by Moshe Reinfeld, Ha'aretz Correspondent © Ha'aretz Thursday, November 27, 1997 This material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |
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Following a petition to Israeli High Court of Justice, the State of Israel will allocate NIS 400,000 funding DNA tests that were begun a year ago in an effort to locate missing Yemenite children. |
The Health Ministry will fund the DNA tests that were begun a year ago in an effort to locate missing Yemenite children. During a hearing on Wednesday in the High Court of Justice, the State Prosecutor's Office announced that the necessary budget had been found to continue the testing and that the Treasury had agreed to allocate NIS 400,000 for this purpose. The court heard a petition, submitted by the mayor of Rosh Ha'ayin, Yigal Yossef, and families of the missing children, to require Health Minister Yehoshua Matza to abide by the promise of his predecessor, Tzachi Hanegbi, to fund the tests. At the time of Hanegbi's decision, bone samples were taken from 10 graves and blood samples were taken from 10 family members in order to compare them. Because of technical problems, however, it was discovered that the Forensics Institute could not conduct the genetic tests. The institute's director, Prof. Yehuda Hiss, suggested sending them to a laboratory in Britain where the cost for each test was $10,000. In the absence of funds to cover the costs of testing, the director-general of the Health Ministry decided about eight months ago to halt the entire process. The parents' attorney, Rami Tzubari, objected to the ministry's decision and accused them of ignoring the fact that the bodies had already been exhumed and the blood samples taken. Following the announcement that funding had been found, the judges decided to delay further discussion of the appeal until January 1998. If the testing has begun by that time, the appeal will be dropped (c) copyright 1998 Ha'aretz. All Rights Reserved |
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