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210
ISRAEL
Arab Villages
Continued From Preceding Page
ment and Arab citizens, who
view the heavy investment in
Jewish settlement and com-
paratively low expenditures
in Arab community develop-
ment as discrimination.
Kamoun and Mekhmanim
each has only about nine
families. The likelihood of
substantially increasing their
populations are slim, even
with the massive influx of
Soviet Jews, as most Soviet
immigrants prefer Jerusalem
or the suburbs of Tel Aviv.
Yet, these communities have
modern homes, water and
electricity lines, sewage
facilities, playgrounds and
other recreational facilities,
and paved streets.
Governmental support for
these tiny settlements belies
the assertion that providing
services to small communi-
ties is not feasible. What is
clear, especially to Israel's
Arab citizens, is that the
government considers invest-
ment in Jewish communities
essential, no matter what the
cost, while Arab communi-
ties, even those that never
have exhibited any hostility
towards the state, can be
denied equal treatment.
While the establishment of
Kamoun and Mekhmanim on
either side of Arab al-Kamana
- deepened the Soueid's bitter-
ness towards the government,
it was the new paved road
traversing the mountain to
access the new settlements
that actually re-enforced the
determination of these Israeli
Arabs to stay put. The paved
road necessarily passed by
the unrecognized village and
thus made the trip down the
mountain and back easier to
obtain water and provisions,
and to get to work. It also
strengthened the villagers'
resolve to demand that the
Ministry of Education pro-
vide for a school bus to trans-
port their children to Nahaf,
a request that had been de-
nied, reportedly because of
the poor quality of the road to
the village. That request fi-
nally was fulfilled in 1985.
That same year, on their
own initiative, the villagers
opened a kindergarten that is
attended by 25 of their chil-
dren. The Ministry of Ed-
ucation, asserting that no
educational institution in an
unrecognized village can be
supported by the govern-
ment, has taken a dual view
of the kindergarten. It refuses
to pay the salaries of the two
teachers, but allows it to op-
erate as a privately run insti-
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1990
tution on a year-to-year basis.
Mr. Hassan raised funds
among the villagers to- send
two young women to school
for training and to pay their
salaries. Several kibbutzim
associated with the Kibbutz
Artzi movement have do-
nated tables, chairs, toys and
books.
Kindergartens were opened
in Kamoun and Mekhmanim,
along with other facilities and
services long denied to the
people of Arab al-Kamana.
Even though the water and
electric lines run less than 200
yards from Arab al-Kamana
the Arabs are denied access
to these basic services. Still,
relations with their Jewish
neighbors are good, says Mr.
Hassan, but even if they were
to offer a hook up to their
water supplies, Mekhorot (the
national water authority)
would prohibit it.
"The basic problem with
Arab al-Kamana is that it is
a spontaneous settlement,"
says Dr. Alexander Bligh,
deputy advisor on Israeli
Arab affairs to Prime Min-
ister Shamir.
Dr. Bligh, a Middle East
historian on leave from He-
brew University's Truman In-
stitute, does not dispute the
Soueid's assertion that they
own the land on top of Mt.
Kamon. He points out,
though, that the land has
been zoned by the Israeli
government for agricultural
development, not housing
construction. Dr. Bligh
asserts that the land is
needed for the future expan-
sion of Kamoun and Mekh-
manim.
Notwithstanding the small
number of families in those
settlements and the difficulty
in attracting others to live
there and elsewhere in the
Galilee, settling Jewish citi-
zens in this region remains a
priority of the government.
Officials apparently believe
that the pressures of growth
within the community will in-
evitably press the Soueid to
reconsider their defiant posi-
tion. Until now, however, the
residents of Arab al-Kamana
have demonstrated resilience
to withstand pressure's. Their
self-confidence undoubtedly
has been strengthened by the
formation of a broader coali-
tion of unrecognized Israeli
Arab villages.
Ironically, the impetus for
setting up the Association of
Forty was the comprehensive
study of illegal housing in the
Arab sector carried out by
the Interior Ministry's Direc-
tor General, Dov Markowitz,
in 1986. The Markowitz Re-
port recommended that the
majority of homes that had
been built without permits be
granted approval and that
some be subjected to demoli-
tion. The status of "illegal"
homes in the unrecognized
villages was left open, in-
cluding the possibility of
future demolition.
For Muhammed al-Haje, a
young Israeli Arab who had
founded a local committee to
seek recognition of his own
village of Ein Chod, the Mar-
kowitz report was the first
indication that many other
communities faced problems
similar to his own.
"We visited every place
where a house had been de-
stroyed or demolition orders
were pending, and discovered
other villages that had not
been recognized," Mr. al-Haje
said.
The Association of Forty
was established in early 1988,
with Mr. al-Haje as its direc-
tor. At a time when tensions
have increased in Israel be-
tween the country's Arab and
Jewish citizens, the Associa-
tion has become a vivid
example of Jewish-Arab coop-
eration on a civil rights issue,
and one in which American
Jews are playing a critical role
as well.
"It was a shock for me to
learn that something like this
exists in my country," says
Michal Fox, an Israeli Jewish
lawyer who joined the staff of
the Association of Forty a
year and a half ago. Her
awareness of the problem first
developed while working at
the Association for Civil
Rights in Israel, a network of
attorneys that also provides
legal assistance to the unrec-
ognized villages. Most of the
funding for the Association of
Forty comes from the New
Israel Fund, an American
Jewish philanthropy dedi-
cated to advancing civil
rights and democratic values
in Israel.
Such an active Jewish in-
volvement has been critical to
the Association's small
achievements, says Mr. al-
Haj e. As a result of intensive
lobbying among government
officials no homes have been
demolished in any of these
communities since 1988. Poli-
tical interest was furthered
when a Knesset delegation
visited several of the villages
on a tour organized by the
Association to assess their
situation first-hand. The
legislators reportedly wer
shocked by the conditions of
the villages they visited, but
until now no concrete action
has been initiated to resolve
the problem.
From a planning point of
view, says Ms. Fox, it is possi-
ble to amicably resolve each
case without forcing people to
move. A recently completed
survey of the villages, com
missioned by the Association
of Forty, sets forth a range o
options, including recogni-
tion, linking a village to an
already recognized commun-
ity that has basic services,
and merging several unrecog-
nized villages that are in close
proximity of one another.
The government
considers
investment in
Jewish
communities
essential, no
matter what the
cost.
Dr. Bligh maintains tha
the government already has
been examining each of the
unrecognized villages on its
individual merits to dete
mine whether recognition will
be granted or pressures t o
relocate the inhabitants will
be maintained.
Many villages, such as E •
Chod, where Mr. al-Haje liv
are highly unlikely to be ac
cepted by the governmen
The original village of E •
Chod, on the outskirts o
Haifa, was evacuated durin
the 1948 war of independenc
and today is an artists 'colon
inhabited mainly by Jews
Some of the original inhab
tants set up a new commun
ity nearby, but successiv
governments have long main
tained that the 130 resident
should find someplace else
Israel to live.
"We are not going to
build the villages that we
evacuated by the Palestinian
in 1948. It's as simple a •
that," says Dr. Bligh, wh
notes Ein Chod as a
example.
Regarding Arab
Kamana, however, the peopl
never fled. They surrendere
immediately in 1948, and tra
ditionally have been passiv e
"There is a struggle betwee
us and the Ministry of Inte
ior," says Mr. Hassan, "ove]
who has greater patience."