On 12 December 2006, Adalah and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP) submitted a position paper to the Knesset's Interior and Environment Committee entitled, “Land and Housing Shortages in Arab Towns and Villages,” in the context of hearings held by the committee on the issue. The paper was submitted by Adalah's Urban and Regional Planner Hana Hamdan and Urban and Regional Planner Inaya Bana from ACAP. The paper discussed the spatial constraints faced by those living Arab towns and villages in Israel and made a number of recommendations. The paper is divided into three main sections as follows:
1. Arab Citizens of Israel and Spatial Division
Although Arab citizens account for approximately 20% of the population of Israel, the area over which Arab municipalities have jurisdiction amounts to a mere 3% of the country's total land-space. Most of the remaining land falls under the jurisdiction of Jewish municipalities. This distribution is unjust and indicative of a governmental policy of discrimination against Palestinian Arab citizens, which has been employed from the establishment of the state in 1948 until today. This policy disregards the current and future needs of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel, their lifestyle and socio-economic underdevelopment, as well as their historical land rights and constitutional rights.
For example, according to official statistics, although the population of the Arab town of Nazareth is 64,300 people, compared with 43,700 people for the adjacent Jewish town of Natzeret Illit, i.e. over 1.4 times larger, the jurisdictional area of Natzeret Illit is 42,000 dunams, which is over three times greater than that of Nazareth, which covers just 14,200 dunams.
2. Lack of Land and Options for Housing
This unjust spatial division has led to a shortage of land for the current and future development needs of the Arab minority in all fields, including infrastructure, public services and housing. Further, as a result of the fact that the expansion of the jurisdictional areas of Arab towns and villages have barely been increased since 1948, at a time when developed areas in Arab villages and towns increased 16 times, the population density within the jurisdictional areas of Arab towns and villages grew twelve-fold between 1948 and 2000.
Furthermore, the inequitable allocation of land, and consequent increase in population density, has led to the “urbanization” of Arab towns and villages, without the necessary infrastructural and economic development and the increased provision of local services.
3. The Demand for Housing Units
According to calculations based on projected population levels and living standards, the required number of housing units for Arab citizens of Israel will stand at 92,000 units by 2010, reaching 195,000 units by 2020. This increase of course demands a solution through the allocation of land and appropriate planning, in the framework of the future development of Arab towns and villages.
On the basis of this analysis, Adalah and ACAP made a number of recommendations, including:
• Expanding the jurisdictional areas of Arab towns and villages;
• Creating more space for the development of Arab towns and villages;
• Establishing towns and neighborhoods of an Arab character, widening the housing options available for Arab citizens, and creating industrial and commercial areas in Arab towns.
The Position Paper (H)
