Published: February 14, 2012
Israeli Housing Policies Fail to Repond to Needs of the Poor and Minorities
By Mina Fabulous 
An independent United Nations human rights expert today said the new housing policies in Israel have failed to respond to the needs of minorities and the socially disadvantaged or the poor.
Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing Raquel Rolnik urged Israel to revise its housing policies.
Ms. Rolnik cites that the recent privatization, deregulation and commercialization of public assets in Israel "have resulted in urban and housing policies that made it increasingly difficult for low-income families to obtain affordable accommodation, violating their right to adequate housing.
Dozens of Palestinians, many of whom relatives of prisoners in Israeli jails, stage a protest, throwing shoes and other objects, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's convoy crosses into Gaza from Israel.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe |
Israel had an impressive record of providing adequate housing for waves of Jewish immigrants and refugees. However, Ms. Rolnik pointed out that this time, the Israel government failed to respond to the needs of minorities and the socially disadvantaged.
Ms. Rolnik conducted a two-week visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. She reported that the right to housing among Israeli Arabs and Palestinians living under military occupation are also affected by ongoing threats.
"Throughout my visit, I was able to witness a land development model that excludes, discriminates against and displaces minorities in Israel which is being replicated in the occupied territory, affecting Palestinian communities." -Ms. Rolnik
She explains that the plans for relocating Bedouins in the Negev - inside Israel - as well as decades of promotion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and in Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem - "are the new frontiers of dispossession of traditional inhabitants, and the implementation of a strategy of Judaization and control of the territory.
She reports that she has received repeated complaints regarding lack of housing, threats of demolitions and evictions, overcrowding thoughout her visit to the region.
She notes that the right to housing is further denied in the occupied Palestinian territory. She stresses that in East Jerusalem and the areas of the West Bank under Israeli military control, policies adopted by Israel restrict Palestinians from building legally through various means.
"The number of permits issued is grossly disproportional to housing needs leading many Palestinians to build without obtaining a permit. As a result, numerous Palestinians homes or extensions to these are considered illegal so that the inhabitants are subjected to eviction orders and the demolition of their houses." -Ms. Rolnik
She also urges Israel to end the blockade in order to ensure that the minimum needs of the population living in Gaza are met.
Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza, where some 1.5 million Palestinians live, over three years ago for what it called security reasons after Hamas ousted the Fatah movement in the Strip in 2007.
The Gaza blockade and the accelerated expansion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank had an enormous human cost on every Palestinian. Other practices making the lives of the people of Gaza difficult include demolitions of their houses, evictions and revocation of residency permits.
Mina Fabulous follows the news, especially what is going on in the US State Department. Mina turns State Department waffle into plain english. Contact Mina through NewsBlaze.
Search News
