Ngo comments on the Initial Israeli State Report on Implementing the un convention on the Rights of the Child

Percentage of schools offering social service programs^xxxiii

	Jewish schools			Arab schools
	Elementary	Jr. High	High School	Elementary	Jr. High	High School
Educational Counseling	67.4	95.7	94.0	18.7	64.4	74.4
Psychological Counseling	91.3	81.0	65.8	44.4	27.4	34.8
Social Workers	63.4	60.6	52.7	27.7	23.3	40.8
Tutoring Programs	55.2	10.2	25.0	37.4	5.3	18.5
Computer Services	55.4	57.7	53.7	26.2	33.3	32.2

Moreover, Palestinian students have far fewer opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities, as indicated in the chart below.

Percentage of elementary schools with extracurricular activities^xxxiv

	Jewish schools	Arab schools
School trips	46	17
Educational programs	90.1	29
Training courses	71.1	33.7
Foreign languages courses	19.6	8

Special Education

The Special Education Law (1998) guarantees free and individualized special education to all children with special needs, but resources allocated by the State for Palestinian students lag far behind those of Jewish students. Deficiencies include an insufficient number of classrooms and specialists, under-qualified staff, unsuitable curricula, unsafe buildings, and lack of transportation; and inadequate resources for mainstreaming students into the regular school system.
A recent example of the problems faced by Arab special education schools and students is the Galilee School. The Galilee School serves Arab children with special needs in Acre, a mixed Arab-Jewish city in the north with a population of about 45,000, 26% of whom are Palestinian. In September 1999, the Ministry of Education closed the Galilee School suddenly without providing an explanation. At the request of affected families, Adalah wrote to the Ministry demanding to know why the school had been closed and requesting that the Ministry provide reasonable alternatives for the Arab children enrolled in the school. The Ministry replied that it closed the school due to its deteriorating conditions, which posed a safety hazard to the students. The Ministry claimed that the school would be renovated over the course of the next year, and that all students would receive immediate placements in alternative schools. The Galilee School remains closed to students.
Arab special needs schools are particularly victimized by underfunding. After filing a petition to the Supreme Court on this issue, ACRI recently obtained a settlement which forced the state to acknowledge the gap in resource allocation for Arab special education students. The State committed to develop a plan to equalize resources by 2004. As a result of the petition, the Court noted the State’s historic failure to provide adequately for Arab special needs students.^xxxv
The need for special education programs is dire. A 1998 study found that the occurrence of developmental disabilities among Arab children is three times as high as among Jewish children, and the rate of blindness is twice as high. However, the study found that Jewish children are two to three times more likely to receive adequate treatment.^xxxvi
A similar study was conducted by SHATIL and submitted to the Knesset in 1998. The study found that more than 5,000 Arab children from 1st-9th grade are enrolled in regular schools without the special education resources they need; 1,400 Arab children entitled to special services such as speech and physical therapy do not receive them; and 30 out of 36 Arab special education institutions are not capable of providing the necessary services.^xxxvii Arab parents are also often placed in a terrible bind, forced to choose between meeting their children’s special education needs and enabling them to study in Arabic with a more suitable curriculum.^xxxviii When an Arabic school appropriate to a child’s disability does exist, it may be the only one in the country, requiring long, exhausting journeys from home which diminish students’ ability to benefit from the resources, or forcing children to board at school, away from their families and communities.
The Commission to Examine the Implementation of the Special Education Law (‘the Margalit Commission’) published its findings in July 2000. After hearing testimony from experts, lawyers, NGOs, and parents, the Commission found that “the most conspicuous and significant” inequality in the allocation of special education resources was between Arab and Jewish schools.^xxxix In its paper and presentation before the Commission, Adalah raised concerns about resource disparities between facilities and programs for Jewish and Arab students in the special education system, and the failure of the special education system to meet the language and cultural needs of the Arab students.^xl The Commission recommended the adoption of affirmative action policies in allocating resources and services for Arab special education in general, and in Arab Bedouin communities in particular.^xli The report noted other inequalities, including disparities in diagnostic testing that prevent Arab students with special needs from being properly identified and treated. The Commission found that even students who are placed in an Arab special education framework find themselves in overcrowded and poor physical conditions, which lack the proper infrastructure to enable them to realize their objectives.^xlii Despite the Commission’s submission of detailed recommendations, there has been as yet no implementation.
Higher Education
All of the aforementioned disparities have critically affected the percentage of Arab students in Israeli universities.
Percentage of students in Israeli universities, by degree program^xliii

		1990	1994	1996	1999
1^st Degree	Jewish	93.3	93.7	93.0	91.3
	Arab	6.7	6.3	7.0	8.7
Masters Degree	Jewish	96.4	97.1	97.0	96.4
	Arab	3.6	2.9	3.0	3.6
Ph.D.	Jewish	96.1	96.4	96.5	96.5
	Arab	3.9	3.6	3.5	3.5

The Ministry of Education provides financial aid to university students who went to the army, and consequently discriminates against Palestinian students who cannot and are not required to go to the army. The Ministry offers this assistance on top of other benefits and educational preferences, provided by The Absorption of Former Soldiers Law (1994). Most Israeli universities also privilege former soldiers in the process of university acceptance and in housing provision in university dormitories.

Students at Israeli universities have organized Arab student committees, which are active on numerous issues of concern to Palestinians attending these institutions, ranging from freedom of speech and political participation to admissions policies, scholarships, housing, and tuition. However, these committees are not recognized by the universities and are thus ineligible for funding. Arab students also face particular challenges in regards to freedom of expression. Students at Haifa University, where Palestinians comprise 18% of the student body, have been disciplined for even the mildest protest such as two individuals sitting with a sign noting the atrocities perpetrated by the Israeli military in the Occupied Territories.^xliv
Palestinian lecturers and professors at the university level are sorely underrepresented. Less than 1% of the faculty at Israeli universities - roughly 45 lecturers out of 5,000 - is Palestinian.^xlv Explanations range from simple racism to a dearth of Arab doctoral students to more attractive offers abroad. The absence of Palestinian academics is particularly notable in Middle Eastern and international studies programs.^xlvi