The Petition (H)
On 1 August 2005, the Attorney General’s (AG) office submitted its response to a petition filed by Adalah demanding a paved road to the elementary school in the unrecognized village of al-Fur’a in the Naqab (Negev), during a hearing on the case held before the Supreme Court of Israel. In the response, the AG stated that the relevant authorities will undertake the paving of a road. The AG also admitted that, in the opinion of one of the state's specialist engineers, the junction on the main road between Beer el-Sabe (Beer Sheva) and ‘Arad, which links it to the track leading to the school, poses serious dangers to the safety of those walking along the road due to poor visibility. However, the AG also stated that the state does not intend to improve the junction, arguing that it has no connection to the road leading to the school.
Adalah filed the petition to the Supreme Court on 13 July 2005, against the Ministries of Education, the Interior, Construction and Housing, and Transport, as well as the Abu Basma Regional Council in the Naqab. The petitioners demanded that the Supreme Court issue an order obliging the respondents to provide explanations for their failure to cut and pave the dirt track which currently provides access to the elementary school from the unrecognized village of al-Fur’a. As emphasized in the petition, the school, which has an enrolment of 1,187 Palestinian Bedouin children, lacks a suitable and safe access road, although it is situated four kilometers from the nearest main road. The petition was submitted by Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal on behalf of three fathers of children studying at the school, the head of the Local Committee of the village, and in Adalah’s own name.
During the hearing, Adalah argued that the question of the road leading to the school cannot be separated from the junction and its potential hazards. The relevant authorities should therefore undertake immediate renovation works to eliminate any potential dangers which could harm those traveling to and from the school, and in particular the 925 pupils who are transported by bus along the dirt track daily in order to attend classes. Pursuant to Adalah's arguments, the Supreme Court ordered the AG to submit an additional response regarding the junction within 30 days.
In the petition, Adalah argued that during the winter months rainfall makes the dirt track particularly treacherous, and that the consequent difficulties in or impossibility of reaching the school prevent the vast majority of the school’s students and teachers from attending classes, for fear of being injured. As a result, the school is frequently closed and lessons suspended. The lack of a safe and paved road thus severely impacts upon the pupils’ studies and disrupts their educational progress. Adalah also emphasized in the petition that the state’s failure to cut and pave a road to the elementary school represents a clear violation of the pupils’ rights to education and access to education under both Israeli and international human rights law. In addition, Adalah stressed that there are no legal objections to the renovation of the track, as the National Council for Planning and Building endorsed a plan in January 2004 for paving access roads to educational facilities in certain unrecognized areas, including the village of al-Fur’a. Adalah further contended that the authorities are both authorized and obliged to submit applications for the permits required by law for renovating the track, provide the necessary resources and budget allowances, and take all necessary steps to provide a safe road to the school for the pupils and teachers.
Before bringing the case before the Supreme Court, Adalah engaged in extensive correspondence with several ministries and governmental agencies, beginning with the Ministry of Education, which tried to transfer the issue to the Bedouin Development Authority, a body operating within the Israel Lands Administration. The Bedouin Development Authority, however, informed Adalah that it does not deal with infrastructural issues relating to Arab Bedouin villages outside of its authority, i.e., unrecognized villages. Adalah then approached the Abu Basma Regional Council, which in turn also passed the issue to the Bedouin Education Authority. Adalah then approached the Regional Council for Planning and Building in the South, which did not respond to any of Adalah’s repeated inquiries.
Adalah indicated in the petition that the constant delays in dealing with the issue on the part of the various authorities, as well as the shirking of their responsibilities, reveals their lack of willingness to respect the rights of the children who study at the school, and provides an additional indication of their general failure to carry out their duty as authorities entrusted with the protection of the rights of children in unrecognized villages in the Naqab.
H.C. 6773/05, Ali Afnan Jabouah, et. al. v. Ministry of Education, et. al. (case pending).