Adalah Asks Water Board to Implement Supreme Court Decision and Immediately Connect Three Unrecognized Arab Bedouin Villages in the Naqab to the Water Network

On 13 June 2011, Adalah sent a letter to Mr. Daniel Lavi, Head of the Israeli Water Board to demand that three unrecognized Arab Bedouin villages of Umm el-Hieran, Gatamat and Tel Arad in the Naqab (Negev) be connected to the central water network immediately. The letter followed a Supreme Court decision delivered on 5 June 2011 which held that the right to water was a constitutional right and therefore that the state must guarantee a "minimum access to water" for the residents of the unrecognized villages. Adalah argued that the Water Board should therefore provide drinking water to the three villages. Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher wrote the letter on behalf of the village's residents.

The Supreme Court's decision was delivered on an appeal filed by Adalah Attorney Adel Badeer in 2006 on behalf Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel living in six different unrecognized villages in the Naqab representing 128 families. Adalah asked the Supreme Court to overturn a 2006 ruling by the Haifa District Court sitting as a Water Tribunal, which had rejected their applications to be connected to the main water distribution network.

The Supreme Court accepted the appeal in part, accepting arguments presented on behalf of three of the appellants, Taweila al-Ghannami from Gatamat, Salim Abu al-Qi'an from Umm el-Hieran, and ‘Awdeh Suleiman al-Nebari from Tel Arad. However, it rejected demands to connect the villages of Tel al-Maleh, al-Atrash, and Qla' Rashid to the water network, holding that these three villages were located close to other water sources, and that their residents were able to access these sources, despite the fact that they are over three kilometers away.

In the letter, Attorney Zaher stated that the residents of Umm el-Hieran have not had access to water since the summer of 2010, and that the water point connecting the village to the central water network lies eight kilometers from the village. The villagers are requesting permission to use a closer water point in the neighboring Jewish town of Bodidim, located just 900 meters from the village. With regard to Tel Arad, Adalah argued that there was serious discrimination among the residents of the villages themselves, since a family which moved to the village from Gaza in 2006 has been connected to the water and electricity networks, while the rest of the villagers, numbering around 1,500 people, continue to be denied their rights to water and electricity.

Umm al-Hieran letter (Hebrew)
http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/hiran.doc

Gatamat letter (Hebrew)
http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/gatamat.doc

Tel Arad letter (Hebrew)
http://www.adalah.org/upfiles/tel%20arad.doc