Jewish revelers attack and injure Beit Jan resident

This evening a group of ultra-orthodox Jews attacked and injured Beit Jan resident Najib Qays. Area residents and Qays' young daughter reported that the man was attacked while working in his orchard in the Zabud area north of Beit Jan

One law for all terror victims

An interministerial committee headed by a Defense Ministry official recently decided that people wounded in the terror attack in Shfaram and the families of the slain would not be recognized as terror victims under the Victims of Enemy Action Law.

“They're killing us all over again”

“The police, under the protection of the Israeli system, are killing us all over again,” said Hassan Asala, the father of 17-year-old Asil Asala, who was shot and killed by police during the October 2000 riots.

Racism and treason

A leader of the Arab sector announced that he intended to demand the trial of several attorneys with the Interior Ministry's Police Internal Affairs Bureau.

Close the PID

Yes, close it down. Even after the decision to reopen the cases that were closed regarding the October 2000 disturbances, there is no choice but to dismantle the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Department (PID) and rebuild it from the foundations.

They’re not terrorist victims in the eyes of the law

Between the hugs and pats he has been sending Ariel Sharon since the pullout from the Gaza Strip, behind the scenes, President Bush is twisting the prime minister’s arm

One kills Arabs, another an officer: These are IDF recruits

A bit more than half an hour’s drive separates the Durban family’s house on the Carmel from the town of Shfaram, the scene of last Thursday’s terror attack.

Privatization of bus lines in Ramle forces Arab community to walk

Discrimination in transportation: High school students who live in the Gan Hakal neighborhood, in northeast Ramle, walk to school every day. “They’re young,” you might say. “Walking four or five kilometers each way, in heavy rain or sweltering heat, won’t hurt them.” But it is hard to say the same about their parents and grandparents.

A nation for all its snipers

Rami Gharra went out to demonstrate in the village of Jatt in early October 2000. He was sure that he would vent his anger and return safely to his small home in the village, but he did not.

Israeli Arabs: open-ended hunger strike

The Arab Higher Follow-Up Committee held a meeting yesterday in Nazareth in which they discussed several proposals for expressing their objection to the announcement that the Police Internal Affairs Bureau does not intend to charge any policeman involved in the death of 13 Arabs from the Galilee during the riots of October 2000.

Accusing us of racism is irresponsible

In light of the decision not to charge the policemen involved in the death of 13 Arabs during the October 2000 events, Attorney General Mani Mazuz today described allegations against the Ministry of Justice and the Police Internal Affairs Bureau as “a series of irresponsible, unfounded attacks against the measures taken and the findings of the Or Commission.”

A police of Jews

How can an Arab citizen who is not a politician or a bereaved father understand his relationship with the State of Israel? In one week, he hears on the news that the Police Investigations Department (PID) has decided to close the investigation into the October 2000 events; just days later, as the annual commemoration of these “events” approaches, he is told that the police are good after all, and are prepared to reopen the investigation files.

With a little good faith

This week we again heard news of clashes between the Bedouin and police as part of the so-called fight against illegal construction in the Negev.

Police practice terrorism in the Negev

Three days after the violence in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Bir al-Mashash in the Negev, Arab and Bedouin leaders in the Negev organized an emergency meeting today to discuss police conduct towards Bedouin citizens.

Complaint filed with the Police Internal Affairs Bureau following the attack on a photographer with Hot News

This morning, Hot News* filed a complaint with the Police Internal Affairs Bureau against several patrol police who allegedly assaulted one of the network’s cameramen.

Within five minutes, they connected the water and electricity

Between one night and the next, in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Tel Arad, forty homes were built for families from the Dahniya area who were suspected of collaborating with Israel in the Gaza Strip

“Development in Israel is unjust”

“Development in Israel is unequal both theoretically and practically. We need to stop institutional discrimination against the Arab public in Israel and start a policy of affirmative action,” said Minister of Interior Ophir Pines-Paz this evening

The Galilee Society asks that Mekorot be prevented from cutting off water to Arab villages

The Galilee Society for Health Research and Services asked Attorney General Mani Mazuz to prevent Mekorot, the Israeli water company, from cutting off the water to Arab villages.

Negev clashes injure 12 people

Some 12 protestors from the Bedouin village of Bir al-Mashash were lightly injured today during clashes with policemen who came to the village to deliver house demolition orders for illegally built houses.

They boycotted the meeting because of Arab MKs

Ministry of Transportation officials, including director-general Alex Langer, refused to go to the Negev city of Rahat for a conference on public transportation.

Who hit whom?

Hot News* photographer Ahmed Abu Sweis came to Beersheba’s Soroka Hospital this afternoon with injuries all over his body; he accused members of the police force of using physical force against him while he was trying to do his job.

Disengagement threatens the Bedouin

In an interview with Maariv online, [Hussein] al-Rafaya, a representative of the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, warned of the repercussions of the disengagement plan for Bedouin

The Bedouin: Evacuation opponents punctured our car tires

Hussein al-Rafaya, head of the Council of Unrecognized Villages, accused opponents of disengagement this evening, saying, “Disengagement opponents punctured our car tires. For years, we have had excellent relations with Jews

Arab leaders call for increased education budget

The Arab community did not greet the beginning of the school year with enthusiasm. At a press conference held this morning in Nazareth by the Arab Follow-Up Committee for Education, statistics were presented showing a shortage of classrooms and kindergartens, and a lack of supervision and direction in the curriculum.

A shortage of 5,000 classrooms in Arab schools

Data presented by the Arab Follow-Up Committee for Education on Thursday (September 1) in Nazareth shows a cumulative shortage of 5,000 classrooms in Arab schools.

How can an Arab child raise the flag?

School started last week. While in schools in Tel Aviv and Hasharon, talk centered on air-conditioners and enrichment activities, in the Arab community, they were still looking for rooms to rent in private homes to use as classrooms. In many towns, there are entire schools that are nothing more than old, dilapidated trailers

Strike in Bedouin schools: “Unsound management and difficult conditions”

Has the Bedouin sector been abandoned once again? Although classes have started in most schools in Israel, the parents’ council of the Zahra Primary School in Rahat announced this morning that operations at the school would stop, and about 1,000 students will stay at home. In addition, there are still some 300 secondary students in Arara without a place to go to school.

Warning: The Police Internal Affairs Bureau lies

The decision of the Police Internal Affairs Bureau, led by attorney Herzl Shviro, not to charge any policeman or officer for the death of 13 Arab citizens in the demonstrations of October 2000 is racist, corrupt, and provocative

Despite promises to the High Court, the IDF prevents Arabs from going to Gaza for the holida

The Erez checkpoint: Yesterday many Israeli Arabs were prevented from visiting their families in the Gaza Strip for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Gen. Ron Tal: The murderer should be buried outside the wall

Gen. Yiftah Ron Tal, commander of the Israeli infantry, told Ynet last night how shocked he was by the terrorist attack perpetrated by an Israeli soldier against Arabs for nationalist reasons

MK Azmi Bishara: The Israelis knew about the terrorist attack in advance

Arab MKs are issuing increasingly harsh statements: MK Mohammad Barakeh (Hadash-Taal) warned that if the police investigate Shefaram citizens for killing the murderer Eden Natan Zada, it will be met with protest from the Arab public.

Friends of the Jewish terrorist released

The Kfar Saba Magistrate’s Court released three right-wing activists yesterday who are suspected of knowing that terrorist Eden Natan Zada was planning a terrorist attack on Arab citizens.

The government has not appointed 105 Arab directors

About five years ago, the Knesset voted to amend the public companies law to require appropriate representation for Arab citizens among directors of government-owned companies

A nation for all its killers

It is now almost obligatory to write that the sisters Dina and Hazar Turki, residents of Shefaram, were never separated, neither in life, nor in death

Beilin: “Israel must ask the forgiveness of the Arab public”

In the greeting card he sent the Arab MKs on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the head of Meretz-Yachad, Yossi Beilin, wrote that the state of Israel needs to examine itself and ask for the forgiveness of the Arab public for what he described as “racial discrimination in all arenas.”

A draft law to annex territory to Israel

Yesterday, MK Eliezer Cohen (Nationalist Union) submitted a draft proposal to the Knesset for the annexation of the settlements of Ariel, Maale Adomim, Givat Zeev, and Gush Etzion to Israel.

