On May 10, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) intervened with the Attorney-General, urging him to oblige the Israel Land Administration to reconsider a housing tender in Jaffa’s Ajami neighbourhood, which authorized 20 housing units to a restricted group of national-religious buyers.
ACRI and partner NGO Ofek Hadash intervened earlier with the Land Administration demanding it ban the exclusive acquisition group of national-religious from participating in a tender to build 60 housing units in the Etrog Market. ACRI warned that the participation of exclusive groups in public tenders leads to closed, elitist neighborhoods in the heart of Israeli cities.
In its letter to the Attorney-General, ACRI stated, “the Land Administration is not merely a supplier of lands. It is a public body accountable for safeguarding lands for the best interest of the entire public. The Administration cannot attempt ‘circumventing questions concerning the constitutionality of restricted participation [in tenders]’, as its officials wrote in a letter to ACRI. On the contrary, it is the Administration obligation to do so”.
As part of ACRI’s efforts to ensure housing rights to all, Attorney Gil Gan-Mor demanded in a principled intervention submitted in February that the Administration set clear rules for groups competing in the Administration’s tenders, so as to ensure standards of equality are met and no discrimination applied. Acquisition groups limiting the general public should be an exception to the rule, he stated, implemented only when there is a clear social need to cater for needs of minorities or as affirmative action combating existing discrimination.
In August 2008, ACRI submitted a petition to the Tel Aviv Administrative Court against a tender for a housing project in the city’s center that would limit buyers to hi-tech and other high-income professionals.
More:
Preventing Discrimination by Buying Groups [article in TheMarker]
Real Estate or Rights: Housing Rights and Government Policy in Israel [ACRI report – English]
