Concluding Comments of the CERD Committee

COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

52nd session 2-20 March 1998

(Unedited Version) 19 March 1998

1. The Committee considered the combined seventh, eighth and ninth periodic reports of Israel (CERD/C/294/Add.1), at its 1250th and 1251st meetings, held on 4 and 5 March 1998, and adopted, at its 1272nd meeting, held on 19 March 1998, the following concluding observations:

A. Introduction

2. The Committee welcomes the submission of the report but regrets that it does not follow the Committee's reporting guidelines.

3. The Committee regrets that the dialogue between its members and representatives of the State Party was not always of a constructive nature. It nevertheless welcomes the replies of the delegation to some of the Committee's questions and their expression of a willingness to contribute to a dialogue.

4. The Committee concludes that the Convention is far from fully implemented in Israel and the Occupied Territories, and that the shortfall contributes very significantly to the dangerous escalation of tension in the region.

5. The Committee notes with regret the stalemate in the peace process in the region.

6. It takes note of the establishment of a Palestinian Authority which has certain responsibilities in parts of the Occupied Territories.

B. Positive Aspects

7. The measures taken by the State Party to prohibit the activities of racist political parties, such as Kahana (Kach), are welcomed.

8. The amendment of the Equal Opportunity in Employment Law, prohibiting discrimination in the labour sphere on the grounds of national ethnic origin, country of origin, beliefs, political views, political party, affiliation, or age, is welcomed, as is the revision of the National Insurance Law.

9. The Government's efforts to reduce and eventually eradicate the economic and educational gap between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority are commended.

C. The Occupied Territories

10. The Committee reiterates its view that the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories are not only illegal under contemporary international law but are an obstacle to peace and to the enjoyment of human rights by the whole population in the region, without distinction as to national or ethnic origin. Actions that change the demographic composition of the Occupied Territories evoke concern as violations of contemporary international humanitarian law.

11. Accordingly, the Committee calls for a halt to the demolition of Arab properties in East Jerusalem and for respect for property rights irrespective of ethnic origin.

12. The Committee reiterates its opinion of 1991 that the report of Israel should "encompass the entire population under the jurisdiction of the Government of Israel" (A/46/18, para. 368). Israel is accountable for implementation of the Convention, including the reporting obligation, in all areas over which it exercises effective control.

D. Concerns and Recommendations

13. With respect to articles 1 and 6 of the Convention, the Committee requests the State Party to supply it with details of court decisions or other authoritative sources which distinguish inequality of treatment on the grounds of race, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin from inequality of treatment on other grounds such as those related to public security.

14. The Committee recommends that the State Party extend its legislation against the promotion of racial hatred by completing its implementation of the requirements of article 4 of the Convention. The Committee has earlier held that when anyone makes threats in public against the security of persons of another ethnic origin, criminal proceedings must be initiated with due diligence and expedition. The State Party should give this priority attention.

15. The Committee concludes that comprehensive legislation and accompanying measures of implementation will need to be introduced for the State Party to meet all the requirements of article 5 of the Convention.

16. The Committee expresses its profound concern that detained persons disproportionately of Arab ethnic origin are subject to inhuman and degrading interrogation under the Landau Commission rules and that the Supreme Court has failed to declare this illegal.

17. The Committee recommends that the State Party reinforce its efforts to reduce the persisting gap between the living standards and involvement in national affairs of the Jewish majority and the Arab minority, and that it do this in a manner consistent with the measures adopted for assisting the integration of Ethiopian Jews. The Committee encourages the State Party to adopt new labour legislation in order to secure the protection against ethnic discrimination of the rights of Palestinians working in Israel on a daily basis; the rights of migrant workers, including undocumented workers, is also a matter of concern.

18. The right of many Palestinians to return and possess their homes in Israel is currently denied. The State Party should give high priority to remedying this situation. Those who cannot re-possess their homes should be entitled to compensation.

19. While noting the special budget for public housing in the private sectors, the Committee remains concerned about ethnic inequalities, particularly those centering upon what are known as unrecognized Arab villages.

20. While recognizing the great diversity of opinion within the Israeli public, and the Government's actions to implement article 7 of the Convention, the Committee expresses concern about the findings of social surveys which report that very many Jewish youth believe that Arab citizens should not be accorded equal rights.

21. The Committee will hope to find in the next periodic report a comprehensive statement of the Government's vision of the future of its Arab, Bedouin and Druze citizens, together with an indication of how its objectives are to be attained and a review of the effectiveness of its measures to combat discrimination. Any statistics should show whether governmental expenditure and service provision is proportionate to the size of different ethnic groups.