“Our son died because he was an Arab”

In the early morning hours of the day five years ago on which Nabal died, his kindergarten teacher noticed he was short of breath. But even though his condition deteriorated, she did not call an ambulance.

Why must 70-year-old Fatima Abdullah go to a job placement company’s employment center?

Early this week, Fatima Abdullah, 70 years old, received a letter from Agam Mihalev, a company implementing the Wisconsin Program

Unemployment among Israeli Arabs more than 10%

Unemployment among the Arab population of Israel rose to more than 10% in the first half of 2005, according to a report released today by the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s planning and research department

Eight hours, 800 students, and one bathroom

Parents in Acre are angry and intend to organize a strike at two primary schools. The reason: 800 grade-school students, boys and girls, must share only one working bathroom

Livnat welcomes first-grade students—if they’re Jewish

Education Minister Limor Livnat sent a surprise to students of the first grade: a personal letter to all the students. But the webmasters of the Ministry of Education’s website removed the names of Arab students.

Petition: Haifa University discriminates against Arab students in university housing

Haifa University has decided that a primary condition for taking up residence in its dorm facilities is the performance of military or civil service; as a result, Arab students who need to live in student housing due to their financial situation or because they live far from the university will be deprived of it. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, filed a petition the day before yesterday with the Haifa District Court on behalf of three students

We disengaged from them a long time ago

During the funeral processions in Shefaram on Friday, August 5, an Arab participating in the funeral said to me, “It’s very important for us to see you Jews coming here today. We shouldn’t consider grief over this catastrophe as just an internal Arab affair.”

“The state decided to disengage from my son”

Muayyad Ghanayem, a resident of West Baqa, tries to explain his frustration to Ynet in these painful words, “With all respect to the disengagement plan, in addition to disengaging from Gaza, the state also decided to disengage from my son, and I can’t allow that.

When the law is the enemy

On Thursday (September 1) about 70 ultra-orthodox Jews attacked a Druze farmer working his land near Beit Jann. The farmer called for help from the village—not the police—and villagers took revenge on the assailants, injuring four of them. The police intervened and dispersed the ultra-orthodox.

Ohalo College stops Arab candidate from standing in student union elections

Thousands of Arab students at Ohalo College for Physical Education in Tiberias have been seething with anger since this morning, after an Arab student was denied the right to run for president of the student union

Petition to appoint Arab social workers in family courts

Yesterday, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed a petition with the High Court of Justice on behalf of the Committee for Equality in Personal Affairs

The parents of the man charged with the attempted murder of Arabs: The state is responsible

The Haifa District Court decided today there is nothing to prevent Eliran Golan from standing trial. Golan is charged with attempting to murder Arabs and Jews in Haifa

Ultra-orthodox youth injure policeman and Arab driver in Jerusalem

Yesterday, a group of ultra-orthodox youths threw rocks at an Arab’s car at the Bar-Ilan junction. Israeli radio reported that the police force that tried to protect the Arab driver was also assaulted with rocks. One policeman sustained light injuries to the head

Jewish-only construction project in Ramle

The municipality of Ramle and the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) have recently begun selling large plots of land for construction, trade, and manufacturing, ignoring the needs of the city’s Arab residents.

Special report on violations of human rights of Arabs in the Negev to be presented to the UN

Next week a special report on continued Israeli violations of the human rights of Arabs in the Negev committed will be presented to the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations.

Punishment depends on nationality

Shortly after the murders in Shfaram, it was reported that those wounded and the families of the murder victims would receive recognition as victims of terrorism, dealt with and compensated accordingly

Center to Combat Racism calls for struggle against Bezeq Communications’ discrimination against Arab villages

In the coming days, the Center to Combat Racism in the Arab sector will ask the Prime Minister’s office to announce whether some businesses’ classification of Arab villages as special security zones is based on directives from the Shin Bet or whether it is the initiative of the companies themselves

Misgav conference addresses just distribution of lands in the area

Dozens of Jews, Arabs, and public figures will participate in a Jewish-Arab conference in the Misgav Regional Council on Thursday, addressing the issue of the fair distribution of lands in the Galilee

They evacuate settlers and shoot Arabs

It seems that threats to paralyze the country again this week with protests against the disengagement plan will receive a disciplined response from law-enforcement agencies

The next Yigal Amir already exists

MK Ahmad Tibi (Hadash-Taal) described the terrorist attack in which a deserter from the Israeli army killed four people in Shefaram as “a massacre of Arabs because they’re Arabs.”

The reporter warned and the army dragged its feet

Yesterday the parents of the murdering soldier, Eden Natan Zada, said they tried several times to contact the Israeli army and ask it to disarm their son

Barakeh: If there is an investigation, we will strike

MK Mohammad Barakeh says, “If the police start questioning residents of Shefaram, the entire Arab leadership will be in the room with them.” Barakeh says that those who got on the bus took it over to stop the killer.

Border Guard policeman denies causing the death of a demonstrator

The October 2000 events: Rashed Murshid, 27, is a former member of the Border Guard police who, in his testimony before the Or Commission, admitted to firing rubber bullets at demonstrators at the Jit Junction in the triangle during the events of October 2000

We forgive the dead

Five empty bullet casings were found around the body of the deceased. Attached is the testimony of Sgt. Y., the officer in charge of the area.

“I cried and screamed, but the guard continued”

“Even when I cried and screamed from the pain and the humiliation, the guard continued to hold me with my hands cuffed,” said Hama Abu Kishk this evening. Abu Kishk, a 23-year-old resident of Western Baqa, says she was beaten and humiliated this week by a guard and a policeman at the Beersheba bus station

UN comes to help Israeli Arabs

Hina Gilani, the UN Secretary-General’s human rights envoy, arrived in Israel yesterday charged by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to prepare a report about the persecution of human rights activists in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The report will be presented to the UN Secretary-General and later to the UN General Assembly

Interior Minister admits to official discrimination against Arab citizens in planning and construction

Minister of Interior Ophir Pines admitted yesterday that there is official discrimination against Arab citizens in planning and construction across the country.

Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor: 64% of Bedouins in the Negev do not work

Figures from the planning, research, and economic department in the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor show that only 36% of Bedouins in the Negev work, compared to 61% of the Jewish population

We refuse to be victims

Dozens of Shin Bet men or hundreds of policemen are not assigned to protect Arab citizens as they are the Prime Minister or the Aqsa Mosque

50% of Arab families are poor

The Mossawa Center for Arab Rights in Israel says that 50% of Arab families now live below the poverty line, compared to 48.4% in 2003.

Investigation of a school in Haifa on charges of racism

Assistant State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan decided to launch a police investigation into the Yavneh School in Haifa’s Ramat Alon on charges of racism and sympathizing with a terrorist organization

The state refuses to hook up electricity to the home of a child with cancer

A few months ago, three-year-old Inas Youssef al-Atrash, a resident of the unrecognized Negev village of al-Atrash, was diagnosed with cancer

How will you look in the mirror?

When the Galilee is inflamed again and you send brigades of police, how will you say you did your best to prevent a slaughter when it is clear that you did nothing?

Bigotry under state auspices

The occupation is based on three foundations: racism; armed, messianic extremism; and the loyalty of Druze soldiers. All three were apparent during the attack in Shefaram.

The objectionable statements of the head of the Police Internal Affairs Bureau

A photo of the injured accompanied by the following caption: This is the product of a meeting with the Immigration Police; all complaints were closed.

Adalah in complaint to State Comptroller: AG Mazuz’s appearance at press conference constitutes breach of his duty to act impartially and with objectivity

Following the appearance of Israeli Attorney General (AG) Menachem Mazuz at a press conference held on 21 September 2005 regarding the Ministry of Justice’s Police Investigation Unit’s (Mahash) report on the events of October 2000, Adalah considers the words of AG Mazuz in sweeping support of Mahash’s report extremely dangerous

70% of employees in Arab municipal authorities did not get paid for August

About 70% of workers in local Arab authorities did not receive their salaries for August. Israeli Army Radio reported that 3,600 of 5,000 employees in Arab authorities were not paid for August. Salah Saad, director of the local authorities’ employee department in the civil servant trade union, said that the workers must be paid

“This is disregard for human life”

Gal-On said that she had submitted a bill that would require the government to take measures against those held personally responsible by the investigative committee.

Unrecognized villages are also suffering from disengagement

On Thursday afternoon (July 7), hundreds of people participated in a protest organized by the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev on the Dimona-Beersheba road

The Knesset is against appropriate representation of Arab citizens on the Arts and Culture Council

Yesterday (Wednesday) the Knesset rejected a bill proposed by MK Jamal Zahalka that would require appropriate representation of Arab citizens on the Arts and Culture Council.

