Land, planning and housing laws and policies in Israel have been criticized for discriminating and adversely affecting the Arab citizens of the state since it was founded.

Recently there have been several legislative initiatives in this field, including a proposed major reform in the Planning and Building Law and an approved reform in the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Law. These initiatives are opposed by different environmental and Human Rights organizations and other stakeholders, who claim among other things
that these reforms do not tackle any of the problems of the Arab citizens of Israel and sometimes even worsen the situation.

The reform in the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Law was approved by the Knesset in the summer of 2009 and implies changes in land ownership. The nature of these changes brought residents of the Arab village of Makar, in Western Galilee, and Hanna Swaid of Hadash to file a petition in January 2010 to the High Court of Justice (BAGAZ), arguing that the suggested land reform violates the rights of Israel’s Arab citizens.

In the following newsletter, Hanna Swaid explains the present problematic condition of Arab localities and population in Israel with regards to land, planning and housing, and highlights some of the adverse implications of the recent reform of the ILA Law.