July 4, 2007
Subject: FW: RCUV's letter to the Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development
From Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev (RCUV)
The RCUV sent the following letter to the Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development on June 28, 2007 through Joseph Shechla, coordinator of Housing and Land Rights Network, Habitat International Coalition
To: All participants in the Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development, Geneva, 28 –30 June 2007
The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV) is requesting your help to combat the racist policies that destroy the lives of the weakest of 'Israel's citizens': the residents of the "unrecognized" villages.
The 45 unrecognized villages in the Naqab region either existed before the establishment of Israel in 1948, or were created by the State of Israel in the 1950s by transplanting Naqab Arabs from their ancestral lands. Despite this, the Government of Israel has refused to recognize them. Thus, these villages are left without services like paved roads, water, electricity, kindergartens, high schools and medical care. This situation has made the people in these villages the poorest and the most underprivileged. Worse is the Israeli government practice of destroying these villages by ordering the incremental demolition of homes. Demolishing homes is "legal," as the 1965 Israeli "Planning and Construction Law" ignored the existence of the Naqab Arabs, thus making all existing and future structures "illegal." According to Minister of Interior Roni Bar-On, there are 42,000 such "illegal" structures in the Naqab, and all should be demolished. In planning and development practice, Israeli authorities officially "recognize" only Jewish settlements, denying construction and access to services for the unrecognized villages in the Naqab and putting obstacles in front of the development of the Arab towns and villages.
In its review of Israel's first report concerning its implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in December 1998, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR) noted "with deep concern" the fact that a significant number of Palestinian Arab citizens continue to live in unrecognized villages without access to water, electricity, sanitation and roads, under continuous threat of home demolition and land confiscation, and expressed regret that provision of services to the few villages that had been recognized had been inordinately delayed (UN doc. E/C.12/1/Add.27, para. 27). The Committee also expressed "grave concern" about the situation of Bedouin citizens of Israel, in particular, the number of Bedouins living below the poverty line. Their living conditions, their levels of malnutrition, unemployment and infant mortality are all significantly higher than national averages (para. 28). Furthermore, the Committee noted that Israel's plan for developing the Naqab fails for the most part to take into account natural demographic growth in the Arab sector (para. 27). It also asked Israel to review its relationship with discriminatory parastatal institutions, namely the Jewish National Fund and World Zionist Organization, to which the State delegates its development responsibilities (para. 11).
In its May 2003 review of Israel's second report, the UN CESCR expressed its continued concern about the discriminatory practices of the Jewish National Fund and the World Zionist Organization and the situation of Bedouins in Israel, particularly those living in villages that are still unrecognized (para. 12). Residents of these villages still have limited or no access to water, electricity and sanitation, and continue to be subjected on a regular basis to land confiscations, home demolitions, fines for building "illegally," destruction of crops, and systematic persecution by the Green Patrol, in order to force them to resettle in "townships" (UN doc. E/C.12/1/Add.90, para. 27). Under its list of suggestions and recommendations, the Committee advised Israel to recognize all existing Bedouin villages, their property rights and rights to basic services, and to end its policy of destroying Arab citizen's homes and agricultural crops (para. 43).
In fact, nothing of Israel's policy has changed since these concerns were expressed. The government demolishes more and more homes under the pretext of their being unlicensed. Meanwhile no authority grants licenses to these Bedouin citizens' rightful homes. Since the beginning of 2007, the State demolished 132 homes inhabited by 1,048 of the Naqab's people. Moreover, home demolition orders were issued against another 299 homes.
The State of Israel treats them as second-class citizens by maintaining rules and procedures for its Jewish citizens different from Arab citizens. Its policy of discrimination against the community of the unrecognized villages deepens poverty. The Ministry of Agriculture discriminates against the Arab sheepherders by denying them licenses to graze their sheep in open areas, which adds to their suffering. Furthermore, the authorities destroy the Arab's agricultural crops, thus, depriving them of a major source of livelihood.
The State claims that the residents of these villages have to leave their villages where they live now and move to the seven planned townships that were established in the late 1960s and 1970s or to the recently recognized ones. However, this demand is illogical for four main reasons:
1. These people live on their ancestral land and there is no reason for them to move to another place and leave their property.2. There is no enough room for all these people in the already existing townships and the recently recognized villages;
3. The lifestyle of these people does not allow to move to these villages and township and they have to live in their community;
4. The seven planned townships are the poorest with the highest rate of unemployment;
The State officials have been involved in demonizing the whole community of the unrecognized villages claiming they are taking over the land. Facts are exactly the opposite of what the government officials claim. The Arabs in the Naqab constitute 27% of the whole population in the Naqab and they live on less than 2% of the Naqab. They claim the ownership of 5% of the whole Naqab. The government asks the Arab Bedouins to move to the planned townships, and at the same time, it gives single Jewish families hundreds and thousands of acres to live on. The authorities provide services to the single family ranches while it denies 90,000 living in the unrecognized villages these basic services.
The RCUV, a democratically elected representative body of the 90,000 people residing in the unrecognized villages, has been struggling against these policies and advocating for a just solution of the plight of the unrecognized villages. The RCUV also advocates that Israel recognize all existing Bedouin villages, their property rights and rights to basic services, and to end its policy of home demolition and destruction of agricultural crops. Beyond this, the State is obliged also to adopt an affirmative action policy to bridge the gaps between those disadvantaged citizens and the rest of the population, and to ensure their reparation for the long years of discrimination.
The RCUV calls upon all the national and international bodies to pressure the Israeli government and decision makers to stop their discrimination against all the Palestinian citizens of Israel, in general, and the residents of the unrecognized villages, in particular. The State of Israel should respect its commitments to respect the international conventions and laws and allow its citizens enjoy all their rights regardless of their religious or national background.
We call upon the Civil Society Forum on Sustainable Development to send letters to the Government of Israel protesting its policy and urging it to reform. We also call upon the Forum to address the issue of the unrecognized villages in the Naqab in all the possible forums and ways advocating for a just solution. Finally, we call upon the Forum to support the activities done by the RCUV and its constituency in their struggle for recognition.
Public Relations, RCUV
For more details, contact: Faisal Sawalha
Tel: + 972 (0)50 734 – 2917
Email: faisal.rcuv @ gmail.com
The Regional Council for the
Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab (RCUV) is a grassroots
NGO and a representative body of the 90,000 Bedouin Arabs
living in the unrecognized villages in the Naqab.
Contributed by John Spritzler