Disengaging from Israeli citizens

Posters recently hung in the streets by Avigdor Lieberman call for “disengaging from Umm al-Fahm,” and voices have recently been heard calling for a land exchange with the potential Palestinian state, in which Israel would give up areas inhabited by Israeli Arabs

Findings of police investigation legitimizes racist killing in Israel

Maslah Abu Jarrar, 19; Walid Abu Salah, 21; Mohammad Ahmad Jabbarin, 18; Rami Jarrah, 21; Iyad Lubani, 26; Alaa Nasr, 18; Asil Assaleh, 17; Emad Ghanayim, 25; Ramez Bushnaq, 24; Mohammad Khamaysa, 19; Wissam Yazbak, 25; Amr Akawi, 42—these are the names of the 13 Palestinians killed by the police between October 1 and 8, 2000

Lod: Kindergartens for Jews only?

Is the city of Lod prohibiting Arab children from attending Jewish kindergartens? Anwar Abu Hassouna, a resident of Lod’s Ganei Aviv district, received written confirmation that his three-year-old son was legally enrolled in the Hamaniya kindergarten in Sakani district, a few minutes walk away from their home

Heads of local councils: Opposition to appointment of Bedouin as head of planning council is racism

“The appointment of a Bedouin apparently disturbs members in Misgav,” said Yasser Tabash, head of the Ka’abiya-Tabash-Hajarah Local Council and chair of the Northern Bedouin Council Heads Forum.

Hospital in Karyut, but not in Sakhnin

In a preliminary reading of a draft law submitted by Labor MK Ephraim Sneh, the Knesset approved the construction of a hospital in the Karyut district of Haifa (Kiryat Haim and Kiryat Shmuel).

Bedouin population explosion

During his visit to Negev, the head of the National Security Council, Giora Eiland, expressed his deep concern over the birth rate among the Bedouins of the Negev

Elementary school is four kilometers away and there is no road leading to it

Some four kilometers from the unrecognized village of al-Furaa is an elementary school, linked only by a dirt road that is dangerous and cannot be accessed on rainy days

“My son is suffering because he was born into an Arab family”

Only two days remain before the start of the school year and T., an eight-year-old resident of Lod, still does not know where he will go to school this year because the city has rejected a request from his parents—Arab residents of the city—to enroll him in a Jewish school near their home

Adalah to Israeli government: Proposed exchange of land between the state and JNF will violate basic rights

On 18 June 2005, Adalah sent a letter to Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the Attorney General (AG) Menachem Mazuz, calling on them to reject the Gadish Committee's recommendations to exchange state-held land in the Galilee and the Naqab (Negev), in the north and south of Israel respectively

Oranim College refuses to accept Arab students who pass the psychometric exam in Arabic

Some Arab students have asked the Mossawa Center to inquire about the acceptance conditions at Oranim College.* For all departments except for Arabic and English

Adalah submits motion for injunction to Supreme Court to freeze governmental decision awarding grants for the purchase of apartments in the Galilee and the Naqab as unjust

On 20 June 2005, Adalah submitted a motion for an injunction to the Supreme Court of Israel, requesting that the Court freeze a governmental decision issued on 2 June 2005

Bedouin are thirsty for water and recognition

Bedouin citizens of Israel who live in unrecognized villages, including infants and children, suffer from a serious shortage of water, while their Jewish neighbors, some of whom live in small towns, have an abundance of both potable water and agricultural water.

Opinion poll: Arab educational system needs 2,700 classrooms

A report prepared by the Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education reveals that as school starts in ten days, the Arab educational system needs at least 2,733 classrooms.

Arab educational reform in Haifa postponed despite promises to parents

This week witnessed an escalation of the struggle between the parents' councils in Arab schools in Haifa and the Education Ministry after letters sent out by the director-general of the Education Ministry, Ronit Tirosh, explained that the ministry has frozen the implementation of reforms in Arab education in Haifa

“Smiling, the soldier punched me in the stomach, then stepped back”

“While I was talking to one of the soldiers, he smiled, punched me in the lower part of my stomach then stepped back,” MK Ahmad Tibi told Nana. Tibi participated in a demonstration against the separation wall in the village of Belain, near Ramallah.

Land policy indicative of the status of Arabs in Israel

It is difficult to understand why the Zubeidat family's house in Sakhnin is not actually in Sakhnin. The family lives in Sakhnin, but their house falls behind the separation wall

Arab journalist detained in Ben-Gurion Airport : I was harassed

Ali al-Saleh, a well-known analyst of Palestinian and Israeli affairs for the London-based Asharq al-Awsat , just finished a successful trip in Israel covering the disengagement plan, but he was angered by the annoying treatment he received at the Ben-Gurion Airport .

“Interior Ministry discriminates between Jews and Arabs”

This morning, MK Roman Bronfman said, “The Interior Ministry discriminates between Arabs and Jews.” As such, he demanded that the forms used for obtaining an ID card be changed. He added that in the section concerned with personal information

Public Prosecutor admits discrimination against Arab Bedouin schools before the High Court of Justice and promises to hire the required number of educational psychologists

On June 6, 2005 , the State Prosecutor responded to a petition submitted to the High Court of Justice by Adalah against the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

The test of reality

Statistics on recipients of a high school diploma released last week by the Ministry of Education sparked an uproar in Jaffa after they showed a sharp decline in the number of Arab recipients in the city.

Policemen brutally assault two young men from Hawara

Yesterday police attacked two young men in Hawara, in the Negev . Afterwards, they claimed it was a case of mistaken identity. The policemen violently beat the two men after stopping their car at a traffic light.

The Galilee League cautions about plans to establish a site to burn hazardous materials in Shefaram

The Galilee League opposes the establishment of a site for burning hazardous waste in Shefaram. The league's attorney, Shadi Azzam, sent a letter to Interior Minister Ophir Pines-Paz and Environment Minister Shalom Simhon asking them to intervene to prevent the establishment of the site in Shefaram and another dumping ground for waste near the village of Iblin .

The Arab sector still awaits the creation of an Arab university in Nazareth

Mossawa-The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel , called on the Council for Higher Education, the Education Ministry and the government Monday to hasten the establishment of an Arab university in Nazareth .

Opposition to establishing a military base near Nazareth

The army is planning to build a military base near residential areas in Nazareth on land belonging to the village of Safuriya , located to the west of the Tzipori industrial area, whose residents were expelled

Heads of Druze local councils: The government is neglecting us and violating agreements

Yesterday, the forum for leaders of Druze and Circassian local councils, which consists of 12 local councils, accused the Israeli government of neglecting the towns they represent and violating agreements it signed with the local councils to provide regular and development budgets.

Natan Zada considered me a model to follow

“ Eden respected me and considered me a model to follow, just like other young men around Tapuah, but I couldn't believe that he did what he did.” This what a 48-year-old settler from Samaria told Maariv yesterday evening.

Are the police hiding information about the armed religious soldier who was wandering around Nazareth yesterday?

Arabs around Nazareth , especially near Qana, fear an impending Jewish terrorist attack after an armed religious soldier was spotted wandering around the city yesterday. The soldier was arrested and questioned and later released.

Arab citizens in the Negev reject the “proposed land settlements” offered by Abu Basma Mayor Amiram Kelagi

Arab residents in the Negev were strongly opposed to statements made by the head of the Abu Basma local council regarding “land settlements,” during a conference attended by government officials.

Arab citizens in the Negev prepare to fight against the squatters' expulsion law

Recently, Arab citizens in the Negev, in conjunction with NGOs working on issues of land, planning, construction, and coexistence, have been preparing for a struggle to amend the Public Lands Law, also referred to as the squatters' expulsion law.

Request by Druze man to work as gardener at a military factory rejected

“This is a military factory, and it only needs Jewish workers.” That is what was written in an official letter of rejection sent by the personnel director of a gardening company to a Druze citizen looking for work as a gardener in Karmiel.

“We will return to Shefaram and finish what we started”

The families of Dina and Hazer Turki, who were killed in the terrorist attack in Shefaram, complain of receiving anonymous phone threats

They killed some Arabs—so what?

