January - February Newsletter
The Forgotten Issue
by Sir Jeremy Beecham,
Board member New Israel Fund UK, and Vice Chairman of the Local Government Association
The Bush visit to the Middle East, like the Annapolis Conference, naturally focussed attention on the vexed questions of the peace process, the creation of a viable Palestinian state, and the settlements. But there is a complementary issue, frequently overlooked by the international community, namely the situation of the Israeli Arabs, twenty per cent of the population.
I have recently returned from a visit to Israel as part of a delegation of US, Canadian and UK philanthropic organisations, mostly Jewish, which explored the issues on the ground, meeting people from both communities. It was a salutary experience; many, though not all of us, were familiar with the facts, but to see them on the ground was to see them in sharp perspective.
This year Israel celebrates its 6Oth anniversary, and it has much of which it can be proud. But as successive Israeli Prime Ministers and Governments have acknowledged, there is an unacceptable gap between the State’s Jewish and Palestinian citizens, notwithstanding the pledge in Israel’s Declaration of Independence to afford equal treatment to all its citizens.
We saw and heard at first hand from both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis how far there is to go to fulfil that fundamental pledge. It should be recognised, however, that Israel’s Palestinian Citizens have the vote, there are elected mayors and councils and Palestinian members of the Knesset, and at long last a Palestinian Minister. There is moreover recourse to law and an independent judiciary, and in terms of both civil rights and material well-being Israel’s Palestinians compare favourably with the citizens of most of the region. Yet that is not the appropriate benchmark; what matters is how their condition compares to the Jewish majority (though there are many within that majority who are also disadvantaged).
The disparity is most starkly evident in the fields of education, housing and planning. Spending on Jewish children per capita is four fold that on their Israeli Palestinian counterparts. In both housing and planning there is a painful contrast between the provision in Arab towns and the much more generous provision in Jewish areas. Mixed towns have seen little or no new building for their Palestinian citizens since 1948. The problem is compounded by a planning system in which Israeli Palestinians are markedly under-represented.
In the fields of education and economic development these gross inequalities send a dual message. They offend the moral sense, and are quite contrary to Jewish values. Israel needs to develop and harness the educational and economic potential of all its citizens, not to mention the purchasing power of its poorer citizens, if is to thrive and prosper. The Or Commission, established to report on the second intifada of 2000, while critical of the Israeli Arab leadership, condemned the inequitable distribution of resources, but four years after its report little tangible progress has been made.
The philanthropic world, especially in the Jewish Diaspora, can contribute to realising the goal of equality between the sectors by direct project financing but also by pressing the Government of Israel to live up to its declared objectives.
The delegation found much to trouble it, but also much to inspire it, ranging from joint working by young Bedouin and Jewish women in education in the Negev to an art gallery in Um al Fahm exhibiting works by Jewish and Palestinian artists. Most of us came away strengthened in our resolve to try to ensure that the drive for equality ceases to be a forgotten issue, but rather assumes the high priority in Israel’s political, social and economic agenda recommended by the Or Commission. That way lies the most promising future for a state with a Jewish majority respecting the rights of its non-Jewish minority, and that minority respecting the aspirations of the majority for a homeland for the Jewish people.
Anti-Democratic Proposals Threaten the Powers of Israel's Supreme Court
The Supreme Court building in Jerusalem
The role of Israel’s Supreme Court as one of the main guardians of Israeli democracy and human rights is being seriously threatened.
Justice Minister Prof. Daniel Friedmann last week unveiled his proposed new law to weaken the powers of Israel’s Supreme Court and this is only the first in a series of measures that he intends introducing to curtail the powers of the country's highest court. "I plan reducing the power of the Court so that it cannot perform the basic function of restraining the authorities," Prof. Friedmann said in an interview to Haaretz before he was appointed Justice Minister just over a year ago.
Emeritus Supreme Court Judge Dalia Dorner spoke several months ago about a coalition of opponents who are out to destroy the Supreme Court as she knows it. "There has been a systematic campaign to shame the Supreme Court judges in the mass media using a populist style,' she said "There are newspapers that defend the courts but defence from the political system has completely disappeared – they simply want to eradicate the Supreme Court."
Israel does not have a formal constitution, which the Supreme Court is charged with safeguarding. But Israel’s Supreme Court does fulfil similar functions. In addition to being the highest court in the country, the High Court of Justice within the Supreme Court rules on matters regarding the legality of decisions by the government, local authorities and other public bodies and can challenge the constitutionality of laws enacted by the Knesset. The Supreme Court can also consider whether a proposed new law contradicts the collection of Basic Knesset Laws, which have been passed to defend the fundamental rights of Israelis and are considered to be chapters in the country’s as yet unfinished constitution.
The Supreme Court also provides a forum for individuals and organisations (including the New Israel Fund family) to seek redress for violations of their basic rights. Petitioning the High Court of Justice has been a central plank in New Israel Fund’s strategy on issues of human rights. Leading New Israel Fund grantees, often represented by the more than 50 New Israel Fund Law Fellows, have won numerous precedent-setting verdicts on such topics as the right of women to become IDF pilots, land allocation, torture, the right of Orthodox Jews to receive kosher food on IDF bases, employment rights, gay rights, the route of the Security Fence and much more.
Dan Yakir, ACRI's Legal Advisor walking the corridors of Israel's Supreme Court.
Dan Yakir, Legal Advisor to flagship New Israel Fund grantee the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) points out that these changes will have dire ramifications for Israel’s advocacy organisations.
Transport Ministry Ordered to End Abuse on Segregated Buses
Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the Transport Ministry to set up a committee within 30 days to investigate systematic humiliation of women on gender- segregated bus lines and recommend ways to change the situation.
