M.Margalit, Report ( to the Minister of Education and Culture and the Minister of Science)of the Commission to maximize the Ability of Students with Learning Disabilities, Jerusalem,1997.
i The Statistical Yearbook of Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), 1999 (http://www.cbs.gov.il). A Ministry of Education report published in 1998 provides strikingly different statistics regarding successful matriculation. According to this report, during the 1994/5 school year, only 40% of Jewish students, 22% of Arab students (as a whole), and 6% of Arab Bedouin students successfully matriculated. See excerpts from The Ministry of Education, The Investigatory Committee on the Bedouin Education System in the Negev, 19 March 1998 (available at http://www.bgu.ac.il/bedouin) (hereinafter the Katz Committee Report). Also note that when the smaller number of Arab pupils remaining in school at this point is taken into account, the proportion of Arab students with this qualification is far lower than that of Jewish students.
ii CBS, 1999.
iii The State Education Law 1953, as amended 29 February 2000.
iv The initial bill proposed to amend the State Education Law, introduced by MK Amnon Rubinstein of the Meretz (liberal Zionist) party, focused on democratic values and multi-culturalism. On the floor of the Knesset, MK Shmuel Halpert of United Torah Judaism, an ultra-Orthodox religious party, successfully added the provision for compulsory Torah studies. MK Rubinstein subsequently tried to pass a bill to limit application of the State Education Law to Jewish schools.
v Relly Sa’ar and Gideon Alon, “Rubinstein tries to reverse Haredi bill requiring Arabs to study Torah,” Ha’aretz English Edition, 24 February 2000.
vi Gideon Alon, “Government survives revolt, no-confidence vote,” Ha’aretz English Edition, 14 March 2000.
vii There has never been an Arab minister or deputy minister of education.
viii See Sami Mara’i, Arab Education in Israel (New York: Syracuse University Press, 1978) and Majid Al- Haj, Education, Empowerment, and Control: The Case of the Arabs in Israel (New York: State University of New York Press, 1996).
ix Relly Sa’ar and Gideon Alon, Ha’aretz, 24 February 2000.
x Zionist authors include H. N. Bialik, Tchernichowsky, Ahad Haam, S. Y. Agnon, and Rahil. Palestinian authors include Mahmoud Darwish, Rashid Hussien, Ghassan Kanafani, Fadwa Tukan, and Tawfiq Ziad.
xi Some of these secondary objectives were achieved in the February 2000 amendment, but without the development of a school system or curriculum sufficient to the needs of Arab students.
xii Divrey HaKnesset, 22 December 1999.
xiii In September 2000, Adalah successfully advocated for Mr. Abdallah Ayoub, a teacher whom the Ministry of Education refused to place in his local school system for nine years. The Ministry claimed that there were no suitable vacant positions; however, Mr. Ayoub believed that he was denied a position because of his past political activities in the Islamic movement.
xiv “The State of Israel, Combined Seventh, Eight and Ninth Periodic Report of Israel Concerning the Implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, Submitted to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,” July 1997 at 23, para. 105.
xv Sami Adwan and Ruth Firer, The Narratives of the Palestinian and Israeli Conflict in Palestinian and Israeli History and Civics Textbooks and Curricula Statements. United States Institute of Peace, August 1999.
xvi Committee for Early Childhood Education, Equal Access Initiative, Shatil: The Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations, November 2000.
xvii Data collected by Adalah in July 2001 from the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages in the Negev, the Galilee Society, Shatil, the Negev Association for Education, and other local NGOs and local councils in the Negev.
xviii See H.C. 2773/98, The High Follow-Up Committee on Arab Affairs, et. al. v. The Prime Minister of Israel; motion for injunction filed 7/99.
xix H.C. 8534/99, The Parents Committee in Segev Shalom, et. al. v. The Government-Appointed Council in Segev Shalom, et. al.
xx CBS, 1999.
xxi See The Ministry of Education, Pedagogical Secretariat, Bridging the Gaps and Arab Education in Israel, (2000) at 3 (hereinafter Bridging the Gaps Report).
xxii R. Khamaisi and A. Atrash, “A Field Study on the Physical Conditions of Arab Schools in Israel,” A Report on the Education of the Arabs in Israel, The Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, July 1995.
xxiii Id.
xxiv See Joseph Algazy, “What about the Bedouin?” Ha’aretz English Edition, 9 May 2001.
xxv See H.C. 4671/98, Dr. Awad Abu-Freh, et. al. v. The Authority of Bedouin Education, et. al., Takdin Elyon 1998(3) 459. See also Moshe Reinfeld, “Power to Bedouin, Court Declares,” Ha’aretz English Edition, 24 August 1998.
xxvi H.C. 5221/00, Dahlala Abu Ghardud, et. al. v. Ramat HaNegev Regional Council, et. al. (pending).
