Equal Access to Governmental "Ofeq" Program Funds to Alleviate High Unemployment.
Petition filed in 7/02 with Tel Aviv University Law Clinic, on behalf of the National Committee of Arab Mayors, the Local Councils of Kufr Manda, Ein Mahel and Kesife, and in Adalah’s own name, against the Directors’ Committee for Fighting Unemployment in Settlements with High Unemployment Rates, the Government of Israel, and all of its ministries. The petition challenged the government’s arbitrary and discriminatory exclusion of Arab municipalities from the NIS 1.44 billion “Ofeq†program, which aims to improve areas where residents suffer from high unemployment rates and other socio-economic hardships. Of the 11 localities chosen for the program, only one is an Arab town: Tel el-Sebe (Tel Sheva), a government-planned town located in the Naqab, with a population of 10,000. According to 6/02 official statistics, however, all of the 25 towns with the highest unemployment rates in the country are Arab. The petitioners argued that clear, objective criteria, based on socio-economic standards, should be used in selecting towns to receive the program.
In 11/02, the Court issued an order nisi. In 3/03, the state responded that Arab municipalities should not be included in the “Ofeq†program as they receive similar benefits under the government’s Plan for Development of the Arab Sector ("the Plan"). However, the state admitted that it does not know exactly how much money each Arab town has received and for which project or projects under this plan. However, as Adalah argued in the petition, there is no overlap between the two programs, as the Plan only targets the basic infrastructural needs of poor Arab towns. At a Court hearing in 10/03, the state argued that the petition is moot as the 2004 state budget does not include additional funding for the continued implementing the Ofeq program, or the addition of any new towns to the program. However, the state also admitted that a few towns will continue to receive program funds through 2005, while implementation will continue in Lod and Akka through 2006.
Result: In 6/04, the Court accepted the petition, concurring with the arguments set forth by the petitioners. In a very important ruling, the Court held that: (i) The exclusion of Arab towns from specific socio-economic plans, which have defined and different objectives from that of the Plan, is prohibited discrimination. This exclusion also prevents attainment of the Plan’s goal – reduction of the disparity between Arab and Jewish communities; (ii) the existence of the Plan does not deny the rights of Arab communities to be included in economic assistance programs; and (iii) Arab communities are entitled to be included the future, based on equitable criteria, in the various socio-economic programs, if it is not proven that the objective of these plans – as reflected in the budget – is identical to the objective of the Plan. Although the Ofeq program has been discontinued and additional Arab towns did not receive funds pursuant to it, Adalah intends to use the Court's decision as precedent in its cases.
H.C. 6488/02, The National Committee of Arab Mayors, et. al. v. The Director's Committee for Fighting Unemployment in Settlements with High Unemployment Rates, et. al. (decision delivered 2/6/04).
