The Israeli Declaration of Independence states that "the State of
Israel ... will maintain full equality of political rights for all
its citizens without distinction to religion, race and sex, will
ensure freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and
culture." And yet, fifty years later, this remains a dream
unfulfilled; in many perspectives, we have not stood by this
mandate. To this day, Israel has neither a written constitution nor
a bill of rights to protect human rights and the right to equality.
The Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, passed two laws in 1992, known
as the Basic Laws, "Human Dignity and Liberty," and "Freedom of
Vocation," which effectively have constitutional force. And yet,
even as many consider these Basic Laws to be revolutionary, they do
not yet protect all fundamental rights.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Israel's leading
civil and human-rights organization, has faced these challenges as
an independent, non-partisan movement, by focusing its activities
on legal and legislative work, and on educational and public
outreach activities, dealing with the whole spectrum of rights and
liberties to people under Israeli sovereignty. The Israeli
government still has far to go in many areas to provide equal
rights for its citizens and residents. Discrimination on the basis
of gender, religion, disabilities, or sexual orientation is still
too commonplace in Israel. Inequalities exist in the provision of
social services, whether in the area of welfare services, health
insurance, or housing. Half of the employees meant to receive
minimum wage do not, and the minimum wage law is often not
implemented to rectify this. Police brutality is still a serious
problem, despite increasing awareness regarding the issue. The
rights of detainees and prisoners are also violated, despite the
fact that Israel is signatory to international conventions intended
to safeguard these rights. The monopoly of the Jewish Orthodox
philosophy within the religious establishment, founded and
sponsored by the state, violates the basic rights of coexistence,
free exercise of religion and the basic right of freedom of
religion. While ACRI is involved in these various issues to protect
civil rights and advance social justice, this article will focus on
three major areas: Arab citizens, foreign workers, and the Ministry
of the Interior's actions regarding family reunification.
Reverses in Equality for Arab Citizens
The right to equality is most severely compromised by rampant
discrimination against Israel's Arab citizens. Twenty percent of
Israel's population is Arab, comprising more than one million
citizens. Policies reducing gaps in resource allocation and
encouragement of social rights, which began under the Rabin-Peres
administration, have been halted over the last two years. For the
first 16 years of Israel's existence, this significant Arab
minority was treated as a potentially hostile segment of the
population and was, therefore, under military rule, which violated
many of their basic rights. In present times, while the Arab
citizens generally enjoy basic rights, such as freedom of
expression and political representation, discrimination against
them exists in almost all spheres and is particularly acute
regarding education, living conditions and vocation within the
public service. It is common knowledge that the principle of
equality with regard to the Arab population demands not only the
equalization of resources for Jews and Arabs, but also increased
allocation to the Arab sector to compensate for the huge budgetary
gaps of the past. However, in reality, many government ministries
are simply ignoring the needs of the Arab minority.
Another major issue, which has attracted greater public attention
this past year, is the long-standing state policy denying equality
to Arab citizens in the realm of land ownership and access to
housing. For the last 70 years, the government and the Jewish
Agency, a quasi-governmental organization, have been cooperating in
order to protect state land under Jewish control. The purpose of
this cooperation was, and still is, to prevent Arab citizens from
ever being able to lease those lands. According to repeated reports
in the press, the government and the Jewish Agency are drafting a
plan to expand the amount of land which is under Jewish Agency
ownership. ACRI wrote to the Attorney General warning him that
implementation of such a plan not only perpetuates past
discrimination, but would expand this unlawful policy to a greater
scope.
With regard to the land that is already under the control of the
Jewish Agency, ACRI is leading a precedent-setting case which is
pending in the Supreme Court. Adel Ka'adan, an Israeli Arab, who is
employed as a nurse in a local hospital, his wife, Iman, and their
three daughters currently live in the Arab village of Baka
al-Gharbiyya. In an attempt to improve their standard of living,
the family applied to purchase land in a nearby community, where
plots for building one's own home were being offered at bargain
prices. When they came to inquire about the land, they were told
that they could not purchase land in the town because the land was
owned by the Jewish Agency, which can only be contracted to Jews.
At the family's request, ACRI filed suit in the High Court of
Justice, submitting one of the most important petitions in its
history. Chief Justice Aharon Barak recently commented that this
case is one of the most difficult judicial decisions he has come
across in his entire legal career, and that the consequences are
incalculable. He offered the parties to solve the issue via
mediation, but after this process came to a standstill, the case
returned to the court's jurisdiction.