xxvii According to statistics gathered by community members, 635 children aged 3-18 live in the village, with a total population of about 5,000. Ministry of Education data shows that during the 1999-2000 school year, only 420 children from Be’er Hadaj registered for school. Thus, a startling 34% of school-age children did not attend school. These statistics are cited in the petition.
xxviii Former Minister of Education Yossi Sarid submitted an affidavit on the petitioners’ behalf, calling on the State to build the school within Be’er Hadaj. The Supreme Court did not intervene in the decision of the Ramat HaNegev Regional Council’s order to demolish the school or the Ministry of Education’s decision to remove the school from Be’er Hadaj.
xxix The new location proposed for the school is the site of a new government-planned town. The government seeks to move and re-settle the residents of Be’er Hadaj into this new town. The town is only in the initial planning stages, and there are many objections to the plan from the community, which was not consulted. The electric company also objects to this new location, as it claims to already have an approved plan to establish a nuclear power plant nearby.
xxx See Bridging the Gaps Report. As with successful matriculation statistics, supra 186, the Katz Committee Report notes significantly different statistics for drop-out rates. According to the Katz Committee Report, for 1994/95, the percentage of students who drop-out of school before completing the 12th grade are 43% in the Arab community as a whole, and 67% of Arab Bedouin students.
xxxi H.C. 2814/97, The Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, et. al., v. Minister of Education, et. al., P.D. 54 (3) 233.
xxxii Id. For an analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision, see Samera Esmeir, “On Legal Space, Political Forces, and Social Injustice,” 2 Adalah’s Review 56 (Fall, 2000).
xxxiii See Bridging the Gaps Report citing to CBS statistics for the school year 1995-96.
xxxiv Id at 4. Citing statistics for the school year 1994-95.
xxxv H.C. 5466/00, Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education, et. al. v. Minister of Education, Takdin Elon 2001(1) 1741.
xxxvi See also Einat Fishbain, “Disabled kids fail to receive proper care,” Ha’aretz English Edition, 14 December 1999, citing to a study published by the National Insurance Institute/JDC-Brookdale Institute in 1998.
xxxvii Committee for Improving Special Education, Equal Access Initiative, Shatil: The Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations, 1998.
xxxviii In some schools, like Ofakim in Haifa for children with cerebral palsy, more than 40% of the students are Arab but classes are given only in Hebrew and the curriculum emphasizes Jewish culture. See Tamar Rotem, “Special education for Arab children is only available in Hebrew,” Ha’aretz English Edition, 16 July 2000.
xxxix Ministry of Education, Report of the Commission to Examine Implementation of the Special Education Law, 20 July 2000 at 4.
xl Letter sent by Adalah (22 March 2000, letter on file with Adalah).
xli Report of the Commission to Examine Implementation of the Special Education Law at 5.
xlii In June 2000, MK Mohammed Barake submitted a request to then-Minister of Education Yossi Sarid for statistical information on resources for children with learning disabilities. In his response, the Minister said that of 1,181 classes, only 96 were operated in Arab schools. Sarid also admitted that one of the reasons for the discrepancy in resource allocation was the lack of professional personnel and paramedical resources.
xliii CBS, 1999.
xliv Political activity at the state-funded university is heavily restricted: almost any political activity on campus requires a permit, although permits are required on the streets of Haifa only when more than 50 people participate in an open space and either a lecture or speech on a political topic is given or the event is a march. See Orna Kohn and Tawfiq Rangwala, “Rights on Campus: Palestinian Students, Political Space and Haifa University,” in 2 Adalah’s Review 69 (Fall 2000).
xlv Vered Levy-Barzilai, “Know thy neighbor - but don’t hire him,” Ha’aretz English Edition, 12 July 2001.
xlvi Id.
xlvii Shlomo Swirski and Yaron Yecheskel, “How Israel’s 2000 Budget Affects Arab Citizens,” Adva Center, December 1999. (hereinafter Swirski & Yecheskel, Adva Report)
xlviii Wadi’a Awauda, “Five-Year Plan for Improving Arab Education: How It’s Holding up in Reality,” Report on Equality and Integration of the Arab Citizens of Israel 2000-2001, Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality, Spring 2001 at 2.
xlix Id.
l Id. See also Swirski & Yecheskel, Adva Report.
li Dr. Dafna Golan, Bridging the Gaps Committee Chair, telephone interview 3 July 2001.
lii See Katz Committee Report, supra 186.
liii In August 2001, The Center for Bedouin Studies and Development at Ben Gurion University reported that none of the Katz Committee recommendations had been implemented. SHATIL-Beer Sheva reported in August 2001 that about 10% of the recommendations proposed had been implemented per year. While the budget request to improve the educational system is about NIS 50 million, the government to date has allocated NIS 6 million.
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