Supreme Court Rules that New Measures to Increase Water Access for Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab Are Sufficient - Adalah Argues that More Must be Done

On 16 February 2003, the Supreme Court of Israel dismissed a petition filed by Adalah in May 2001, demanding access to clean drinking water for thousands of Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel living in seven unrecognized villages in the Naqab (Negev). The Supreme Court ruled that certain measures taken by the state, as a result of the filing of the petition, provided sufficient remedies to meet the petitioners' demands. These measures included: (i) the establishment of an inter-ministerial Water Committee. While the state initially argued that only individual families could approach the Committee, it later conceded to Adalah's position that the acute lack of water for so many people required collective action. As such, the Water Committee has agreed to hear requests for water points from groups of 10 or more families; and (ii) the establishment of additional water access points for the unrecognized villages.

The petition was filed by Adalah Staff Attorney Marwan Dalal on behalf of Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel living in seven unrecognized villages in the Naqab, the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab, the Association of Forty, the Galilee Society, Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, and in Adalah's own name. The seven unrecognized villages represented by the petitioners are Abu Tlul, Shahbi, Wadi el-Neem, El-Gara, Em Tnan, Em Batin, and Drejat.

Adalah's petition charged that the National Infrastructure Minister, the Water Commissioner, the Israeli Water Company, the Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, and the Interior Minister are maintaining a policy of denying clean and accessible water to these unrecognized villages. Most residents of these unrecognized villages obtained water via improvised, plastic hose hook- ups or unhygienic metal containers, which are used to transport the water from a single water point located on main roads quite far from their homes. The petition included an expert opinion from a medical doctor, who detailed the health risks to the residents posed by this system of conveyance; two Ministry of Health reports noting health dangers relating to the water; and affidavits of residents describing the hardships entailed by lack of access to water. The petitioners maintained that water, like any other public good, should be divided in an equal, fair and non-arbitrary manner.

In its most recent briefing to the Court, the state reported that water access points have been added for five of the seven villages named in the petition: 18 for the neighboring villages of Abu Tlul and Shahbi; 17 for Wadi el-Neem; 17 for El-Gara; and 6 for Em Tnan. The state also represented that the procedure of connecting water pipes had begun in Em Batin, which is in the process of recognition. As for Drejat, the state added that a services centers will be established in locations that will become permanent towns in the future; the residents of this village would move to these towns and have an accessible water supply.

While welcoming the increase in access to water points for these unrecognized villages, Adalah argued that these measures were still insufficient to meet the residents' needs. Distant water points and improvised access to water is not unlike the current situation in the unrecognized villages. Adalah also argued that the proposed services centers, which relate to state land planning and land use policies, is are part of a long-term proposal developed without community consultation or consideration of present and future needs. Contrary to the state's representation, these unrecognized villages are not temporary settlements, and residents are not planning to move from their homes and lands.

Justices Eliyahu Mazza, Dalia Dorner, and Edmond Levy delivered the Court's decision of the Court to dismiss the petition. At the last hearing, however, Justice Dorner rejected the state's contention that a service center is an adequate solution to the problem of water access, and agreed with Adalah's argument that the planning of such centers is time-consuming and usually done without consulting the community. In addition, tThe Supreme Court ordered the respondents to pay NIS 5,000 in court costs.

Adalah stresses that the appropriate solution to the issue of water access is to connect the unrecognized Arab villages to the water network. Only in this way may Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel receive the same level of water access and service enjoyed by Jewish citizens of the state living in other towns and communal farms in the Naqab. It should be noted that while entire unrecognized Arab villages are deprived of adequate access to water, individual Jewish Israeli families, living on vast, expansive ranches in the Naqab, are promptly provided with water access and other services.

The positioning of the Water Committee under the control of the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) also raises concerns for Adalah. The ILA manages all "state land" - much of which was confiscated from Palestinians - and implements state land use and land allocation policy, a frequent source of conflict between the Palestinian Bedouin community in the Naqab and the state. As such, Adalah notes that the ILA, and subsequently the Water Committee, may be affected by external considerations in fulfilling their duty to provide water to Palestinian Bedouin citizens of the state.

Adalah is also concerned by comments made by Supreme Court Justice Mazza, in which he claimed that the Palestinian Bedouin community "chooses to be nomads and thus cannot expect the state to supply their tents with water." and that "they have cars outside their tents." In fact, the Palestinian Bedouin community in the Naqab has proposed alternative planning options to state authorities, including the establishment of permanent agricultural villages that would secure their rights and provide for their future development. These proposals have been dismissed by the state without consideration.