Adalah demands establishment of health clinic in Kahla and Makhool villages in the Naqab

On 31 December 2014, Adalah sent a letter to the Israeli Deputy Health Minister and to the Clalit Health Services calling on them to esablish a health clinic for the Arab Bedouin residents of the villages Kahla and Makhool in the Naqab.

Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher wrote in the letter that due to the lack of clinics in the two villages, whose population exceeds 2,000, residents are forced to travel to the town of Al Kseifeh, which is 9 kilometers away, in order to receive medical treatment. This is in addition to the lack of regular public transportation services between these villages, which makes it more difficult to seek treatment particularly for women and children who do not own private cars.

The letter also noted that the state is obliged to provide health services to these villages in accordance with the National Health Law, and that maintaining the status quo consitutes a violation of the law as well as a violation of the rights of the Bedouin residents of the villages to the provision of equal health services.  The letter added: "We do not see this violation of health rights in nearby Jewish towns. There we find more than one health clinic, and health services are available on a permanent basis for all Jewish residents. The current situation largely harms the rights of the residents of Kahla and Makhool villages in receiving equal medical treatment."   

The Kahla and Makhool villages were recognised by the state in 2003 as part of the Abu Basma Regional Council. Although 12 years have passed since their recognition, the two villages remain under the same living conditions in regards to basic services and infrastructure, and thus hardly differ from any of the unrecognised villages in the Naqab in both the living and planning aspects.