Court halts tender for leasing Karmiel land to Jews only

The Haifa Magistrate's Court on Tuesday issued a temporary injunction instructing the Israel Lands Administration to freeze a tender for leasing land in Karmiel's Givat Hamachosh neighborhood. Alternatively, the court ruled, the ILA must allow Israeli Arabs to take part in the tender.

The order was issued following a petition by the Arab Center for Alternative Planning and the Association for Citizens' Rights in Israel (ACRI). According to the petitioners, the Jewish National Fund, which owns the land, said it forbids leasing land to Arabs, under an agreement with the state.

The head of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, Dr. Hana Saweid, said that the conditions for the current tender discriminate against Arab citizens and infringe on the principle of equality among citizens of Israel.

According to Saweid, "What is happening in Karmiel could continue in many other places in the country, and it is therefore important that the court express its opinion on the matter."

Saweid said that the conditions of the tender also contradict a High Court of Justice ruling on a petition filed by the Kadan family on land allocation in the cooperative settlement of Katzir.

A family from Sakhnin who purchased a private home in the Givat Hamachosh neighborhood filed a similar petition to the High Court several weeks ago, after the Israel Lands Authority refused to register the house under the family's name, claiming that the land the house is built on belongs to the JNF.

The tender in question was the second published by the administration for allocating lots in the Givat Hamachosh neighborhood.

The previous tender, published several months ago, did not restrict participation to Jews only, and was halted after six Arab families won lots. The administration claimed that it was only frozen temporarily until land was exchanged with the JNF, so as to allow the Arab families to receive their lots.