Challenge to the "Wine Path Plan" for the Establishment of Individual Settlements in the Naqab
Petition submitted in 3/06 in Adalah's name and on behalf of Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights and The Negev Coexistence Forum, after the Sub-Committee for Principle Planning Issues (VALNTA') rejected objections to the plan submitted by the organizations. The named respondents are the National Council for Planning and Building (NCPB) and Israel Land Administration (ILA). The petition seeks the cancellation of the Regional Master Plan TAMAM 4/14/42: Partial District Master Plan for the Southern District - Amendment No. 42, otherwise known as the "Wine Path Plan." The petition states that the plan seeks to establish and retroactively legalize approximately 30 expansive ranches or "individual settlements" in the Naqab for the purpose of securing the land for exclusive use by Jewish citizens and preventing the use and development of the land by Arab citizens of Israel. In general, individual families live in the settlements, often without permits and in violation of the planning and building laws and regulations. Adalah argues that the establishment of individual settlements under the plan runs contrary to administrative regulations and violates planning principles. Moreover, the plan's goal to restrict the amount of land in the Naqab available for use by Arab Bedouin constitutes a violation of their right to equality and the principle of distributive justice, and is dehumanizing and indicative of the state's view of Arab citizens living in the Naqab as a "problem" for which it seeks to implement "solutions" through discriminatory planning policies. VALNTA's decision to reject the objections submitted by the organizations therefore contradicts the principles of equality, justice in land allocation and sustainable development. The petition included two expert opinions critical of the plan written by Hubert Law-Yon, former Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, and by Oren Yiftachel, Associate Professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Development at Ben-Gurion University.
The Supreme Court rejected the petition on 15 June 2010.
HJC2817/06, Adalah, et al. v. The National Council for Planning and Building, et al.
