High Court of Justice Instructs Polluting Factory or School to Move

September 1, 2009

NIF’s ongoing program to promote environmental justice scored another victory in Israel’s High Court.  Concerned about the students attending the Shuafat High School in East Jerusalem, which is located adjacent to a heavily polluting metals factory, NIF grantees Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED) filed a petition to the court.  In response, the High Court of Justice ordered the Ministry of Education to either immediately move the school for Arab teenage boys to a new location, or close the factory.

The ruling reversed an earlier decision by the Jerusalem Administrative Court, which allowed the current situation to continue. Officials from Israel’s Health Ministry visited the school and told the court that the metals factory clearly endangered the students’ health. ACRI attorney Tali Nir said, “One wonders whether the authorities would have dared treating Jewish children from West Jerusalem in a similar manner.”