Equal Access for Arab Neighborhoods to Urban Renewal Programs.

Petition filed in 1/00 against the Minister of Housing and Building and the Prime Minister for the government's discriminatory implementation of the "Urban Renewal Programs" (URP). Despite the stated purpose of the URP, which is to reduce societal inequities in the country, almost all of the poorest Arab municipalities are excluded. Since the establishment of the URP, 56 Jewish localities and 99 Jewish neighborhoods have benefited from the URP, as compared with 4 Arab villages and 14 Arab neighborhoods, which received these programs. Petitioners demanded that objective criteria, in accordance with socio-economic standards, be established to determine URP beneficiaries.

Result: In 12/01, the Court ruled that the criteria used to implement the URP should be equitable in character, and that the social-educational component of the URP, which includes funding for enrichment programs, scholarships, and extra-curricular activities, should be implemented in Arab communities in a way that meets their needs and level of deprivation. Beginning with the 2002 budget, the Court ruled that the percentage of the URP's social-educational budget designated to Arab communities should not be less than those communities' percentage-of-the-population. Further, the Court rejected the state's argument that a NIS 4 billion multi-year program to assist Arab communities promised in 2000 but not budgeted in 2001 or 2002, was a sufficient substitute for the URP.

(H.C. 727/00, The National Committee of Arab Mayors, et. al. v. The Minister of Housing and Building, et. al.)