The order followed a petition by veteran NIF grantee Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) of the Movement for Progressive Judaism in Israel (Reform) against segregation of the sexes on some of Israel's public bus lines.
IRAC demanded that Israel's Transport Ministry, which regulates bus services, must intervene after women’s accounts of being physically threatened and verbally humiliated for refusing to move to the back of the bus on the special lines where the front of the bus is reserved for men only.
"We welcome the idea to create a forum that will seriously examine the issue,” said Anat Hoffman, Director of IRAC, “and examine real ways to address the needs of a diverse public without hurting the right of privacy."
Government Website to Add Arabic Translations After New Israel Fund Grantees Protest
Watch this space – the Israeli government's Arabic site is under construction
The Israeli government is preparing a tender for the translation of its websites into Arabic.
The government decision came after two veteran New Israel Fund grantees, IRAC and Mossawa Centre protested that only 110 of the 8,258 screen pages on the government’s Internet sites, a little over 1%, have been translated into Arabic.
The government ministry sites at www.gov.il contain an extremely wide range of information from government tenders and job vacancies to services relating to driving licenses, tax payments and much more as well as a guide in lodging complaints about violation of rights.
Rajya Abu Akel, Mossawa’s Legal Advisor said. “The official status of the Arabic language is enshrined in Israeli law and it is mandatory for authorities to issue all their publications in Arabic. Denying access to information because of language prevents Israel’s Arab citizens from realising their rights.”
Einat Hurvitz, IRAC’s Legal Advisor observed. “One would expect that the State would offer equal access to information for all its citizens.”
In response Yoram Ariav, Director-General of the Finance Ministry said that the government gave the highest priority to improving its services. “We intend enabling the State’s Arab citizens broad and easy access to government Internet sites in their mother tongue,” he pledged.
Segregation in Ultra-Orthodox Schools
Itzik, an ultra-orthodox resident of Jerusalem's Bukharian Quarter, was annoyed by the presence of so many demonstrators near his home. "What are they protesting about now," he wanted to know, looking exasperated. His manner changed dramatically when he learned that the more than fifty protestors were demanding an end to discrimination against Mizrachi students in Ashkenazi ultra-orthodox schools.
"Well done. It's about time somebody did something against that," said Itzik whose grandparents came to Israel from Morocco. "Everybody knows that the Ashkenazim don't let Mizrachi children into their schools, or if they do they keep them in separate classes. My children haven't reached school age yet but I dread what will happen to them in years to come."
However, Itzik refused to allow his full name to be published for fear of reprisals by his Ashkenazi neighbours.
The protest was organised by four organisations in the NIF family: Tmura – The Israel Anti-discrimination Legal Center; Achoti - Sister for Women in Israel; Kollech – Religious Women's Forum; and Mimizrach Shemesh – The Jewish Social Leadership Center. The demonstrators gathered earlier this month outside the headquarters of the ultra-orthodox "independent education" movement to protest the systematic discrimination of Mizrachi students, before marching several miles to the Ministry of Education, which provides government funds to the ultra-orthodox schools.
Among the demonstrators was Esther Morano, Legal Advisor to Tmura, who has lodged a criminal discrimination complaint with the while also preparing a civil court suit for $14,000 in damages per student against the Bet Yaakov School in the West Bank settlement of Emmanuel. "This discrimination leaves deep scars on the children," she explains. "The Mizrachi students are made to wear different uniforms and even have different break times so the two groups won't socialise together. The school even built a wall to separate the students so they cannot see each other."
The topic has been in the headlines over the past year thanks to the efforts of the NIF family. Last March NIF's flagship grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) successfully petitioned the Jerusalem District Court of Administrative Affairs, after receiving complaints from the families of 113 Mizrachi girls rejected by Ashkenazi schools in Jerusalem. Judge Yehudit Zur instructed the Jerusalem Municipality and Ministry of Education to introduce measures to end the discrimination.
"One of the difficult aspects of this struggle is that families are reluctant to go public on this struggle," stresses Morano. "Many of the Mizrachi parents in Emmanuel fear they will lose their jobs if they speak to the press. Others are storekeepers or are self-employed electricians and plumbers and would have their businesses boycotted if they cause trouble."
The NIF family will continue monitoring the situation until the pattern of discrimination changes or at least until public funding is withdrawn from the offending schools.
Message from Ellen Goldberg, New Israel Fund Executive Director
New Israel Fund had a record year in 2007, raising over £1.1M from UK donors, an 18% increase from the previous year. In the name of our Board of Trustees and our staff, I want to thank all of our donors for your support and encouragement, which was received in many ways – time, funds and wise advice.
I personally want to thank our chairman, Mark Goldberg, for his untiring efforts on our behalf, to again welcome our newest board members, Sir Jeremy Beecham and Jon Mendelsohn, for broadening our pool of expertise by joining us, and to our veteran board members David Altschuler, David Goldberg, Martine Halban and June Jacobs, who have been particularly active in strategic planning and on our board committees. We also said goodbye to a long-standing board member, Oliver Mishcon, thanking him for his valuable involvement of many years, particularly in our Kick Racism Out of Football Campaign, and wish him well in his new professional ventures.
In 2007 we inaugurated our Human Rights Awards Dinner, which was not only successful financially, but introduced New Israel Fund to many people who became new donors. We look forward to seeing you all at our next Awards Dinner, which will take place in the autumn of 2008.
We hope this year will be blessed by expansion - in activities, revenue, and supporters – as we continue to bring leading analysts and activists to further educate us all about the challenges Israel faces, and how NIF, SHATIL and our family of organisations are working to meet these.
