Rights watchdog: After U.S., Israel is least egalitarian country in West

The past year has seen a dramatic rise in the number of violent attacks perpetrated by Jewish settlers against Palestinians in the territories. Yet, only 8 percent of the police investigations of settler violence result in indictments. This finding is contained in a new report, published yesterday by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), to mark the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The report states that in most instances of innocent civilian bystanders being killed in the territories, no investigation is opened. Also, only a small number of the cases that are investigated result in an indictment.

ACRI reports that in most of Israel's mixed towns, including Ramle, Lod, Acre, Haifa and Jaffa, Arab citizens suffer from discrimination. The infrastructure in the Arab neighborhoods is neglected, public buildings and parks are lacking, there is a poor education system and health and welfare services are insufficient. The past decade has seen an increase in the gaps in life expectancy between Jews and Arabs and also between the center and the periphery. As such, the infant mortality rate in the periphery is double that in the country's center. Moreover, there are fewer hospital beds and doctors as well as less medical equipment per capita in the periphery, as compared to the center.

The report asserts that, after the United States, Israel is the least egalitarian country in the West. Although there has been an increase in the state's revenues from taxes in recent years, the government's spending on social issues has decreased. During the past 13 years the funding of the health basket has been eroded by some 44 percent, while at the same time there has been a 50-percent increase in the rate of personal spending on health, as part of the total public and private expenditure.

The report also found that the economic situation of people with handicaps in Israel is the worst among the Western countries. Their average income is less than 70 percent of those without handicaps, and, in addition, 85 percent of Israeli employers do not hire people with handicaps. Also, 37 percent of Ethiopian immigrants are employed in low-paying jobs, as compared to veteran Israelis. In addition, the report found that the privacy of an increasing number of workers is invaded through their employers' calls for a sweeping exemption from medical confidentiality, the monitoring of phone calls and e-mail, compulsory polygraph tests and the use of surveillance cameras. Moreover, many of the Prison Service facilities violate the basic rights of detainees and prisoners, in part by excessive use of force, severe overcrowding in the jails and poor hygienic and sanitary conditions.