|
|
Arab mayors protest (Photo credit: The Joint List)
|
|
Success: Adalah helped Arab mayors secure a significant increase in emergency state resources for Arab municipalities in Israel facing the severe economic repercussions of the coronavirus crisis that are threatening provision of essential public services. On 10 May 2020, on behalf of the National Committee of the Heads of Arab Local Authorities in Israel, Adalah petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court demanding equal funds for Arab towns. State financial assistance offered to Arab towns amounted to just 1.7% of aid provided to all municipalities nationwide, although Palestinian citizens comprise over 20% of the population. Following Adalah’s petition, Ministry of Interior and Finance officials held talks with the National Committee and reached an agreement, with the Knesset Finance Committee allocating NIS 200 million (US $57.2 million) for Arab towns. Read more.
Media highlights: The Jerusalem Post, 10 May 2020; Haaretz, 12 May 2020
________________________________________
Adalah also continued to seek to expand the age group eligible to receive unemployment benefits to include 18-20 year-olds. Under current law, individuals must be 20 years of age to qualify for the benefits. On 12 May 2020, Adalah sent a follow-up letter to the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Welfare Services arguing that the age of eligibility should be lowered because a sharp rise in unemployment caused by the coronavirus crisis is pushing many families, especially Palestinians, deeper into poverty.
|
|
|
Demanding criminal investigations into Israeli navy’s violent attacks on fishermen in Gaza Strip
|
|
|
|
Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza coast (Photo by UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan)
|
|
Gisha, Adalah and Al Mezan sent an urgent letter to Israel’s Attorney General and Military Advocate General to demand that they halt attacks by the navy on Gaza fishermen, and open criminal investigations. Recent weeks have seen a 70% increase in Israeli navy live fire at fishermen at sea, threatening fishermen’s lives, severely damaging their boats and equipment, and harming their livelihoods amid rising concerns for even greater food insecurity and economic uncertainty amid the COVID-19 crisis. Read More.
Media highlights: Middle East Monitor, 21 May 2020; Wafa, 21 May 2020
|
|
|
Demanding protections for prisoners in overcrowded Gilboa prison from COVID-19 outbreak
|
|
|
|
Gilboa prison (Photo: Google Maps)
|
|
On 7 May 2020, Adalah filed an urgent petition to the Israeli Supreme Court demanding Israeli authorities take all necessary actions to protect some 450 prisoners from a COVID-19 outbreak. The prisoners are classified by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) as security prisoners – overwhelmingly Palestinians – and are being held in the overcrowded Gilboa prison. Overcrowding in Israeli prisons poses a grave danger to prisoners’ health and lives and hinders any measures to prevent the virus’ spread. Adalah also demanded that the IPS publish detailed, daily information on the health conditions of prisoners and on any measures taken to protect them. Read more.
Media highlights: Haaretz, 12 May 2020; Middle East Monitor, 14 May 2020; Wafa, 12 May 2020
________________________________________
● Adalah also continued to challenge Emergency Regulations banning prisoners from meeting lawyers and family members and demanding access to telephones. At a Supreme Court hearing on 28 May, Adalah again requested an injunction to freeze the regulations. (The Knesset is now considering a bill to ban visits for one year). Read more.
● Adalah continued to seek a Supreme Court order granting permission for MK Yousef Jabareen to visit Palestinian prisoners. Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, Palestinian prisoners, denied access to lawyers and families, have been totally isolated from the outside world, and parliamentary checks are more critical now than ever. Adalah has been fighting for MK visits, which have been banned for all but four MKs, since the 2017 prisoners’ hunger strike. Read more.
|
|
|
Demanding coronavirus isolation conditions appropriate for Arab Bedouin women in unrecognized villages in the Naqab
|
|
|
|
Woman outside her house in Hura village in the Naqab (Photo: Mati Milstein)
|
|
|
On 21 May 2020, Adalah filed a petition to the Supreme Court demanding that Israeli authorities provide culturally-suitable isolation conditions for Arab Bedouin women living in the unrecognized villages in order to comply with Health Ministry guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic. The petitioners asked for temporary buildings in Al Zarnooq (pop. 5,000) and Al Zaarora (pop. 2,600), and for a plan for the other unrecognized villages, home to over 70,000 people. Adalah argued that the women do not have the conditions for isolation in their homes, that there are no suitable options for isolation in their villages, and that social norms prevent the women from staying in hotels outside their villages, as the state proposed. Adalah filed the petition on behalf of eight women’s rights groups, the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab, the Negev Coexistence Forum, and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning.
|
|
|
ADALAH’S PRESENTATIONS IN PUBLIC WEBINARS
|
|
|
|
|
|
