The Ministry of the Interior

Total Budget: 4.5 Billion NIS

Development Budget: 500 Million NIS

Number of Employees: approx. 1,500

Number of Arab Employees: 41 → 2.8%

Project:

The Ministry participates in a special project for enhancing quality municipal government initiated and administrated by SIKKUY in conjunction with the Ministry of Labor and Welfer, the Society of Culture, Youth and Sports and JDC-Israel.

Issues:

1. National Planning Scheme 35 (NPS 35), Planning Schemes, and Municipal Boundaries

· Over thirty planners and design and research teams worked on the preparation of NPS 35. There was only one Arab planner among them.

· The main problem in implementing NPS 35 is the lack of available land within the Arab municipalities’ jurisdiction.

· The area of jurisdiction in the Arab municipalities covers approximately 2.5% of the State’s territory.

· Approximately 3.5% of State lands are privately owned by Arab citizens.

· The average area of jurisdiction for Arab communities has decreased by 64% in comparison to what was defined as “the village lands” during the British Mandate.

· Since the establishment of the State, the area of jurisdiction of the Arab municipalities has barely increased, yet the built-up areas have increased sixteen-fold.

· Between 1948 – 1995, the population density within the jurisdiction area has increased eleven-fold.

The Areas of Jurisdiction of the Arab Municipalities, a brief description of the problem:

Various public bodies, such as the Ministry of Defense, The Ministry of Construction and Housing, The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Jewish Agency, and the Jewish National Fund, have a mandate to build and develop throughout the country. According to the Law of Planning and Construction (1965), the Ministry of the Interior is a regulatory body only. The system consists of three levels: the national council for planning and construction; six regional committees; and about 130 local planning committees that generally reflect the requirements of the residents. The two higher levels, which are appointed by the government, do not have democratic control or reporting mechanisms.

Contrary to the situation existing in the Jewish settlements, the local Arab committees are appointed by the Ministry of the Interior and are almost always manned by Jews. Inherent tension exists in this framework between the Arab councils and the local planning committees.

Many Arab communities find themselves in an implausible position: rural plans are for the most part rendered by government agents who are often not in touch with Arab needs. The Arab communities are forced to accept these plans because the supply of basic services, such as electricity and water, are contingent on their acceptance. In addition, houses built without authorized building plans are as a rule in danger of being demolished, and many residents find their lives tension-filled during lengthy periods of uncertainty. In many communities, the crisis of “illegal” building continues even after plans have been approved, because by then, the plans are often already outdated and no longer reflect current needs.

Among Arab citizens, the process of preparing plans and their approval uncovers recurring problems of land scarcity, insufficient public construction, illegal construction and land disputes. There are border disputes between almost all the Arab communities and the neighboring municipalities (in particular the regional councils). The borders designated for the Arab communities created a divided and fragmented area, which sabotages the potential for regional organization that would perhaps enable the improvement of services and opportunities in the Arab communities.

The planned areas (“the blue line” which defines the allowable construction and development areas) covers only about 32% of the Arab councils’ areas of jurisdiction, and the area for actual residential construction represents 82% of the Arab communities’ territory. This factor creates confusion among many Arab citizens, and uncertainty about where construction is possible and permitted. This situation limits the Arab council’s power to influence development within its area of jurisdiction.

Land is a limited resource, but the distress caused by lack of land is neither static nor stable, and increases annually with the population’s growth. Each additional dunam allocated to the Arab municipalities’ area of jurisdiction must come from another source, usually from the neighboring Jewish municipality or from state owned lands within the community. To that purpose, it is necessary to effect a fundamental and historical change in the government’s priorities, towards recognizing Arab citizens as entitled to equality in benefiting from state resources, and foremost from land. This process will enable the proper implementation of NPS 35 for Arab citizens, equally to that of Jewish citizens.

2. Expropriation of Land Adjacent to the “Trans-Israel” Highway

· Along the stretch of Highway “Trans-Israel” between Gedera and the Barkai junction, there are plans to expropriate 1,833 dunams of private land from Arab citizens and 1,364 dunams of private land from Jewish citizens.

· The “Trans-Israel” Highway is intended to pass along the “ridge of hills”, an area heavily populated by Arab citizens who were by historical events driven into the “Shomron Foothills” since 1948.

Expropriation of Land Adjacent to the “Trans-Israel” Highway

The “Trans-Israel” Highway may contribute to and improve the situation: The expropriation of private land affects not only the Arab citizens who reside along the stretch of the highway but also the Jewish communities. They began some time ago, with government support, preparing the necessary infrastructures for developing commercial and industrial areas, which will enable them to benefit from the opportunities the highway presents. The Arab communities, on the other hand, lag behind. It is not enough to issue a general invitation to the Arab citizens to participate in this commercial initiative. The Ministry of the Interior must initiate a focussed appeal to the land owners who may be adversely affected by the highway and to the municipal jurisdictions through which the highway will pass. The Arab municipalities along the ridge of hills must be recognized as “peripheral settlements” in spite of their geographic proximity to the country’s center because they are indeed peripheral in social and employment terms. Once they have been recognized as peripheral settlements, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will be able to give them the attention and care they deserve.