In 2007, the Knesset announced it would establish a committee to work with the State Bedouin Authority to recommend solutions to the lack of land and planning policies for Israel’s Bedouin population in the Negev. The committee, directed by Judge Emeritus Eliezer Goldberg, granted ACRI the right to testify before the committee during its research phase. ACRI prepared a detailed presentation including human rights perspectives as well as international law principles in regards to Israel’s obligations to ensure equitable planning for the Bedouin community and to protect their rights as an indigenous population. Our staff attorney testified before the committee in May 2008.
On December 11, 2008, the Committee released its findings in a widely-publicized report. The general conclusions were promising, but the suggestions for implementation were not satisfactory, and it is left to be seen which recommendations will be implemented and how. As such, ACRI received the committee’s report with mixed feelings. Below is a summary of the committee’s key points.
The committee called first and foremost to recognize the unrecognized villages and to legalize buildings built illegally because of the impossibility of obtaining building permits. Legalizing these buildings would cease the common practice of house demolitions and would also require the State to install basic infrastructures for these buildings such as electricity, clean water, paved roads, and more. The committee also sharply criticized the State’s policies until now vis-à-vis the Bedouin including attempting to concentrate the entire population into derelict townships. Moreover, the report overtly acknowledged the State’s continued and systematic violation of the Bedouin’s basic rights. In addition, the publication of the report received widespread media attention in Israel, which itself contributed to heightened public awareness of this critical issue.
Despite these promising elements, there are several fundamental problems contained within the report. First, the Committee did not recognize the Bedouins’ historical claims to the lands and precluded any possibility of residents taking legal steps to gain official recognition of ownership or compensation. Second, the Committee set forth two conditions for recognition of villages: that each village has a “minimal mass” of residents and that the village does not prevent the authorities from carrying out current regional plans. In other words, if the village is located in an area already designated for use then it will not be recognized. This last condition would potentially exclude many of the villages from recognition. In general, the conditions were vague at best and given that the report is merely a proposal, it is difficult to determine to what extent its recommendations will be implemented and how.
ACRI called on the State to adopt the recommendation to recognize the villages and to work to find solutions in the short-term for the lack of basic services there. We will continue to work intensively on behalf of the Bedouin population of the unrecognized villages to seek a just solution for the planning crisis in the Negev in cooperation with our local partners.