A Channel 2 official should submit his resignation by the end of this week, just like the head of the Shin Bet did. There is a direct line between the embarrassing intelligence and executive failure that led to the criminal terrorist attack in Shefaram and between our commercial channel's coverage of that incident, which words like disgraceful, offensive, and racist cannot even begin to describe

I was not surprised

I was not surprised by what took place in Shefaram, because it was obvious to everyone. It was a terrorist attack committed by a Jewish settler.

Appeal against the closure of an investigation into police officers who killed Arab youth

In the middle of the night, on July 22, 2003, Mursi Jabali, 28, and a friend left a coffee shop in Tiba where they had spent the evening

We also have ‘no other country'

Aeilin Zuabi is from Tamra; Jamal Easa'a is from Baka al-Garbiyeh. Both are members of Hapoel Bnei Sakhnin's fervent legion of Arab supporters from around the country. They revel in their team's victories, and now lament in its defeats. Salt-of-the-earth fans.

2004 report on violations of the rights of Arab citizens of Israel

Yesterday, the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA) issued its annual report on violations of the rights of Arab citizens of Israel in 2004

A reminder from the left that Lod is an Arab city

The left-wing organization Zochrot, which works to prove that the IDF demolished Arab villages and expelled their residents in the 1948 war, will stand on the side of the Arabs of Lod to prove that their city is essentially an Arab town and that the majority of its Arab residents were expelled in the 1948 war.

The crime: Visit to a dying sister

Last week, the Shin Bet arrested Mahassen Qays, a resident of the village of Makr in the western Galilee, on charges of traveling to Syria , which Israeli law defines as an enemy state

Complaint: Seven-year-old boy registered at distant school because he's an Arab

The city of Lod assigned a boy entering the second grade to a school far from home because of racial discrimination, claims a complaint to the Education Ministry by attorney Abir Bakr of Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel .

Disengage from discrimination

Soon the campaigns will begin for settling the Galilee and Negev , complete with tempting advertisements. But like advertisements for cigarettes, the invitation for new residents should include a warning (so that no one could later claim “I didn't know”)

Arab public figures write a letter to Yona Yahav: Do not demolish the building at 51 Bar-Yehuda Street

In the middle of this week, 15 representatives of the Arab public, including public figures and members of neighborhood and parent councils, wrote to Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, trying to prevent the demolition of the residential building at 51 Bar Yehuda St. in Haifa

My day of tragedy

I commemorated the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day by shooting two children. Fine, maybe they weren't children. Perhaps they were young men

ILA closes road leading to cemetery in al-Araqib

The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) has destroyed the road leading to the Islamic cemetery in the village of al-Araqib, south of Rahat. The dead of the families of Abu Siyam and al-Turi are buried there.

Arab mayors: “We don't have cemeteries in which to bury our dead”

Recently, the mayors of Arab village have announced that the severe land shortage—which restricts Arab citizens, does not allow for the expansion of municipal borders, and makes it more difficult for Arab citizens to build homes—had also begun to touch the dead.

Violence as an element of reconciliation

At first, I thought it was just a mistake: A huge ad with an Israeli tank in the middle. There were several soldiers riding on the tank's turret waving a flag with a broken star of David

Muslim girl: I was removed from a flight attendant training course at El Al because of my religion

After completing her studies in special education and English at Haifa University , Nisrin Abu Rabia, a 24-year-old resident of Haifa , decided to go after another dream: to become the first Muslim flight attendant with El Al

No Arabs allowed

The day before yesterday, K., the mother of two children who lives in an agricultural community in the Upper Galilee, wanted to enjoy a parents' day at the water park near Lake Tiberias , organized as part of her kids' summer camp

Arab head of Center Against Racism prevented from boarding El Al plane

Bakr Awada is the head of the Center Against Racism. Every month, he receives several complaints from Arab citizens who face difficulties because of their Arab origin

Proposing acceptable alternatives for the settlement of residents from the unrecognized village of Wadi al-Naam

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Bimkom (Planners for Planning Rights) recently asked Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister Ehud Olmert, responsible for Bedouin affairs, to implement the decision reached by the National Planning and Construction Council in the south to find alternatives for the settlement of residents of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Wadi al-Naam

Exiled from the tribe

Almost every Israeli home today knows who Abbas Suwan and Walid Badir are.* They have attracted attention in Israel and the larger world, particularly since they are Arabs

When a mosque is a symbol of sovereignty

Eli Boker, the former deputy mayor of Beersheba , has for 20 years led opposition to the reopening of the great mosque in the heart of the city. He warns that if the government makes the wrong decision, the city could become the site of bloodshed

IDF orders the Jahhalin tribe to evacuate land they have inhabited for 30 years

On Friday morning (June 17), the Israeli army threatened to expel 47 families of the Jahhalin tribe who have lived for 30 years near the town of Anata , northeast of Jerusalem .

Residents of Arab villages and developing towns constitute 39% of the unemployed

The Labor office reported yesterday that there was a 1.8% drop in the number of unemployed registered with it, but it did not note that the decline is due to tighter registration conditions

The number of Arab drug users will double after budget cuts to youth care

Social workers in the Arab community expressed grave concern after the government decided to cut all budget allocations to youth drug users, according to the National Anti-Drug Agency.

Sakhnin fan: The Israeli flag didn't save me from Beitar fans

What happened the day before yesterday in Ramat Gan Stadium to Mohammed Said Zubeidat, a fan of Bnei Sakhnin, was no small thing. He had good intentions, but that mattered neither to Sakhnin fans, nor to Beitar Jerusalem fans.

A group of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans threaten to attack Suwan and his family

In the past two weeks, Abbas Suwan has managed to excite the entire country. He won the admiration of most citizens when he made the tying goal on the national [soccer] team against Ireland and saved Israel 's chance of qualifying for the World Cup.

Arab farmers pay excessive prices for water

Once more the most recent state budget is bringing the problems of Arab farmers and landowners to public opinion—and probably not for the last time

There is only one Arab social worker for all the family courts

A petition against the state demanding that more Arab social workers be appointed to the family courts in Nazareth , Haifa , Hadera, Kfar Saba, Kiryot, and Beersheba was submitted last week to the High Court of Justice

Government ministries conceal information on employment conditions of unemployed Arabs under the Wisconsin program

Employees at the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Labor, and the Employment Agency have refused to inform advocacy organizations for Arab workers and Arab professional syndicates of the full details regarding the conditions of employment for unemployed Arabs under the Wisconsin program,* which violates a previous legal agreement.

The majority of workers killed on the job are Arabs

Statistics from the Histadrut's professional syndicates department reveal that Arab workers account for the majority of those killed in work-related accidents in Israel , especially work accidents on constructions sites

Racism of the masses and enlightened racism

Analysts' reactions to the racist chants spouted by Beitar Jerusalem fans were expected. It was not at all surprising to witness the many condemnations of these chants, and we didn't have to wait long before MK Yossi Sarid sent a statement to the press demanding that Teddy Stadium be closed

Or: The state has not done enough to prevent discrimination against Arabs

Not enough has been done to implement the recommendations of the Or Commission, said retired Supreme Court Justice Theodor Or yesterday. Or, who headed the commission investigating the violent clashes between Arab Israelis and police in October 2000, told the Knesset Interior Committee, “In the end, what counts are deeds, not words. That is the true test.”

The Arabs' sour face

The housing fair that took place in the north last Sunday was aimed at attracting new residents to towns in the Galilee . But it turns out that not all Israeli citizens are welcome in these “community villages

Selective media

Most of us remember the special operations' rooms and the special investigative teams set up by the Israeli police following the disappearance of young Israeli citizens, which confirmed the noble bonds uniting state citizens as one.

Arab sector calls on Sharon to boycott “the racist Galilee conference”

Yesterday, Shawqi al-Khatib, head of the Arab Higher Follow-Up Committee, called on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Minister Shimon Peres to boycott the Galilee conference to be held today in the ORT Braude College in Karmiel

They piss on graves

From above, the Muslim cemetery looks like an ugly blot in the heart of Beersheba . It is a piece of land of about 100 dunams in the middle of the city, poor, surrounded by walls, and holding the remnants of broken tombstones

Racism on the field

Channel 2 is currently showing a chilling series about anti-Semitism in Europe, particularly Germany . In it, we see a repulsive elderly German openly say that he does not like Jews

A conference to develop the Negev led by Shimon Peres without the participation of Arab citizens

Today dozens of academics, ministers, MKs, and government officials—led by Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres—will participate in a conference on developing the Negev

Jewish youths attack Arabs in Afula, lightly wounding two

Yesterday, June 12, a group of young Jews—some adults and others teenagers—attacked some Arab youths in Afula. Three of the assailants were arrested.

