Widening Use of Military Service as a Condition for University and Employment Benefits Discriminates against Arab Citizens of Israel

• Arab students comprise only 9.6% of the student body in institutions of higher education in Israel; only 6.7% of civil service employees are Arab

• The increased use of military service as a criterion for benefits is a direct result of the popular political discourse linking equal citizenship rights to loyalty to the state

(Haifa, Israel) On 17 August 2010, Adalah sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Education, Finance, and Industry, Trade and Labor, and the Attorney General (AG) demanding that they work to end discrimination against Arab students in Israeli universities and colleges created by several laws which grant significant financial and other benefits to Israeli citizens who perform military service. The letter, prepared by Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher, also demanded that the government withdraw its support for laws and regulations which grant socio-economic benefits based solely on the criterion of military service.  In general, Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel are exempt from military service and thus they are excluded from receiving these state-allocated benefits.

In the letter, Adalah argued that granting benefits based on military service adds to the many obstacles faced by Arab youth in Israel today, limiting their access to higher education and employment in the civil service.

The letter followed a recent amendment of the Absorption of Discharged Soldiers Law - 1994, passed by the Knesset on 21 July 2001, as well as a new bill that aims to provide benefits in civil service employment to discharged soldiers.  According to the new law, any registered university or college student who has completed his or her military service and is a resident of a designated “National Priority Area” such as the Naqab (Negev) in the south, the Galilee in the north, or the Jewish settlements in the West Bank will be granted a “compensation package” including: full tuition for the first year of academic education; a year of free preparatory academic education; and additional benefits in areas like student housing.

In the letter, Attorney Zaher stressed that this benefits package goes far beyond and adds to the already extensive educational benefits package that is enjoyed by discharged soldiers in Israel. These benefits, which are linked directly to compulsory military service, serve as a discriminatory criterion for accepting students into institutions of higher education in Israel. 

For example, the minimum age for eligibility to most medical schools in Israel is 20 or 21 years old. This rule prevents Arab students from applying to medical school immediately upon graduating from high school at age 18. This age requirement is waived for medical students who delay their compulsory military service until after completing their medical education.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2008, Arab students made up a mere 9.6% of the total number of students in higher education institutions in Israel. Further, Arab citizens of Israel comprised only 6.7% of the total number of civil service employees, although they constitute around 20% of the total population.

Adalah also argued in the letter that the state should grant benefits to students based on socio-economic need, regardless of his or her performance of military service. "Granting additional privileges to discharged soldiers will increase the existing gap in access to higher education between Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel," Attorney Zaher stressed. 
Furthermore, Adalah argued that laws privileging discharged soldiers amount to a violation of the right to equality of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel.  This discriminatory allocation of benefits also contradicts the Student Rights' Law – 2000, which guarantees the right to equal access to higher education. In 2006, in response to a petition submitted by Adalah, the Haifa District Court issued a landmark judgment in which it recognized that privileging students who serve in the military discriminates against Arab students on the basis of their national belonging. The court also recognized that there is no rational relationship between military service and the allocation of student housing and other benefits, especially because the allocation of student housing is supposed to be based on socio-economic factors.  (See Civil Lawsuit 217/05, Haneen Na'amneh, et. al. v. Haifa University (Haifa District Court, decision delivered 17 August 2006)).

"The increased use of the military and national service as a criterion for benefits is a direct result of the political discourse linking equal citizenship rights to loyalty to the state, as embodied by military service. Politically-motivated discrimination between citizens based on national belonging is unacceptable and must be rejected," Attorney Zaher concluded.