Planning and Building Committee must complete planning procedures for Arab Bedouin village of Al Fura’a

Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel sent a letter on 23 June 2017 appealed to David Leffler, Chairman of the Southern District Planning and Building Committee, and to Rahamim Yona, Chairman of the Regional Planning and Building Committee of the Abu Basma Regional Council, demanding that they act to complete the planning procedures for the Arab Bedouin village of Al Fura’a in the Naqab (Negev). The village of Al Fura’,a numbering approximately 6,000 residents, was recognized by the state 11 years ago at the beginning of 2006, and the village’s planning team submitted its planning conclusions in 2011. However, the local outline plan for the village has yet to be completed.

Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara wrote in her letter that the long delay in completing the planning procedures gravely violates the rights of the village's residents: "The delay in the planning of the village suspends it in the state it was in prior to its recognition. This delay makes it impossible for any of the village residents to initiate procedures to acquire building permits, it stalls the development of the village's infrastructure, and it prevents the possibility of building public institutions or of receiving services in the village...This delay affects the quality of life of the residents of Al Fura’a, physically, economically, culturally and socially. The planning of the village and its connection to infrastructure networks constitutes a basic need for its residents, and its delay constitutes a severe violation of the dignity of the residents, who are forced to live without basic and minimal living conditions.”

In its letter, Adalah also argued that the various planning committees have a legal obligation to advance the Al Fura’a outline plan within a reasonable period of time; “every administrative authority is obligated to exercise its legal authority at a reasonable pace, particularly when the matter under consideration concerns the basic rights and the minimal and appropriate living conditions of the residents of the village.”

In light of the above, Adalah demanded that the outline plane of the village of Al Fura'a be advanced immediately in order to connect the village to infrastructure networks and to develop it appropriately.