Students from Lod demonstrate in front of the High Court of Justice protesting the conditions of their school

Yesterday, June 12, dozens of Arab students and parents from the city of Lod demonstrated in front of the High Court of Justice in Jerusalem protesting the poor learning conditions at the Rashidiya School

Ministry of Education discriminates against Arabs in contracting jobs in schools

A complaint lodged with Attorney General Menachem Mazuz by Adalah (the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel ) claims that the Ministry of Education puts restrictions on the employment of Arabs in renovations of educational institutions. A contracting company that employs Arabs turned to Adalah complaining of discrimination in schools.

70,000 people without electricity or water and the state is silent

Asked to explain the statistics published by her center to mark Land Day today, Hanin Zaabi, the director of the Ilam Center , an advocacy group for Arabs and Palestinians in Israel , told Nana, “Jewish citizens think that the state treats Arabs like any other democracy

The budget infringes on the rights of thousands of Arab workers

Economists, union activists, and workers' rights organizations in Arab society are warning that the rights and future of thousands of Arab workers will be severely harmed following the approval of the 2005 state budget, particularly workers in construction, agriculture, and textiles.

The Ilam Center asks that tenders for the franchise to operate Channel 2 be made public

The Ilam Center , an advocacy group working for the defense of Arab citizens in communications, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, asked the Second Israeli Broadcast Network to make public the bids offered by companies competing for the Channel 2 franchise for the next ten years.

Incitement against Arabs on the Russian-language website of Beit Berl University

As part of its project to support democratic social values in Israel society, the Beit Berl University established a website in Russian. An article written by Roman Ashkenazi and Anton Lepler, entitled “There Will Be No Discrimination, But There Will Be No Land,” addressed the Attorney General's decision on the status of lands owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the policy of land allocation

Soldier who opened fire on Arab stores in Haifa convicted of attempted murder

The Haifa District Court convicted Danny Tikman today on charges of attempted murder and wanton destruction of property. Tikman opened fire on Arab stores in the city during the events of October 2001

MK Barakeh: Police Internal Affairs Bureau is procrastinating in its investigation of the October events

The Knesset Interior Committee saw stinging criticism of the Police Internal Affairs Bureau yesterday due to the slow pace of the bureau's investigation into the death of 13 Arab Israeli citizens during the events of October 2000.

One in every four citizens in Arab towns in the Negev is unemployed

Official statistics released by the Employment Office show that unemployment among Arab citizens in the Negev has reached 25%

National Bank discriminates against clients of the Arab-Israeli Bank

Clients of the Arab-Israeli Bank—part of the National Bank group—who have Visa credit cards pay higher fees than National Bank clients. The payment is charged as a membership fee on Visa gold or platinum cards, business gold cards, and Visa gold cards issued by the Arab-Israeli Bank.

Arabic should be added onto signs at Haifa University

Recently, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) asked the president of Haifa University , Professor Aharon Ben-Zeev, to add Arabic onto signs on the university campus.

Yaakov Efrati, the director general of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), is trying to dodge the criticism being directed at the ILA policy of destroying Bedouin crops ( Haaretz , February 20, 2005)

In the past few months, the Workers' Advice Center (WAC) has begun its struggle to bring Arab women out of unemployment and get them back into the labor market.

Law eliminating squatters' rights is racist

During conference held today in Beersheba about the law to eliminate squatters' rights and its effects on the Negev Bedouins, a former justice with the Israeli High Court, Abd al-Rahman al-Zaabi, said, “The law eliminating squatters' rights is racist.”

Israel blocks Sheikh al-Khatib's participation in London conference

Israel has prevented the deputy chairman of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, from taking part in a conference on the right of return, which is scheduled to take place in London this weekend.

The life of six-year-old Seif, a liver patient, is in danger

Only 300 meters separate hope from despair, life from death, for six-year-old Seif Naim. This is the distance between the trailer in which the Naim family lives, in the Bedouin village of Arab al-Naim in Gush Segev in the Galilee , and the electricity pole on the summit of the hill.

A Jewish constitution to cement the second-class status of Arabs

Are we, as a national minority, in need of a constitution? Are the conditions ripe for a civilized, democratic constitution in Israel ? What do the people in charge of the Israeli constitution initiative want? And what is our position on all these proposals? How should we deal with them?

Today about 60,000-70,000 people live in Israel in towns known as “unrecognized villages,” most of them in the Negev . In the early 1950s, the military administration gathered the Bedouin that remained in the Negev in an area known as the Siyag, or enclosure, in the eastern Negev .

On January 10, 2005 , the High Court of Justice held a hearing on a petition submitted by Adalah in August 2002, in which it asked that Muslims from Beersheba and the surrounding areas be allowed to pray in the city's Big Mosque.

Beitar Jerusalem fans shouted several times during the match against Maccabi Petah Tikva, “I hate you, Salim Tuama,” “I hate all Arabs,” and “Come here, Tuama, and make me some coffee.”

The government plans to transfer settlers to Wadi Ara

The Israeli government is planning to transfer 4,000 settler families from the Gaza Strip to Wadi Ara. Today, Hot TV news correspondent Rami Mansour said that the infrastructure has been prepared for the absorption of the settlers who will be evacuated from the Gaza Strip, to be centered in the areas of Katzir and Harish.

A Jew convicted of abetting an assassination attempt on MK Makhoul and attacks targeting Arabs

Today, the Haifa District Court convicted 22-year-old Alexander Rabinovitch from Haifa of involvement in terrorist activity against Israeli Arab residents of the city.

ILA acts to demolish homes in Lod following a request from the city

Ehud Olmert—the deputy prime minister, minister of industry and trade, and the man in charge of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA)—said, “The mayor of Lod, Benny Regev, is responsible for the decision to demolish seven houses in the Taayush quarter of Lod to make way for a bridge and a tunnel.”

The Ministry of Education's procedures for the employment of Arabs are racist and discriminatory

The Ministry of Education's security officer in Jerusalem, Yoav Cohen, has ordered all employers to conduct background checks on all Arab employees

The true rate of unemployment and underemployment in Israel is 18.1 percent of the labor force, or some 488,000 people, the nonprofit organization Commitment to Peace and Social Justice claimed in the annual report it issued Wednesday.

Maccabi Haifa fans booed Salem Abu Siyam, an Arab player for Maccabi Tel Aviv and a small group of fans threw empty boxes at Maccabi Tel Aviv players during the match.

ILA workers uproot olive trees in a Muslim cemetery in the Negev

On Sunday of this week (May 8), workers with the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) uprooted dozens of olive trees in the Abu Siyam family cemetery in the Negev , near al-Araqib.

After defeat by Sakhnin: Beitar fans attack Arabs in a mall

Last week, officials with Beitar Jerusalem and Bnei Sakhnin voiced their fears that the militant ardor of their fans would trigger an ugly wave of violence

“The suspect knew nothing about the operation”

Two and a half years after Yusra Bakri was accused of not stopping a terrorist operation at the Meron Junction; today Judge Tawfiq Katili with the Nazareth Magistrates' Court found the 31-year-old resident of Baana, west of Hebron , innocent of all charges brought against her. Nine people died during the operation, and dozens of others were injured.

Petition submitted to the High Court of Justice demands that the Ministry of Health explain why report did not offer geographic mapping of cancer in Arab towns

The Center against Racism and the Arrasid environmental organization have petitioned the High Court of Justice to order Health Minister Dan Naveh to explain why there has been no geographic mapping of cancer in Israel 's Arab sector.

Press Association: Israel failed in the investigation into the photographer's death

In an interview with Israeli radio to mark World Press Freedom Day, the Secretary-General of the International Press Association protested the Israeli government's failure to investigate and try the person responsible for the death of British journalist James Miller, who was killed in Gaza two years ago.

Survey: 12-16% of Bedouin first-graders suffer from malnutrition

One out of every six Bedouin first-grade pupils—and one out of every eight Jewish first-graders—in the Negev, suffers from malnutrition, according to a new study conducted by the faculty of health sciences at Ben-Gurion University and the Health Ministry.

