Farmer Guy Kahlon, whose agricultural plots are located as close as 17 km. from Gaza, has little hope that he will ever receive state compensation for the millions of shekels he has lost during the current conflict.

Kahlon’s farmland located closest to the Gaza Strip is a 30-hectare plot in Moshav Klahim, in the Merhavim region. He has additional land at two other farms – in Ganei Yohanan near Rehovot and at Kedma in the Yoav region.

Kahlon received direct damage from a rocket that slammed into his Kedma watermelon patch on July 11, and the Tax Authority has already confirmed that he will receive several thousand shekels in compensation. “The moment the missiles fell, all of workers left,” he told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

Like other farmers in the South, Kahlon said he doubts he will ever be compensated for the approximately NIS 2.5 million in indirect damages he estimates suffering thus far. He and his colleagues never received such compensation following November 2012’s Operation Pillar of Defence against Hamas, due to their location more than 7 kilometres from Gaza, he explained.

“The farmers didn’t get the compensation from the last time, Pillar of Defence, as of now,” said Yaron Solomon, head of the Settlement Department and coordinator of the economic, finance, and agriculture committee of the Israel Farmers Union. “The only farmers who got compensation were the farmers in the range of 7 kilometres from the border.”

Due to the lack of fortified shelters in the fields, farmhands are not willing to come to pick fruits and vegetables, causing enormous financial losses to farmers and price hikes in the produce market, Solomon explained.

“What we need is a very, very fast program for compensation to the farmers,” he said. “Time is crucial at the moment.”

For farmers who file loss claims, there is a “green line” category and a “red line” category, Solomon explained. In the green category, farmers sign a document allowing them to receive payment for between 10 and 15 percent of their losses without need for proof. In the red category, which allows farmers to receive greater compensation amounts, they must provide documentation monitoring their losses and presenting their typical income, by means of a lawyer and bank statements, he said.

Solomon also doubts that the farmers will receive proper compensation. “They haven’t paid for years back, so who says they are going to pay now,” he said. “And the problem is, the farmers need the cash flow.”

A Tax Authority spokeswoman said confidentiality laws prevented the authority from addressing the veracity of Kahlon’s specific claims. The spokeswoman did stress, however, that the authority paid about NIS 40m. in compensation for indirect damage to farmers during 2012’s Operation Pillar of Defence.

“However, there is an essential difference between the situation of the farmers found within a range of up to 7 kilometres from the Gaza Strip, who were ordered not to enter their work areas,” the spokeswoman said.

These farmers were asked to submit claims according to the green or red categories, while farmers located between 7 and 40 kilometres away from Gaza were not given an evacuation directive and have filed differently categorized claims, the spokeswoman explained.

“In Operation Protective Edge, we have not yet determined the final format of indirect compensation for damages, and the issue is currently under intensive examination in the Tax Authority,” she said.

Source - http://www.freshplaza.com/