Adalah Asks Attorney General to Prevent Destruction of Naqab Homes and Religious Buildings

Yesterday, Adalah sent a letter to Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein protesting the demolition, earlier that day, of a mosque in the unrecognized Arab village of Tel el-Malah, in the Naqab (Negev). The letter also requested that the Attorney General intervene immediately to stop the practice of home demolitions in the unrecognized villages in the Naqab.

Police officers and Interior Ministry forces destroyed the mosque at 6 a.m. yesterday morning. Located in the northeastern Naqab, between Arad and Showkit, Tel el-Malah is home to about 3,000 Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel. Although the village existed prior to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the state views it as an "illegal settlement." As a result, basic services such as water, sewerage and electricity are not provided in Tel el-Malah or in other unrecognized villages, and there is no planning, making it impossible to obtain building permits. Though the Israeli government has previously carried out the demolitions of scores of Palestinian Bedouin homes in the Naqab's unrecognized villages, yesterday's action marked the first time that authorities have demolished a mosque based on the contention that it was built illegally.

In his letter, Adalah Staff Attorney Morad el-Sana asked the Attorney General to immediately freeze the demolition of Palestinian Bedouin homes in unrecognized villages in the Naqab, and to find an alternative solution to the housing problems. Further, he asked the Attorney General to order the Southern District's Regional Committee for Planning and Building not to demolish any more religious buildings. The destruction of a mosque is extremely distressing for Muslims everywhere, Adalah wrote in the letter, and could serve to increase tensions in the region.

Adalah argued that the unprecedented demolition of the mosque is a harsh violation of the basic rights to freedom of religion and worship. These rights have been upheld as fundamental rights in numerous Supreme Court decisions stating that the freedoms of religion, worship and conscience are fundamental aspects of human dignity. Adalah also emphasizes that demolition of mosques violates the right to culture protected by Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Israel is a state party.

Further, Adalah argued that the government's policy of home demolitions in the unrecognized villages of the Naqab violates Palestinian Bedouin citizens' right to housing. The right to housing is protected by the Israeli Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, through the right to dignity. The right to housing is also protected by international human rights law, namely Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Israel is also a state party.