The racism index in Israel

The monthly report prepared by Center Against Racism in Haifa revealed that the mall in the Gan Shmuel Kibbutz does not lease shops to Arabs. Ummaya Younis, who owns a restaurant in Pardes Hanna, wanted to open a new branch in the Gan Shmuel mall, the most popular mall among the Arabs of Wadi Ara and the surrounding areas

There are no care facilities for at-risk Arab girls

There are currently three choices for Arab girls who take drugs, have sex, run away from home, or are involved in violent incidents

Wave of racism because of mosque in Beersheba

Two weeks ago a local newspaper in Beersheba reported that the High Court of Justice recommended that the old mosque in the city be turned over to the city's Muslim residents and transformed into an Islamic social and cultural center for Muslims in the Negev , on the condition that it is not used for prayer

The disengagement law lays the groundwork for the expulsion of Israeli Arabs

The Legal Forum warns that the disengagement law, which permits the evacuation of Israeli citizens from their homes against their will, will allow Israeli governments in the future to expel Arab Israelis as well

Arab engineers and city planners call for resistance to plans to Judaicize the Galilee

Yesterday, dozens of Arab engineers and city planners participated in a conference held in the Galilee city of Tamra . Sponsored by the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies, the conference was entitled “Land and Construction: Lack of Planning and the Authorities

Discrimination against Arab citizens seeking to join agricultural and community towns

Yesterday, Adalah asked the ILA to abolish its criteria for the acceptance of applicants to agricultural and community towns, saying that the criteria discriminate against Arab citizens and those of low socioeconomic status.

Director of Arab Center for Alternative Planning: Demolishing homes built illegally creates a sense of alienation

Yesterday Dr. Hanna Swaid, the director of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, said, “The policy of demolishing homes on the grounds that they were built without a permit is one reason for the alienation Arab citizens feel towards the state and the authorities

Protest tent in the Negev to protest crop destruction

The day before yesterday, Arab citizens in the Negev decided to take several measures against the Green Patrol* and the Israel Lands Administration ILA to protest the destruction of more than 1,000 dunams of land planted with wheat by Arab farmers.

The Ministry of Justice closes investigation with police who attacked Arab citizens in Baana

The Justice Ministry's Police Internal Affairs Bureau decided to close the investigation into policemen from the north who attacked Arab citizens in the village of Baana , brutally beating them without provocation.

Arab history ends with the Middle Ages

One of the lessons learned by the Ministry of Education following attacks on it after the publication of Yoel Ripel's book is that it makes more mention of the Arab public, which was virtually absent from the ministry's curricular terms

The Arabic language must be abolished

The proposal made today by MK Arieh Eldad (Nationalist Union) to abolish Arabic as an official language of Israel sparked the ire of Arab MKs. Eldad submitted the proposal today in the Knesset, recommending that all signs in Israel be written only in Hebrew.

Under cover of demography

A few weeks ago, the National Security Council in the Prime Minister's office held a discussion about a sensitive subject: the naturalization of Palestinians from the territories who married Arab Israelis

Decreasing children's allocations in favor of demographic balance

The struggle over children's allocations has become a dirty battle that has seeped into bedrooms and delivery rooms everywhere

The Interior Ministry is planning to demolish 15 houses in the Negev

The Israeli government is going on with its plan to demolish the houses of Arab citizens in Negev , and of attempting evacuate them in order to confiscate their lands

In a Precedent-Setting Judgment on a Petition Filed by Adalah, Supreme Court Rules that Affirmative Action Policies in Education Should be Applied for the Arab Bedouin

Today, 24 January 2005, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled on a petition submitted by Adalah in July 2003, which demanded that the Ministry of Education (MOE) assign counselors responsible for preventing pupils from dropping out of school in seven Arab Bedouin towns in the Naqab (Negev) in the south of Israel: Rahat, Lagiyya, Kessife, Tel el-Sabe, Hura, ‘Arora, and Segev Shalom

There has been injustice committed against Arab organizations, and the situation must be remedied

Yesterday, the head of the office of the Registrar of Associations, Attorney Yaron Keidar, said that injustice had been committed against Arab associations and vowed to remedy the situation. Attorney Keidar made this statement during a seminar organized by Ittijah, the union of Arab public organizations

An Arab student: A driver from the Dan Company threw me off the bus

After the Igad bus company has had a go, it is now the Dan Company's turn: Mohammed Qaadan a 21 year-old from West Baqa studying in a college in Ariel, feels humiliated

“No pardon for the guard who shot an Arab”

“The pardon granted to the guard who killed an Arab in effect sanctions reckless haste in opening fire and disregard for human life,” reads the letter sent by the Mossawa Center for Arab rights to the Israeli President.

Israel is not facing a demographic threat

Maariv 's website has obtained a copy of a recent study of the Israeli population conducted by a group of researchers from the US and Israel, headed by Yoram Ettinger, Reserve Colonel David Shahav, and David Pesig

Yossi Sarid calls on Itche to shut down Teddy Stadium until the end of the season

In the aftermath of yesterday's stormy game with Bnei Sakhnin, in which Beitar Jerusalem supporters insulted Abbas Sawan for racist reasons, MK Yossi Sarid called on the head of the Football Association, Ithak Menachem, to close Teddy Stadium down.

Policemen cane and kick a Sakhnin supporter

Yesterday, several incidents of violence erupted between supporters of Beitar Jerusalem and Sakhnin at the end of a game that was held in Ramat Gan , and that ended with a 0-0 tie

A story on the occasion of the International Day Against Racism

This incident I am about to related occurred a long time ago, but somehow—despite the fact that I wrote about it at the time—I did not have the opportunity to publish it on the site

Poll: Most Jewish Israelis favor emigration of Israeli Arabs

A majority of Jewish Israelis believe that the state should encourage Israeli Arabs to emigrate, according to a survey conducted by the Dahaf Institute on behalf of Madar, the Palestinian Center for Israel Studies.

Either Judaism or Democracy

Last week the Jewish Fund presented the courts with the following bizarre claim, “The Fund's loyalty cannot be to the Israeli public.” What happened to those kind helpers who carried the bricks and made the deliveries? What prompted them to make such a declaration?

Adalah to the Supreme Court: The government's legal counsel should indict the policemen who shot and killed Mahmoud Sadi (resident of Lod)

On December 30, 2004 attorney Marwan Dalal, acting on behalf of the Adalah organization, petitioned the High Court of Justice to issue a precautionary order against the Attorney General

The Prosecution tells the High Court: Employing a General Security Services operative in the Ministry of Education is legal…The High Court will hear the petition on May 8, 2005

On October 20, 2004 the prosecution responded to Adalah's September 2004 petition which demanded that General Security Services be prevented from intervening in the appointment of teachers, school administrators, and inspectors in the Arab school system.

A student test paper on democracy that doesn't mention the word “Arabs”

Some eighth grade Israeli students will pass a test paper designed to determine their academic progress and understanding, even though the paper itself—which includes questions on 100 words and phrases—mentions neither “the Holocaust” nor “the Arabs”.

Eldad calls for all of A.D Gordon's writings to be burned

Following the Magistrates' Court ruling to remove the Avoda Ivrit (Hebrew Employment) website from the Internet, MK Eldad suggests that the court ruling include orders to burn the writings of A.D. Gordon,* who was an advocate for Hebrew labor

Uncivil discrimination

How long does it take to receive responses and solutions from the Ministry of Education? The answer depends on who is asking the question. If you're a member of the Likud Central Committee, you are likely to receive an answer to your request immediately

Arabs and democracy

The Arab parties are the greatest stain on our democracy. As a democracy that prides itself on granting equal rights to Arab and Jewish citizens, why have governments of both the right and the left not included Arab parties in their coalition over the years?

Border Police officer charged with shooting Salah Amer from Kufr Qassem, following complaint from Adalah

On 10 January 2005 , Adalah received notice from the Ministry of Justice Police Investigation Unit (“Mahash”) that the State Prosecutor had filed an indictment to Tel Aviv District Court against a Border Police officer who shot Mr. Salah Amer, a Palestinian citizen of Israel from the village of Kufr Qassem , on 11 September 2003

Family of the Bedouin killed in the territories asks court to order IDF to turn over the investigation

A Bedouin from the Negev , Motab al-Nabari, was killed a year and a half ago after being shot in the back while in the territories

The High Court of Justice: The five men accused of the murder of Danny Katz convicted

Today, the High Court of Justice upheld its ruling against the five men convicted for the murder of teenager Danny Katz. The five men will remain in jail and continue to serve out their life sentences

Adalah Public Opinion Survey on Arab Citizens' Attitudes on Infrastructure and Urban Services

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel conducted a survey of Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel in order to gauge their attitudes in three areas:

A. The condition of existing infrastructure and urban services provided in Arab towns and villages, and questions relating to spatial and economic issues;

When Mohammed and Samy, the children of Sakhnin, receive a Nobel Prize

Mohammed and Samy are students who excelled in chemistry, and traveled to continue their post-graduate studies at prestigious universities in Canada and the US .

