Following Adalah's Petition to Supreme Court: AG Announces Cancellation of Military Service Criterion to Lease Land in Arab Bedouin Towns in the Naqab
On 6 October 2005, Adalah submitted a petition, a motion for an injunction, and a request for an urgent hearing to the Supreme Court of Israel, in its own name and on behalf of Mr. Riziq Gilawi, an Arab Bedouin citizen of Israel, against the Bedouin Development Agency (BDA), the Israel Lands Administration (ILA), and the Ministry of Construction and Housing. The petition challenged discriminatory policies in place regarding the leasing of land and eligibility for housing assistance for inhabitants in seven Arab Bedouin towns in the Naqab (Negev) – Rahat, Lagiyya, Kseife, Tel el-Sabe, Hura, ‘Aroer, and Shkeb (Segev Shalom). Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal submitted the petition, motion for injunction, and request for an urgent hearing on behalf of Adalah and Mr. Gilawi.
Mr. Gilawi, his wife, and their three daughters live together with Mr. Gilawi's extended family, including his parents, married and non-married siblings and their children, in Rahat and suffer from a suffocating shortage of living space. Mrs. Gilawi was born in the Tulkarem region in the 1967 Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs), and the couple has submitted an application for family unification. The couple's three daughters, aged four, two and one years old, have Israeli citizenship.
The BDA is engaged in the marketing of land for the construction of homes in the seven Arab Bedouin towns. The BDA stipulates that an individual submitting an application for leasing land should have served in the Israeli army or in other Israeli “security forces.” In addition the petition challenges Decision No. 1028, adopted by the ILA in May 2005, which affords large discounts on the price of the land to those who have served in the Israeli army or any of the other Israeli security forces.
The BDA imposes the further condition that an applicant should be in possession of a certificate from the Ministry of Construction and Housing in order to qualify for housing assistance. However, the Ministry does not issue the relevant certificate in cases where the applicant is a citizen of Israel who is married to a non-citizen, regardless of his or her socio-economic situation.
In the petition, Adalah argued that the policy of conditioning eligibility for discounted leases for land and awarding large discounts on leasing land for those who serve in the Israeli military and in the security forces is illegal, as it is not based primarily on socio-economic need and as there is no connection between army service and the marketing of land in general, and land in Arab towns in the Naqab in particular. Adalah contended that the hidden aim behind these policies is the Israeli authorities' exploitation of the socio-economic difficulties of the Arab Bedouin: the policy seeks to entice them into enlisting in the Israeli army or other Israeli security forces. Adalah emphasized the illegal nature of using state-owned economic resources in this manner, and argued that this policy confirms that the government is continuing to neglect its obligations towards Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel living in the Naqab, rather than behaving with integrity, as is its duty.
Regarding the denial of housing assistance to citizens of Israel married to non-citizens and who otherwise meet the Ministry's condition of their having nowhere to live, Adalah contended that this policy is discriminatory as it distinguishes between citizens on an illegitimate basis – one's choice of life partner – and disproportionately impacts upon Palestinian citizens of Israel, a significant proportion of whom marry non-citizens from the OPTs and other Arab countries. Further, Adalah argued that there is no link between the status of a citizen's spouse and the right to housing. Adalah stressed that the Ministry's policy violates the right of the petitioner to a family and to live with his family, as well as the right to housing of his three daughters, who, like their father, are citizens of Israel.
On 17 October 2005, the Attorney General's Office, in its initial response to the petitioners' request for an injunction, announced the cancellation of the military service criterion as a pre-condition for eligibility to submit an application to lease land in the seven Arab Bedouin towns.
The AG's Office added that the Ministry of Construction and Housing had annulled its policy of denying housing assistance for leasing land in the towns to married couples, one of whom is a citizen and the other a non-citizen, in April 2005. The AG further stated that the Ministry will award assistance to such couples where the non-citizen spouse is present in the country.
In its response, the AG's Office requested that the Court not issue an injunction and that it will submit its written response to the petition. On 19 October 2005, the Court decided not to issue an injunction, and asked the petitioners to reply within fifteen days to the response of the AG's Office.
H.C. 9457/05, Rizeq Gilawi, et.al. v. The Bedouin Development Agency, et. al. (case pending).
