Ending Segregation on the West Bank’s Roads
January 6, 2010
brahim Samara’s business repairing window blinds was dealt a devastating blow in 2002 when the Israeli army decided to prohibit West Bank Palestinians from using Route 443 between Jerusalem and the growing city of Modiin. The 42 year-old resident of the village Beit Ur Al Fauqa, which is adjacent to the highway he cannot use, is one of 55,000 Palestinians living in villages near the highway whose lives have been blighted by the ban. Read>
Israel’s First-Ever Human Rights March Attracts Thousands of Supporters
December 15, 2009
Last Friday more than 100 Israeli social change organizations, many of them NIF grantees, and thousands of individuals, joined flagship NIF grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) for the first-ever human rights march held in Israel. The event, which marked International Human Rights Day, was funded with a special grant from NIF and logistical assistance from SHATIL. Read>
High Court of Justice Rules against Segregated West Bank Road
November 18, 2009
Israel’s High Court of Justice has ruled against a military order preventing Palestinians from driving on a highway in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank. The petition was presented on behalf of 22 Palestinian villages by flagship NIF grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI).
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Government Agrees to Pave Roads to Bedouin Schools
October 13, 2009
The Israeli government has agreed to allocate $18.7 million to pave roads to nine schools in the Negev, serving eight recognized and five unrecognized Bedouin villages. Three children have been killed on these roads on their way to school in recent years. The roads are impassable during the winter rains, while blindingly dusty conditions make them deadly for most of the year. Read>
Supreme Court Orders Separation Fence near Netanya Rerouted
September 30, 2009
The Supreme Court has ordered the Israeli government to dismantle and reroute 6.6 kilometers of the Separation Fence east of Netanya. The ruling followed a petition by flagship NIF grantee Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and residents of the West Bank Palestinian villages Far’oun, Jabara, Jayyus and Falamieh. Read>
Recognized Bedouin Village Connected to Water Grid
September 22, 2009
Five years after the Negev Bedouin village of Darjat was recognized by the Israeli government, the 900 residents have finally been connected to the national water grid and have running water in their homes. Read>
Three Deaths Later: Government to Improve Roads to Bedouin Schools in Response to SHATIL Campaign
September 22, 2009
Last week , the Israeli government made a pledge to the Supreme Court to allocate NIS 70 million ($18.7 million) for paving and improving the infrastructure of roads leading to schools in eight recognized and five unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. The government decision was made after extensive lobbying and repeated petitions to Israel's Supreme Court by the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) on behalf of the SHATIL-led Umbrella Forum for Arab Education in the Negev and Bimkom, along with a separate petition by Adalah. The work is to be completed by 2013. Read>
Schools Pressured Into Accepting Ethiopian Immigrants
September 1, 2009
Three private Orthodox schools in the city of Petach Tikvah backed down and agreed to accept Ethiopian immigrant students after the government threatened to cut off their funding. More than 100 Ethiopian immigrant students were originally rejected by the schools, which did not offer excuse or apology for their racist admission policies. Read>
