Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality
פורום דו-קיום בנגב לשוויון אזרחי
منتدى التعايش السلمي في النقب من أجل المساواة المدنية

Summary of Annual Racism Report by NCF

04.04.2012

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination observed annually on 21 March, the Forum has published its annual report on the accessibility of government, commercial and public services in Bedouin communities in the Negev, and the employment of Arab government workers in the Negev. In light of the government’s claims that moving to permanent settlements will provide these services at a high level to the Bedouin population, the report focuses this year on the availability of these services in the government-planned townships. The report paints a sad picture.

In all of the Bedouin communities that were examined, except for the city of Rahat, there is no employment office despite the fact that employment levels are comparatively low. Likewise, there are no Ministry of Interior services in any of the communities, except for Rahat where partial services exist. In terms of National Insurance services, improvements have been detected since last year’s report, and a mobile office has begun to arrive two days a week in additional communities. In addition, we can see that although in a number of Jewish settlements (among them Yerucham and Mitzpe Ramon) there are fewer residents, there is a permanent branch of National Insurance. There is not a single office of Public Housing or Housing Assistance in any of the Arab communities. Likewise, according to the regulations defined by the Ministry of Construction and Housing regarding assistance grants for rent, not a single Arab community in the Negev, except for Rahat, was included in the list of communities eligible for this assistance. All of the Jewish settlements that were sampled, and also more established Jewish settlements not sampled in this report (Lehavim, for example), appear on this list.

 

In terms of access to public transport, it appears that there is some improvement in the number of communities which have bus lines servicing them. However, the number of busses available is less than that of Jewish settlements in the Negev, and in the Abu Basma Regional Council there is no public transportation whatsoever. In terms of telephone service there have also been incremental improvements in some of the communities such as Rahat. On the other hand, there is no phone infrastructure whatsoever in the Abu Basma Regional Council, there are still two neighborhoods without infrastructure in Lakia, and there is no functioning infrastructure in Tel Sheva denying the residents telephone services. In terms of banking services we can see there are no bank branches in any of the Bedouin communities except in Rahat, where there is one bank branch and one express branch, and Hura where there is an express branch.

 

Family health stations exist in most of the communities that were considered. It is worrying to see, however, that the stations in El Said, Tarabin, and Kuhla are not operating, which necessitates those requiring their services to travel to other communities (without the support of public transport). This reality creates situations where women who are unable to reach family health stations outside of their community forego these services and their children are denied medical treatment and monitoring.

 

In terms of employment of Arab workers in the government sector, according to a conversation with the Commissioner of Freedom of Information at the Civil Service Commission there has been no significant change. This data is saddening and worrying since 2010 was pinpointed as the target year for a situation where 10 percent of government employees would be Arab.