Against Discrimination
Arabic and Hebrew are the two official languages of the State of
Israel. Nevertheless, the various government authorities legally
required to release information in Arabic routinely disregard their
obligation. Additionally, while Hebrew is a required subject within
the education system for all, Arabic is an elective course for
Jewish students.
There is no law forbidding discrimination in the provision of
services, in the sale of products, or in admission to places open
to the public. Citizens who are victims of this kind of
discrimination, mostly Arabs or Sephardi Jews (Jews who originate
from Arab countries), have limited legal recourse to defend their
rights. While they are often prevented from entering discos, pubs,
swimming pools and other entertainment facilities, and even from
renting and buying apartments, no helpful direct statute exists to
challenge the offending party.
ACRI has proposed a law forbidding discrimination in sales,
services and access to facilities open to the public, for which the
Ministry of Justice has expressed support. In 1995, ACRI
successfully initiated the amendment to the Equality in the
Workplace Law, forbidding employers from discrimination based on
gender, race or religion. ACRI is currently applying this law in a
labor suit on behalf of two Arab students whose applications were
denied, allegedly on the basis of their race.
The Rights of Foreign Workers
In the past few years, hundreds of thousands of foreign workers
have arrived in Israel. Some estimate that their number is
currently as high as 200,000. Although the Israeli government
encouraged the arrival of these workers, it did not make provisions
for ensuring that their rights would be protected. As a result,
conditions prevail such that employers can easily violate the
rights of foreign workers, realizing that the workers have
extremely limited means by which to challenge them. A serious
violation of rights is connected to the "binding" of workers to a
specific employer via their passports, residency and work permits.
This creates dependency, and prevents the worker from finding
another employer, even if the current employer mistreats him and
violates the law with regard to his civil and labor rights.
Additionally, such fundamental social rights as health care are
highly problematic regarding foreign workers. There is still no
public health insurance for foreign workers, and they are supposed
to be insured through their employers by private insurance
companies. However, these companies act according to their own
economic interests and are not practically subject to government
supervision. ACRI's stand is that foreign workers should be insured
according to the National Health Insurance Law, with some
adjustments. Such an arrangement would ensure that foreign workers
receive medical care as necessary, and would save the expenses
hospitals incur in exacting payments from private insurance
companies. It should be emphasized that the children of foreign
workers are also not insured under the National Health Insurance
Law, and are thus discriminated against, relative to Israeli
children, in violation of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the
Child to which Israel is a signatory.
Finally, foreign workers are subject to police brutality and
violations of due process during searches and arrests conducted by
the authorities for illegal aliens. ACRI issued a petition
regarding violations of detainees' rights, which required the state
to bring each foreign detainee before a judge prior to his arrest
or deportation.
Interior Ministry Withdraws Citizenship
and Prevents Family Reunification
The right to family reunification is not protected by Israeli law
as is common in Western countries. The only place where this right
is mentioned is in the Law of Return, which is applicable only to
Jews or to relatives of Jews seeking to immigrate to Israel; only
the Interior Ministry has the authority to permit family
reunification. The Ministry is making it increasingly difficult for
non-Jewish spouses of Israeli citizens who have applied for
citizenship. In many of those cases, the Interior Ministry demands
that the spouse issuing the request leave the state and wait for
the answer to his appeal abroad, for a period which takes more than
five years. The restrictions affect especially immigrants from the
former Soviet Union and non-Israeli spouses of those who reside in
the occupied territories. ACRI challenges this policy in petitions
at the High Court of Justice.
ACRI is one of the human-rights organizations struggling against
the Interior Ministry's attempts to deny identity cards and right
of residence in the city to Palestinian Jerusalemites. The aim
appears to be to reduce the Palestinian population in Jerusalem
through the blatant misuse of residency laws. In 1998 alone, 788
Palestinians have had their residency revoked in the process of
quiet deportation.
Conclusion
Though the peace process is still Israel's top priority issue,
public awareness is focusing increasingly upon the internal
character of Israeli society. The quantity of NGOs has multiplied,
and they play an increasingly central role in public debate, a
fundamental ingredient for a vibrant civil society. The positive
effects of these developments are beginning to reach even the
political arena, signifying how the public has developed deep
sensitivities regarding state self-image. The agenda of the parties
in the May 1999 general elections for the Knesset must include
internal questions, such as advancing social justice and creating
equal conditions for groups that are discriminated against in
Israeli society. However, the extent to which the public demands
real social change remains an open question and it is this which
determines the situation of individuals and groups that lack the
power and resources to fight for their own equality.