Internet ad banners “for Jews only” cancelled

The “Hebrew Labor” website, which was posting lists of businesses that do not employ Arabs, was shut down after a petition was filed against it. However, the ad banners which targeted Jewish employees only continued to operate for several more hours on a website called “Jewsite,” and was only shut down when it was written about in Haaretz .

Justice Jubran: They are oppressing the Arabs

Yesterday, High Court Justice Salim Jubran strongly criticized the discriminatory policies followed by the government against some Arab villages in the north.

The High Court of Justice requires the Haifa municipality to publish all public announcements in Arabic language press

On November 22, 2004 , the Israeli High Court of Justice issued its decision on a petition submitted by Adalah in March 2001, which demanded that Haifa Municipality publish public announcements in the Arabic language press in the Arabic language

Knock on the door

One day last week Israel left another 200 people homeless to live on the streets. It left these newly homeless to meet their fate without anyone listening to them or considering their future. When it is a matter of Palestinians or the Bedouin, there is no concern over destroying neighborhoods or demolishing homes

Arab Higher Follow-up Committee against the enlistment of Bedouin and Druze

Yesterday, the political leadership of Israeli Arabs issued a statement calling on Arab youth, including both Druze and Bedouin, not to fulfill their military service in the IDF or their national service, after five Bedouin combat soldiers with an IDF reconnaissance unit were killed in an attack on an army site in Rafah

Adalah: Differentiating between settler cars and those of Israeli Arabs is racism

After an article published in Haaretz yesterday about the IDF placing stickers on the cars of settlers in the West Bank, Adalah (the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel ) said that this constitutes flagrant racism

Right-wing organizations: The evacuation and compensation law legitimizes the expulsion of Arabs

The Knesset approval of the evacuation and compensation law sparked a wave of statements from non-parliamentary right-wing organizations claiming that the law legitimizes in principle “the expulsion of the Arabs.”

Israel Lands Administration admits: Unauthorized substance was used spray Bedouin crops

In a written testimony submitted by the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) to the High Court of Justice a week ago, the ILA admitted to using materials not authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture to spray lands cultivated by the Bedouins in the Negev

The High Court of Justice approves cutting down orchard next to Mofaz's house

The High Court of Justice today allowed the Israeli army to uproot 60 citrus trees in an orchard owned by a 72-year-old Palestinian, Zahariya Murshid.

A pogrom in Maghar

By the time these lines are printed, a few days after the events in the Galilee village of Maghar , there may be a need to remind most readers of what happened there

A rose with thorns

If we need further evidence that the right has given up its dream of Greater Israel, here is the most conclusive piece of evidence thus far: For the first time, a prominent leader of the extreme right has recognized the Palestinian right to a state. Moreover, if we study his plan closely, we will see that it also includes the evacuation of certain areas.

Following Adalah's demand, ILA agrees to cancel discriminatory criteria for lease of agricultural land to Arab Bedouin in the Naqab

On 27 September 2004, Adalah sent a letter to the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) demanding the cancellation of a regulation, arguing that it sets forth discriminatory conditions for Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel in the short-term leasing of agricultural land in the Naqab (Negev) in the south of Israel

The second-class poor

The Arabs in Israel have always been poorer, but now half of the Arab families in Israel live under the poverty line. The reasons are numerous.

The court overturns the indictment against an IDF soldier who killed an Arab during a chase

Nine years ago, during a routine operation as part of his IDF service, Private Avraham Ofer chased a suspicious vehicle that had broken through the Qalansuwa checkpoint and almost hit a policeman who tried to stop him.

Second Network and the Ministry of Communication asked to explain their discrimination against Arab citizens

On Thursday (February 2), High Court Justice Elyakim Rubenstein transferred a petition submitted by Mossawa to a three-justice panel for consideration. The petition claims that the Second Israeli Broadcast Network systematically discriminates against Arabs and Arabic in its programs

A civics lesson: Parents build classrooms

The elementary school al-Daharat, in the village of Arara in Wadi Ara, is empty and quiet in the evening hours, as schools usually are. But for three weeks, one corner of the school compound has been brightly lit by spotlights.

“The Jewish National Fund (JNF) does not owe loyalty to the entire Israeli public, and it cannot work on behalf of the entire public.

ACRI published a report yesterday (6.12.04, to coincide with Human Rights Week) documenting the role of the Population Registrar of the Ministry of the Interior.

Regrettably, Sunday's deaths of five IDF soldiers from the Desert Reconnaissance Battalion in Rafah does not symbolize the common destiny and integration of Bedouin in Israeli society, but rather the contrary.

High Court justice Salim Jubran strongly criticized discrimination against Arab villages yesterday as expressed in the distribution of state funds to national priority areas and the large subsidies given to discharged soldiers for the purchase of land in the Negev and the Galilee .

Yesterday Shinui Party head Yosef Lapid—also head of the ministerial committee responsible for implementing the Or recommendations—attacked the government of which he was a member until recently.

A law to prohibit an Arab mayor of Jerusalem

Is the day approaching when the Arabs will unite to elect an Arab mayor for Israel 's capital? Information that reached Jerusalem City Council member David Hadari has him worried. In an effort to prevent such a situation from occurring, he has drafted a bill “to preserve Jerusalem 's dignity,” which aims to prohibit the appointment of an Arab mayor in Jerusalem

“The state makes peace at Sharm al-Sheikh while continuing its war on the Bedouin in the Negev ”

While the summit was underway in Sharm al-Sheikh, hundreds of residents of the unrecognized Bedouin villages demonstrated today at the Lehavim junction in the Negev to protest the destruction of Bedouin crops in recent weeks.

A mother tries to break up relationship between her pregnant daughter and an Arab youth; hires ultra-orthodox youth to kidnap and beat him

Yesterday a 40-year-old Tel Aviv resident was arrested on charges of planning the abduction of a 17-year-old Tel Aviv resident, the boyfriend of her 17-year-old daughter. Apparently the mother wanted to break up the relationship because she did not want her daughter going out with an Arab.

A new compromise with the Jewish National Fund and the plunder of land in the Negev

The compromise recently reached in a meeting between Attorney General Mani Mazuz and Jewish National Fund (JNF) officials is one which will allow the JNF to continue selling land to Jews only and maintain the same apartheid policy without having to account for it.

Israeli Arabs against promotion of Border Guard officer

Yesterday, members of Arab Israeli families whose relatives were killed during the October demonstration expressed their anger at the promotion of Gen. B e ntzi Sau, the Border Guard northern commander at the time of the riots. Deputy Minister of Domestic Security Gideon E zra decided to appoint Sau as the commander of Border Guard

Dangerous ideological compensation

The debate over the fate of the state of Israel in the land of Israel is no longer simply a national, Jewish internal issue, particularly since the historical test of the existence of this state on this piece of land is joint citizenship between Jews and Arabs

Shortcomings with the Police Internal Affairs Bureau

It is feared that the bureau has not and will not observe its legal duty to fully investigate the circumstances of the death of 13 civilians in October 2000 although:

Prosecutor: Classifying Jewish residential areas as national priority area A is to promote settlement; Cheshin: Are you trying to Judaicize the Galilee ?

On Tuesday, November 10, 2004, a seven-justice panel at the High Court of Justice heard a petition filed by Adalah against a 1998 government decree that classified residential areas into priority areas. The decree labeled 553 towns as national priority A areas

The garage that drove the state crazy

Mani Mazuz can blame the educational system for his problems: An appeal to dismiss him came last weekend following his announcement that the Jewish National Fund (JNF) must sell land to Arabs, too, but he says he was misunderstood. Mazuz was not seeking to harm the Jewish nature of Israel —on the contrary.

An Arab who lost his home because of JNF laws: I'll demand compensation from the state

Qayed Dibah from Deir al-Assad lives with his new wife Amani in a rented house in Karmiel. This weekend he wandered around in the Givat Ram neighborhood and stopped at the threshold of the home he wanted to buy four months ago.