22. In order to be able to evaluate the implementation of article 6 if the Convention, the Committee requests the State Party to present information on the number of complaints, judgments and compensation awards arising from racist acts, regardless of their nature. At the same time, the Committee would like to be informed about any other information, from whatever reliable source, about any inequalities, suggestive of discrimination in the administration of criminal justice.

23. Since time did not permit a full exchange of views on many of the issues raised by members at the fifty-second session, the Committee requests the State Party to reflect further on the remaining issues and to furnish additional information on these matters in the next report.

24. The tenth periodic report of Israel was due on 2 February 1998. In accordance with article 9 of the Convention the Committee will expect the submission of a combined tenth and eleventh periodic report by 2 February 2000. The document should constitute a comprehensive report, follow the reporting guidelines, and take account of the Committee's General Recommendations. If it is concise, it need be no longer than the combined seventh to ninth report.

25. The Committee recommends that the State Party ratify the amendments to article 8, paragraph 6, of the Convention adopted at the fourteenth meeting of States parties.

26. It is also noted that the State Party has not made the declaration provided for in article 14 of the Convention, and some members requested that the possibility of making the declaration be considered.

Major Findings of Adalah's Report to the UN Committee on the

Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Presented in Geneva, March 1998

Discriminatory Laws: This Report found 20 discriminatory laws - 17 of which are discriminatory on their face, in that they either relate only to the rights of Jews in Israel or abridge the rights of Arab citizens of the State. The other 3 laws discussed in this Report use neutral language and general terminology, but have a discriminatory effect on Arab citizens. The 17 facially discriminatory laws were found in the Basic Laws, the sources of Israel law, citizenship, the right of political participation, land and housing rights, culture rights, education rights, and religious rights. The other 3 laws, which use neutral language but have a discriminatory effect, have been used to control and limit land and housing rights of the Arab minority in Israel.

The Lack of Equal Protection Rights for the Arab Minority: Although laws exist which protect the equal rights of disadvantaged groups such as women and the disabled, no general statute relates to the right to equality for all citizens. Moreover, there is no statute which specifically protects equal rights for the Arab minority in Israel.

The Basic Law: Human Dignity & Freedom, which is considered a mini-bill of rights by Israeli legal scholars, does not enumerate the right for equality. On the contrary, this Basic Law emphasizes the ethnicity of the State as a Jewish State. Therefore, the Arab minority is afforded no constitutional protection against discrimination.

Equality Cases Before the Supreme Court of Israel: The Supreme Court has delivered several forward-thinking decisions in anti-discrimination cases involving the rights of women, homosexuals, the disabled and other groups, however, the Supreme Court, since 1948, has dismissed all cases which deal with equal rights for Arab citizens of the State.

This Report shows that the Supreme Court, in cases involving equal rights for Arab citizens, uniformly considers the differences between Jews and Arabs to be relevant factors in justifying privileges granted only to Israeli Jews. As a result, the Court consistently rules that discriminatory State policies are not invalid and discriminatory because they further legitimate distinctions. The Supreme Court, therefore, has failed to protect the equal rights of the Arab minority in Israel.

Although Israel's Report mentioned several equality cases, it fails to bring before the CERD Committee, even one case in which the Supreme Court has accepted a claim of discrimination brought by an Arab citizen of the State. Israel's Report dedicates over five pages to quoting from the Re'em case, to illustrate the liberal approach of the Supreme Court in cases involving Arab equal rights. Yet, Re'em is not an equal rights case, but one about freedom of expression. Moreover, in Re'em, the Court declares its refusal to deal with the Arabic language as an official language of the State.

Criminal Cases: An examination of Israeli Court criminal cases shows great disparities in sentencing, as well as in the Attorney General's indictment policy for Arabs and Jews. This Report brings before the CERD Committee several current surveys which conclude that the national identity of a defendant is an important factor in prosecutorial indictment policy and judicial sentencing in criminal cases. For example, the studies show that for a defendant, with no criminal record, an Arab is twice as likely to be convicted (20%) than a Jew (10%).

Citizenship: The Israeli government argues that the Law of Return, which allows every Jew to immigrate to Israel and to automatically become a citizen, is not discriminatory between the citizens of Israel but is merely an immigration law. By using detailed examples, this report shows that the effect of this law discriminates between the citizens and the residents of Israel based on national origin. Family unification is one direct example of this discrimination between citizens of the State. In this situation, there is no chance for a non-Jew to acquire citizenship: The Minister of Interior has almost absolute discretion, as confirmed by the Supreme Court, and the policy of the Ministry clearly states "not to issue citizenship" to non-Jews.

The Right of Political Participation: Israeli law does not allow an Arab political party to run in the Knesset election if its platform denies that Israel is the state of the Jewish people. If the platform of an Arab political party states, for example, that the Law of Return should be amended or abolished because it discriminates against the Arab minority, it will be disqualified, according to Ben Shalom, the leading case on this issue. Thus, in order to qualify to run for the Knesset, an Arab political party cannot demand in its platform full and equal rights for Arab citizens of Israel.

