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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 08:57 13/12/2007 Municipality lawyer: J'lem Arab students discriminated against By Meron Rapoport, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: Arabs, Education, Israel  The Jerusalem municipality is discriminating against East Jerusalem students by not providing places of study for everyone, and is thereby contravening its legal obligation, the municipality's own legal counsel says in a letter addressed to the mayor and all senior city hall officials. The letter from attorney Yossi Havilio was sent in connection with a petition to the High Court of Justice against the municipality, demanding that it enable all children in East Jerusalem to attend state schools, in keeping with the requirements of the Compulsory Education Law. In response, the municipality undertook to present a plan for constructing hundreds of classrooms in East Jerusalem. Advertisement Havilio writes that he encountered "a harsh picture" in the process of preparing the case for court. He discovered the municipal education division each year rejects hundreds of applications from children in East Jerusalem seeking a formal education, because of a shortage of space. Sometimes the municipality "crams" some applicants into existing schools, Havilio says, "at the expense of exceeding the number of pupils authorized by the Education Ministry and exceeding the usual number of pupils in West Jerusalem." At some schools, conditions are so bad "they do not permit reasonable conditions for study," Havilio added. The city is breaking the law, he concluded: "By rejecting the applications by pupils in East Jerusalem, the municipality is in fact acting contrary to its legal obligation. Aside from this, there is no doubt that it constitutes discrimination compared to the situation in the western part of the city." The petition against the city was filed in 2000 by the Ir Amim organization on behalf of East Jerusalem residents, and Meretz city council member Pepe Alalo. A partial ruling in 2001 gave the city four years to build 245 classrooms. However, the petitioners claim that only a fraction of that number was built in the time allotted, so they applied to the High Court to levy a fine on the municipality and Education Ministry for contempt of court. The Jerusalem municipality commented that it prepared a multiyear plan for building schools, but that the government is responsible for their budgeting, and without such budgeting the severe shortage of schools in East Jerusalem will continue. Related articles: Civil rights group: Israel has reached new heights of racism Colored tags for Arabs' luggage at Ben Gurion airport discontinued Arab MK leads campaign against bill allocating state land to Jews only Bookmark to del.icio.us Humanitarian Crisis The Red Cross says conditions have worsened in Palestinian areas. 'Sacred basin' At Camp David, Israel pushed for a body to ensure religious freedom in J'lem for all.   1.   Sheer propaganda 06:50  |  realism 13/12/07   2.   Hats off to attorney Yossi Havilio! 09:06  |  Palestinian 13/12/07   3.   the usual racist policy from Mayor Lupolianski 09:21  |  SJ 13/12/07   4.   SJ 10:13  |  Nephtaly 13/12/07   5.   # reply to Nephtaly 10:43  |  SJ 13/12/07   6.   PALESTINIAN Any Y.Havilio`s on the other side?Protesting hate 11:02  |  PETER SM 13/12/07   7.   REALISM Jews have the ability to self-criticise& disagree 11:18  |  PETER SM 13/12/07   8.   Rockets cost more than `education` 11:37  |  Petra 13/12/07   9.   The Zionist response 12:37  |  Murray 13/12/07   10.   Let the Pals send all their kids to madras`s 14:50  |  Petra 13/12/07   11.   REALISM, self-criticism is not enough 14:54  |  TimothyL 13/12/07   12.   I don`t doubt this complaint for a minute ... 15:18  |  Dutch 13/12/07   13.   Lawyers always tell the truth 15:38  |  Israeli 13/12/07   14.   peter sm 7 15:38  |  realism 13/12/07   15.   To Petra, it is Israel`s responsibility 16:10  |  david 13/12/07   16.   #10 Petra 16:18  |  T A Sheppard 13/12/07   17.   Give them their independence! 17:08  |  Janet 13/12/07   18.   #16 indoctrination is so toxic in your region.. 18:47  |  indoctrination 13/12/07   19.   #9 Murray, I suspect you will be waiting a while 05:50  |  Johnboy 14/12/07

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