High Court of Justice petition: The Second Network discriminates against Arabs on its programs

The Mossawa Center for Arab Rights in Israel and the Clinic for Social Change at Haifa University 's Law School filed a petition today with the High Court of Justice against the Second Israeli Broadcasting Network

Beitar Jerusalem heads the Racism Index due to its fans behavior

During a match with Maccabi Petah Tikva, Hapoel Tel Aviv fans chanted several times, “I wish Maccabi fans would die today.”

Supreme Court issues order nisi and injunction against spraying of crops cultivated by Arab Bedouin in the Naqab

On 19 October 2004, the Supreme Court of Israel issued an order nisi (an order to show cause) on a petition filed by Adalah on 22 March 2004, instructing the state to provide an explanation within two months for the crop spraying operations carried out by the respondents—The Israel Lands Administration (ILA), the Ministry of Industry and Trade

The promotion of Mr. Bentzi Sau violates the Or Commission report

“It was proven that when he was the northern Border Guard commander with the Israeli police and commander of the Wadi Ara region during the events of October 2000, on October 1, 2000, he directed an extended clash on the Umm al-Fahm junction on Route 65 (the Wadi Ara Road ).

In response to Adalah's demand for injunction, Jewish National Fund committed before Supreme Court to freeze all tenders for lands in north of Israel and the Galilee

On 13 October 2004, Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of Israel against the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and the Minister of Finance (MOF), demanding the cancellation of an ILA policy and a regulation promulgated by the MOF, which effectively permit the marketing and allocation of lands through bids open only to Jews

National Council for the Child: “This is a racist claim”

Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, chairman of the National Council for the Child yesterday denounced claims that continued allocation cutbacks were meant to curtail the birthrate in the Arab and Bedouin sectors.

Arab birthrate drops for first time in years

The Israeli birthrate dropped last year for the first time in years, from 144,936 births in 2003 to 143,538 in 2004, according to figures Haaretz has obtained. The average growth of the birth rate until 2004 was 2.5 percent a year.

Some Bedouins live in shooting range

Forty-five unrecognized villages are spread throughout the Negev, and many of their 70,000 residents live either extremely close to or inside IDF shooting ranges in the Negev

More than 200 children in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Tarabin have stopped attending the elementary school there since the beginning of the school year because their parents refuse to send the children to the old village school, which they describe as “a dump.” The school in Rahat has also closed due to a failure to meet safety standards, parents say.

A shortage of land and the need for municipal expansion have become the most urgent issues for many in Sakhnin, particularly city council members. Sakhnin residents say that the population problem is growing worse, both because of natural growth—at a rate of 3% annually—and what they describe as a “siege” policy imposed on the city in recent years.

There is serious discrimination in government assistance favoring residents of settlements in Judea and Samaria . A study conducted by Tel Aviv University revealed that every settler in Emmanuel in Samaria , for example, receives NIS4,212 from the government, or about ten times more than other citizens.

Bedouin demonstrate to protest decision to demolish three whole villages

Yesterday hundreds of Bedouin living in the Negev demonstrated in Beersheba protesting the policy of house demolitions in the unrecognized villages.

Policeman who shot citizen in Kafr Qassem to be tried

The Justice Ministry's Police Internal Affairs Bureau has charged a policeman with the Border Guard who shot and injured an Israeli citizen in September 2003. According to testimony from those connected to the incident, the policeman shot Saleh Amer from Kafr Qassem at close range while he was on the ground and represented no danger to the policeman or his colleagues.

Arab youth: I was insulted by El Al security men at the Berlin airport

This week, a young man from Shefaram submitted a complaint to El Al Airlines saying that about a week ago he was subjected to a humiliating search at the Berlin airport on his way back to Israel simply because he is an Arab

The Bedouin: We will not allow our children to learn in a building that causes cancer

There are about 300 students in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Tarabin al-Sana in the Negev who have not been in school since the beginning of the academic year

We will protect ourselves

On Sunday morning (December 26) two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Hassan Bey Mosque. The worshippers, who were inside the building at the time, were able to extinguish the fire.

The Likud vs. youth and the Arabs?

It may not be election time, but the Likud is already fighting for a spot on the list: the head of the Likud Youth submitted a petition to the party's tribunal a week after the Likud legislative committee drafted a proposal to set aside the 41st position on the list of Knesset candidates for young candidates.

Following Adalah's petition on behalf of 100 Arab farmers, the structural plan threatening 13,184 dunams in Wadi al-Mulk is cancelled

The National Planning and Construction Council (NPCC) decided on August 22, 2004, to cancel structural plan 7337G, which would have turned 13,184 dunams of land in Nahal Tzipori into a national park and protectorate.

The October file is still open

Today Shawqi al-Khatib, head of the Arab Higher Follow-Up Committee, said during a meeting convened in Nazareth to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the October 2000 events, “As long as all those responsible for killing Arab citizens have not been brought to trial or punished, the October file will remain open and will never be closed

Non-governmental discrimination: Palestinians in Jewish social organizations

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in Israel on issues of concern to the Palestinian minority adopt liberal, democratic attitudes, but pay little attention to the collective political aspects of the Palestinian people.

Knesset Presidium rejects proposed law to evacuate Arabs in tandem with Jews

In its weekly session, the Knesset Presidium rejected a bill submitted by MK Arieh Eldad (Nationalist Union), describing it as racist.

No Druze allowed

The three men, residents of a Druze town in the north, only wanted to take a small break from the daily combat routine and go to the Ganaga Club in Kiryat Ata. But the experience ended in frustration after they were subject to discrimination.

Farmers in Western Baqa receive a small part of their fathers' land

Ibrahim Muwassi, chairman of Western Baqa 's water board, looked at the yellow bulldozer in amazement as it burrowed through the black earth looking for a cement peg. Last Wednesday, about 20 Arab farmers from Western Baqa stood with Muwassi near the bulldozer

Rabbi Rosen vs. Israeli Arabs

Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, a judge at the Conversion Court and the head of the Tzomet Institute for Technology and Halacha, said that Arabs need not enjoy economic equality in the state of Israel

A mistake in a security check at Ben-Gurion Airport causes Arabs to miss their flight

The six members of the Abu Ayash family, an Arab Israeli family from Nazareth , could not travel to Cairo yesterday through Ben-Gurion Airport because of a mistake made during the security check.

60% of Arab children live in poverty

Some 402,000 Arab children in Israel —or 60% of all Arab children in the country—suffer from poverty. About 118,000 Arab families live in poverty, or half of all Arab families. Overall figures, in contrast, show that one in five citizens and one in every three children in Israel was living below the poverty line in 2003.

The bill would allow the use of state lands to establish communities of not more than 500 families seeking to maintain a specific ethnic character. The communities would be assigned to one specific sectarian group.

Responding to a petition submitted by Adalah to the Tel Aviv District Court, demanding the barring of a closure order issued by the Ministry of Education against the Jaffa Arab Democratic School, on December 17, 2004, the Ministry announced that it would consider the license application submitted by the school

The Ministry of Education decided to appoint an additional 9.5 counselors in the seven Arab Bedouin townships of Rahat, Lakia, Kasifa, Arara, Segev Shalom, Hura, and Tel Sheva

Justice Barak: land subsidies for discharged soldiers are discriminatory

Chief Justice Aharon Barak of the High Court of Justice said today that offering discharged soldiers special facilities to buy land constitutes discrimination against Arab citizens.

Mada (the Arab Center for Applied Social Research) published its annual report for 2003 as part of its political monitoring project directed by attorney Nimer Sultany. The report monitors the treatment of the state and Jewish society in Israel towards the Israeli Arab community.

Knesset notifies Minister Ezra about racist statements

The Knesset Ethics Committee yesterday informed Domestic Security Minister Gideon Ezra that he had violated the basic rules of the Knesset, which require MKs to show respect for the parliament and its members, and acted in ways unbecoming to an MK after he told Yediot Aharonot on October 15

The solution is the expulsion of the Arab enemy

Last night, for the first time, 100 activists with the party headed by right-wing extremist Baruch Marzel gathered in Jerusalem

70,000 participate in the Islamic movement conference

Last night, 70,000 Israeli Arabs arrived to take part in the Aqsa in Danger rally, organized by the northern wing of the Islamist movement in the soccer stadium in Umm al-Fahm. This year's rally—held for the ninth straight year—met without the movement's leader, Raed Salah, who is on trial with other members of the movement for security crimes.