Land & Housing Rights: The Absentee Property Law declares that anyone who left the country in 1948, is an absentee, and that his/her property comes under the control of the State. This Law was used only against Arabs, and even in reference to people who remained in the country but who were compelled to leave their land. These individuals are called "present absentees." The Defence (Emergency) Regulation 125 authorizes the military commander to declare land to be a "closed area." Once he so declares, no person is allowed to enter or to leave the area. By this regulation, the population of tens of Arab villages became uprooted. There is no uprooted Jewish population in the State.

The National Planning & Building Law prohibits the provision of basic services such as water and electricity to tens of unrecognized Arab villages in the State. Although these villages existed before the State's establishment, the main purpose of the law is to force the people to leave their villages and move to government-planned areas. There are no unrecognized Jewish villages in Israel.

Governmental planning policies ignore the needs of Arab citizens and Arab communities. In addition, the government restricts and limits the jurisdictional boundaries of Arab localities through its land allocation policy. For example, the government's 1998 plan for land allocation for housing completely excludes the Arab minority. According to the plan, land will be designated for the building of 23,000 apartments, none of which will be constructed in Arab towns.

Culture & Language Rights: The official institutions, state holidays, symbols, and heroes are exclusively Zionist-Jewish. Moreover, the Hebrew language is dominant, although Arabic is also an official language of the State by law. Several laws establish Jewish cultural institutions but none create similar centers for Arab citizens of the State. In addition, since the establishment of Israel, the State has not devoted any resources to creating or enriching Arab educational or cultural institutions, such as an Arab university.

Education Rights: The State Education Law codifies the objectives of the educational system, which serve only to advance Jewish culture and Zionist ideology. No autonomous educational system, run by Arab educators, was created for the Arab community to meet their needs as a distinct group. Arab students are assigned to read Zionist literature and poetry and not Arab Palestinian classics, which are studied throughout the Arab world. Moreover, Arab students devote more hours of classroom study to Torah, than to Arab religious studies, and are examined on Judaism but not their own religions. Thus, the educational system recognizes only one national group in the State, and as a result, the Jewish community is afforded the opportunity to preserve and enrich its culture, art and history whereas the Arab community is deprived of that chance. Furthermore, due to the discriminatory practices of the government, Arab students and schools suffer from a lack of basic services provided to Jewish students and schools. For example, 80% of the students who dropped out of school are Arabs. Arab schools lack educational enrichment programs, adequate infrastructure, and other necessary services.

Religious Rights: The budget of the Ministry of Religious Affairs shows the stark contrast between Jews and non-Jews, and the wide-scale discrimination against non-Jews. The Knesset Budget Law of 1998 allocates only 1.86% of the total (US $430 million) for the Muslim, Christian and Druze religious communities combined, although they comprise close to the fifth of the population. Thus, more than 98% of the total budget is allocated to support Jewish religious services and institutions.

Social & Economic Rights: Governmental offices use discriminatory standards and criteria, which work to exclude Arab individuals and marginalize Arab localities, such as the requirement of military service or the qualification for "national priority area" status. Furthermore, although the Equal Opportunity Law prohibits discrimination based, inter alia, on national origin, the law is not effective in providing equal employment opportunity for Arab citizens of the State.

Racism and Hate Speech: Racism occurs at almost every level in Israeli society. A main reason for the prevalence of racism in Israel is that State institutions consistently emphasize the national-religious character of the State. In addition, the militaristic nature of the State strengthens the myth of "us" versus "them" in the national consciousness of the Jewish majority in Israel. The Attorney General's Office rarely uses the available legal tools where hate speech is directed against the Arab minority. It chooses to pursue individuals who pose a threat to the 'culture of the majority'. These charges, aimed at protecting the public order or the national security, in effect, seek to pacify the majority who were shocked by the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin by a religious-nationalist Jewish student. The clear message sent by the prosecutor's office, as well as the judiciary, is that hate speech is not important where the interests of the Arab community are involved.

The authorities may limit hate speech or incitement to racism by prior restraint, however, they rarely use this power. In the few cases involving incitement to racism, the Supreme Court discussed these issues as the confrontation between hate speech and the freedom of expression, preferring the latter in most of the cases. In doing so, the Supreme Court has not considered the interest of protecting the minority and even, did not condemn the speech, as it does in cases involving Arab political activists. Of course, freedom of speech is important in building a liberal democratic society, however, the Arab minority does not have access to the majority media or to majority culture to forcefully counter the hate speech against them based on the liberal principle of "words versus words."