Jerusalem----January 31......The Special team responsible for assessing the economic damages caused by the Palestinian terrorist war against Israel and its citizens since September 2000 headed by Minister Dani Naveh convened today (Wednesday), 30.1.2002 for its first deliberations on the topic.

Minister Naveh said that initial reports paint a very serious picture regarding the scope of the damages. Billions of Shekels in direct and indirect damages have been caused to the Israeli economy since September 2000. The National Insurance Institute reports payments in the year 2001 of 202 million Shekels to terror victims, and further reported on 2565 casualties since the beginning of the current wave of Arab violence including 202 deaths and 1000 disabilities.

Other government offices reported damages on a large scale, but in many cases the size of the damages is still unknown. Minister Naveh requested that the different government offices collect the economic data within a week, and transfer the data to a sub-team composed of representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Treasury and the Bank of Israel.

The team will publish its findings within several weeks.