Adalah to Employment Office: Unequal Travel Reimbursement for Palestinian Residents of East Jerusalem who Participate in the Wisconsin Work Program Constitutes Prohibited Discrimination

On 30 September 2009, Adalah sent a letter to the Employment Office , the Minister of Industry and Trade and the "Faithful Work" Center demanding that an order be issued to equally reimburse the travel expenses of all participants in the "Lights of Work" program (Wisconsin program) from East Jerusalem. Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who are participating in the work program are reimbursed NIS 80 or NIS 200 for travel expenses as compared to Israeli Jewish participants from West Jerusalem who receive up to NIS 1,000. In the letter sent by Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zawsan, Adalah also demanded compensation for the East Jerusalem participants in the program for the previous period in which they received only partial reimbursement of their travel expenses.

According to a report published in Haaretz on 7 September 2009, the authorities asked Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to present documentation to have their travel expenses reimbursed, while the Jewish residents of West Jerusalem were not asked to do so. Further, the East Jerusalem residents are reimbursed after they have paid for their travel to the program, while the West Jerusalem residents are given travel tickets before they travel and without examining the distance between their place of residence and the Center in which the program is being run.  The report also found that there are no specific instructions for the reimbursement; it is done arbitrarily and is related to the participant’s identity and whether he/she lives in East or West Jerusalem.  

Participants in the “Lights of Work” program are recipients of income security allocations or those who demand to receive income security from the National Insurance Institute and who live in the area of operation of this program, and have been directed to it. Participation in the program is required for individuals to receive income security. Participation gives the individual certain rights, including reimbursement of travel without stipulating the number of hours that he/she must work.

Adalah argued in the letter that affording different travel reimbursement payments and conditions for Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and the other participants from West Jerusalem constitutes prohibited discrimination because it is based on the participant’s place of residence in Jerusalem and the participant’s national identity.

Adalah emphasized that the program participants are job seekers; they come from a low socio-economic background and the income security allocations are their only source of livelihood. The failure to reimburse their travel expenses in full puts a particular strain on them, and may force them to give up work in this program, which will lead to their destitution. “This constitutes a violation of these individuals’ right to social security,” argued Attorney Zaher.