On 19 December 2006, the Haifa Magistrate Court decided to dismiss indictments filed against 41 parents of children who study at the Hewar School for Democratic and Alternative Education, alleging violations of the Compulsory Education Law (1949) for sending their children to study at a school without a license. In the decision, the Court accepted the arguments of Adalah Attorneys Hassan Jabareen and Sawsan Zaher that the indictments were filed in breach of the Compulsory Education Law itself. Read more about Haifa magistrate court dismisses indictments against parents
Today, the Supreme Court approved the use of the military criterion, which severely discriminates against Arab citizens. This ruling contradicts previous decisions of the Supreme Court which specify that the disparate impact test is the test which should be employed to determine the existence or otherwise of discrimination. Therefore, Adalah will request a second hearing before an extended panel of justices with regard to this ruling. On 13 December 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel rejected a petition filed by Adalah on 29 December 2005 against the Ministry of Construction and Housing. Read more about Israeli Supreme Court states that military-only mortgage benefits don't discriminate
Today, 12 December 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel, in a unanimous ruling delivered by nine justices, decided that the State of Israel cannot exempt itself from paying compensation to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who have been harmed by the Israeli military. The decision invalidates a provision of a recent amendment to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law (popularly known as “the Intifada law”). This provision was intended to release the state from all liability for compensation for any damages caused to Palestinians by the Israeli military or other security forces in areas designated as “conflict zones” (nearly all of the West Bank and Gaza) by the Ministry of Defense. Read more about Ruling: Israel cannot exempt itself from compensating Palestinians harmed by military
In a letter received by Adalah on 23 November 2006, the State Prosecutor’s Office in Israel announced that a criminal investigation for racial incitement into the publication of an article in Issue 160 of the ultra-orthodox Hassidic World magazine will be launched. Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker sent a complaint to the Attorney General on 23 August 2006, demanding the opening of an immediate investigation on the grounds that that the article, written by Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, contains racist statements and opinions which constitute incitement against Arabs in general and Muslims in particular. Read more about Investigation to be launched into racist article in ultra-orthodox magazine
On 28 November 2006, Adalah sent a letter to the National Insurance Institute (NII) requesting the issuance of administrative directives to mandate that official documents written in the Arabic language be accepted by all branches of the NII, without requiring that they be translated in Hebrew at the personal expense of those submitting the documents. Adalah emphasized in the letter that the NII has been employing a policy for several years.Adalah Attorney Noor Alatownh sent the letter after Adalah received numerous complaints of the NII’s refusal to accept documents in Arabic, including Shari’a court decisions regarding issues of personal status Read more about National Insurance Institute refuses official Arabic-language documents
On 18 November 2006, Adalah submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Israel against a ruling delivered by the Haifa District Court (sitting as a Water Tribunal) on 13 September 2006 that upheld prior decisions of the Water Commissioner not to provide water to hundreds of Palestinian Arab Bedouin families living in unrecognized villages in the Naqab (Negev). The Water Tribunal based its decision on the political issue of the “illegal” status of the unrecognized villages. Adalah argued in the appeal that the Water Commissioner’s decisions to deny the basic right to water to hundreds of families were based on improper and arbitrary considerations. Read more about Bedouin citizens of Israel denied water as means of transfer
On 12 November 2006, Adalah submitted a response to a petition filed to the Supreme Court of Israel by residents of the Jewish community town of Kamoun, located in the Galilee in the north of Israel. Adalah filed the response on behalf of residents of the Arab village of Kammaneh (the Kammaneh Local Committee), one of the three named respondents. The residents of Kamoun requested in the petition the cancellation of the master plan for the neighboring village of Kammaneh, unless three demands are met. In its response to the petition, Adalah argued that these demands are racist, and reminiscent of the former apartheid regime in South Africa. Read more about Arab village of Kammaneh subjected to apartheid policies in Jewish town of Kamoun's master plan
On 8 November 2006, Adalah wrote, for the second time, to “Mifal Hapayis,” the Israeli Lottery, demanding the cancellation of a plan to award 1,000 scholarships to students who serve in the Israeli army, on the grounds that it discriminates against Arab students, who are exempt from serving in the army, and generally do not do so. Adalah sent the letter after receiving a response from Mifal Hapayis, in which it claimed that placing the criterion of military service in the given context does not constitute discrimination against Arab students. Read more about Israeli Lottery offering 1,000 Scholarships Conditioned on Military Service Discriminates against Arab Students
According to a new report issued by the human rights organization Adalah, the ease with which the state (Israel) obtains ex parte orders for home demolitions from the Beer el-Sabe Magistrate Court, without the presence of the affected families, is a dangerous phenomenon. The state is exploiting legal procedures in order to compel residents of the unrecognized Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab to evacuate their homes and villages and to relocate to government-planned towns. Read more about Israeli court issues home demolition orders without presence of affected families
In Landmark Decision, Supreme Court Orders Public Security Minister to Cancel Promotion of Senior Police Commander Benzi Sau as it Contradicts Recommendations of the Official Or Commission of Inquiry: On 24 October 2006, the Supreme Court of Israel ruled that the promotion of Benzi Sau, a senior police commander during the October 2000 protest demonstrations, by the Minister of Public Security should be cancelled as it contradicts the conclusions of the official Or Commission of Inquiry. The Court ordered Sau to resign from his current position as Head of the Minister of Public Security’s Operational Staff Unit within one month. Read more about Israeli Supreme Court rules for cancellation of promotion of October 2000 commander
