Adalah to Finance Minister: Lack of Transparency Surrounding the Work of the Board of Trustees of Waqf Properties in Haifa and Criteria for Appointing its

On 5 October 2009, Adalah sent an urgent letter to Israeli Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz, and the government official responsible for the Islamic waqf in Israel, demanding that the appointment of new members to the Board of Trustees of Waqf Properties in Haifa be delayed until clear and appropriate criteria are set forth to govern appointments. Adalah sent the letter on behalf of the Association for Social Development in Haifa and other representatives of the Muslim community in the city.

According to Islamic law, waqf properties are inalienable religious endowments made by Muslims for religious or charitable purposes. During the British Mandate (1917-1948), administration of waqf properties in Palestine was transferred to the Higher Islamic Council. In 1948, Israel confiscated all of the waqf properties on the pretext that members of the Higher Islamic Council were considered to have been “absent” at the time of the establishment of the state, and declared these properties as “absentees’ property.” The state then transferred the waqf properties to the Custodian of Absentee Property, established under the Absentees’ Property Law – 1950. The confiscation is in breach of Islamic law, which holds that property dedicated to the waqf must be used in perpetuity for the purpose intended by the waqf donor. The Absentees’ Property Law also authorized the Custodian to transfer the real estate property under its custody. Many of these properties were transferred to the Development Authority, the Jewish National Fund, and other Zionist bodies that have administered this land, originally bequeathed to Muslims, for the benefit of the Jewish population of Israel. Other properties, such as many mosques, have been left abandoned and fallen into dilapidation.

Adalah sent the letter to the Finance Minister after the Association for Social Development in Haifa received confirmed reports that the appointment of new members to the Board of Trustees of Waqf Properties in Haifa was about to be completed without any consultative process with any representative of the Muslim community such as a qadi or imam or other respected leader.

In the letter, Adalah Attorney Alaa Mahajna strongly criticized the ambiguity created by the Finance Ministry around the appointments, emphasizing the fact that there are no clear criteria to govern the process. Adalah argued that these appointments are particularly important given the major religious, social and cultural significance of the institution of the Islamic waqf to the lives of Arabs and Muslims in Haifa.

Adalah further argued that the absence of clear, appropriate regulations compromises the integrity of the procedures and leads to the selection of board members on an arbitrary basis. Regulations would allow the public to monitor and criticize the board’s work where necessary, and increase transparency in decision-making, as is appropriate to all public institutions.

In the letter, Adalah demanded that the Muslim community in Haifa be allowed to participate in the process of selecting new members to the Board of Trustees of Waqf Properties in Haifa, as a body that has a direct impact on their lives. Furthermore, the community’s past experience has demonstrated that the appointment of board members without community consultation, and in some cases against their will, has resulted in incidents whereby board members have breached their duty to administer waqf properties in the interests of Muslims in Haifa.

Adalah stressed that the board of trustees conceals important information from the Arab public in Haifa, such as the names and number of trustees and the list of the properties that fall under their authority. Even the protocols of their meetings are not made public. All of this critical information is kept far from the scrutiny of members of the Muslim community in Haifa and the public in general, who have no way of accessing it. The current state of affairs breaches the principle of the public’s right to know, which is considered under Israeli law and Israeli Supreme Court case law to be the fundamental right of every individual and group, argued Adalah.