perceived discrimination and over Israeli military crackdowns against a 4 1/2-year-old uprising by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Sharon, who denounced the shootings in Shfaram as "a sinful act by a bloodthirsty terrorist" aimed at scuppering his removal of Jewish settlers from Gaza, ordered the justice minister and attorney-general to stop the unequal distribution of benefits.

"There is a problem with the law on compensating victims of terrorism," Sharon told his cabinet, adding that government jurists must "formulate an amendment to the law and sort out this problem as soon as possible".

Under the current law, Israelis who have lost next of kin or suffered injuries in scores of Palestinian gun ambushes or suicide bombings receive monthly stipends of up to 9,700 shekels. The payouts can continue for life.

The Defence Ministry said last week that survivors of the Shfaram attack would receive only one-time compensation, as the Jewish gunman did not belong to an organisation hostile to Israel. The ministry did not say how much money was on offer.

Israeli Arabs, who constitute one-fifth of the country's population, decried the law as discriminatory and warned that it could encourage more attacks by Jewish ultranationalists sworn to stopping any further withdrawals from occupied land.

"It's a matter of principle. It should be a clear message to all the extremists, and perhaps serve as some kind of deterrence," Nazia Hayek, whose brother Nader was killed in the Shfaram attack, told Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

Unlike Jewish compatriots, Israeli Arabs rarely serve in the military and are thus unlikely to receive gun permits. They complain of a paucity of state resources, including police patrols. The Shfaram gunman was beaten to death by a mob after he stopped shooting, apparently having run out of bullets.

- REUTERS