Land, housing, and planning are core
issues of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In Israel, these issues are the main source and indicator of
inequalities amongst different strata of the society, especially amongst the
Jewish majority and the Arab minority. According
to a number of human rights organizations, fair and affordable housing for all
citizens is the responsibility of state government.[1] However Israeli Basic Law, the document that
stands in place of a written constitution, does not enshrine the “right to adequate
housing.” The Supreme Court does not
interpret the “right to human dignity,” which is guaranteed under Israeli Basic
Law, to include adequate housing.[2]
According to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, “everyone has the right to a standard of living
adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including
food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services”
(Article 25.1).
Although in summer 2011, Israeli
masses protested by the thousands for government solutions to socio-economic
issues, specifically the lack of affordable housing, the social justice
movement was orchestrated and monopolized by the concerns of the Jewish Israeli
middle-class. In reality, housing issues
are the most critical in the Palestinian Arab community, where citizens face
systematic discrimination in land ownership, renting and basic services. The Mossawa Center was central in coordinating meetings between Arab community
leaders and the Jewish leaders of the socio-economic protest in order to
encourage the movement to adopt key demands specific to the Arab community’s
needs. Following the release of the
governmental response via the Trachtenberg Committee (see Glossary of Terms),
it was evident that these demands were not taken seriously.[3]
Last summer was not the first time
the Palestinian Arab community’s housing, land and planning issues were brought
to the forefront. The international
media has intensively covered issues of “disputed land,” especially house
demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territories, since the Second
Intifada. In more recent years the
international community has also begun to cover the deteriorating situation of the
Palestinian Arab Bedouin living in the southern Negev desert. However, it remains understated how common
issues of land, housing, and planning are for Palestinian Arab citizens of
Israel, including citizens in the North (the Galilee), in the Triangle (the
Center) and in mixed cities (Haifa, Akka, Jaffa, Lod, and Ramle). The Or Commission, founded after the events
of October 2000 (see Glossary of Terms), highlighted the housing, land and
planning crisis in the Arab community and called on the Israeli government to
allocate proportional resources to Arab localities.[4] To this day, the government has not responded
to the Commission’s request.
The Mossawa Center, as the Advocacy
Center for Arab Citizens in Israel, wants to introduce the “Homeless in Your Own Home” blog
as an avenue for the global community to get a glimpse of the daily challenges
and resilience of the Palestinian Arab minority of Israel in finding equal and
affordable housing. While there are several
organizations, at home and abroad, that can provide statistics on the complex
situation of the Palestinian Arab minority, the Mossawa Center prefers that
this education comes directly from the mouths of the people it affects the
most. The Palestinian Arab citizens of
Israel featured in this blog each have a unique story to tell and our hope is
that you can listen to their stories with an open heart and mind.
The Mossawa Center is not
responsible for the thoughts and opinions of individual interviewees. The interviews are also not meant to be a
perfect representation of the Palestinian Arab minority, but are intended to
give a few voices to a marginalized community.
For quantitative research on the
Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel, please visit the following websites:
The
Mossawa Center: The Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel
Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in
Israel
ACRI: The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Mada El-Carmel: Arab Center for Applied Social Research
ACAP: The Arab Center for Alternative Planning
[1] ACRI: The Association for Civil Rights in
Israel, “The State of Human Rights in Israel and the OPT 2011,” 2011 <http://www.acri.org.il/camp/tmunat2011/index2.html>:
68
[2] ACRI: The
Associated for Civil Rights in Israel, “Shadow Report to UN Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” 2011
<http://www.acri.org.il/en/2011/11/02/acris-shadow-report-to-un-committee-on-economic-and-social-rights/>:
46.
[3] The Mossawa
Center, “The Mossawa Center’s Response to the Trachtenberg Report,” 2011
<http://www.mossawacenter.org/files/files/File/Publications/MC_position_on_Trachtenberg_.pdf>:1-2.
[4] ACRI, “Shadow Report...” 13.
