Adalah to Supreme Court: Reject State's Request to Delay Implementation of Court's Ruling in ‘National Priority Areas' Case

On 11 April 2007, Adalah demanded that the Supreme Court reject the Attorney General's request to extend a deadline requiring the state to cancel Governmental Decision 2288 regarding the classification of towns and villages as “National Priority Areas” (NPAs) in the field of education. On 27 February 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in a decision handed down by a panel of seven justices that, twelve months from the day of the judgment or 27 February 2007, the government's decision would be canceled because it discriminates against Arab citizens of Israel on the basis of nationality. This decision was delivered on a petition submitted by Attorney Hassan Jabareen, the General Director of Adalah, on behalf of The High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel and the Follow-up Committee on Arab Education, and in Adalah's own name in 1998 (See H.C. 2773/98 and H.C. 11163/03, The High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens in Israel, et al. v. the Prime Minister of Israel).

The towns and villages classified by the government within the framework of NPAs in the field of education enjoy significant benefits, provided both to teaching staff and students, in a range of subjects. Today, only four small Arab villages are included in the list of NPAs, despite the fact that the socio-economic situation in the large majority of Arab towns lag far behind that of Jewish towns, and that Arab communities are conspicuously disadvantaged in the field of education. As noted, the Supreme Court stated in the ruling that this system discriminates on the basis of nationality.

In its request to extend the date for implementing the ruling, the Attorney General's Office argued that the state is preparing for the complete implementation of the ruling and that the relevant officials in the Justice Ministry, Education Ministry and Prime Minister's Office are working on various aspects of the matter. However, due to the complexity involved in formulating alternative and equitable criteria, this preparatory work has not yet been fully completed, and the Education Ministry has requested an extension until 1 September 2007. In addition, the state argued that it would be difficult to cancel budgets in the middle of the school year because their was begun at the start of the current school year, and canceling them in the middle of the year would be to the serious detriment of students and teachers.

Adalah Attorney Hassan Jabareen argued that the submission date of the Attorney General's request (just a month prior to the end of the allotted period), and the reasons stipulated therein, reveal a lack of good faith and integrity. He noted that during the course of an entire year, the state had many options it could have pursued, either partially or completely, for advancing the implementation of the ruling and providing some of the benefits offered to towns and villages classified as NPAs in the field of education. For example, the state could have added even a small number of Arab communities to the list of national priority areas. However, the state did not move in this matter.

In addition, Attorney Jabareen argued, the state is working simultaneously to promote a bill in the Knesset (the National Priority Areas Bill-2007) that in effect constitutes an attempt to anchor in primary legislation the classification of towns and villages as NPAs in a way that would circumvent the law stipulated in the Supreme Court's ruling. The proposed bill grants general authority to the government to determine the list of towns and villages according to broad considerations, without clear and equal criteria, as required in the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling.

 Adalah's Response to the State's Request (Hebrew)

 The Decision of the Supreme Court (delivered 27.2.2006) (Hebrew)

Adalah's News Update, “In Landmark Decision, Supreme Court Cancels Long Standing Governmental Socio-Economic Plan as it Discriminates against Arab Citizens of Israel,” 12 March 2006