Intifada
21st August 2004, 13:02
Times Online (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1225695,00.html)
MOVING neighbourhoods to get the children a better school is hardly novel. But Adel Kaadans approach displays a certain lan. The Israeli Arab decided he would relocate to a town reserved exclusively for Jews to take advantage of its superior amenities.
That was the plan, anyway. Nine years on, his oldest daughter is nearly old enough to leave school and his expanding family has gone nowhere, frustrated at every turn in his efforts to leave his Arab town that reeks of raw sewage for an orderly, gated community.
But all that seems finally set to change. On September 2 Israels Supreme Court is expected to remove the last of the hurdles in his path. Much to the chagrin of his putative neighbours in Katzir, a town of 700 families, he will win a plot of land to build a house.
Mr Kaadan, 49, and his wife, Iman, have battled through endless court cases and foot-dragging by officials. They have taken on the Jewish states once blatantly racist property laws that discriminated against the 1.2 million Israeli Arabs who make up 20 per cent of the population.
The question arises: is this a state for all its citizens or only Jews? Mr Kaadan said, sitting in his neat home in Baqa al-Gharbiyye. Even now theres no equality between Jews and Arabs. Its an apartheid state. Do I as an Arab have the right to practise democracy, or is it my duty only to eat, sleep and work?
Four years ago he thought he got the answer when he won a landmark Supreme Court ruling. The judgment declared that the state authority which leased the land to the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency to establish Katzir as an exclusively Jewish community was wrong. It could not base land distribution on a policy that discriminated against non-Jews.
That should have ended the matter. But, two years later, the Kaadans still had not been allocated their plot in the hilltop community, set up in 1982 by Ariel Sharon as a bulwark against overwhelmingly Israeli Arab villages all around. So they returned to court.
Katzir was ordered to complete its application procedures within 60 days. Community guardians moved the goalposts constantly before declaring Mrs Kaadan, a teacher, socially unfit to live there.
In court again, Dan Yakir, their lawyer, argued that was clearly racist as many of the interviews with the Kaadans focused on their political motivation. He requested that the state land authority allocate a plot directly.
Israel Lands Authority (ILA) failed to respond and a leaked internal memo revealed its strategy was to do nothing in the hope that Mr Kaadan would simply go away. Last September Mr Yakir and Israels civil rights association filed yet another petition holding the authority in contempt and demanding a plot at 1995 prices. In May, the authority caved in and granted Mr Kaadan his land at those prices, around $15,000 (8,234) rather than $100,000.
Katzirs selection committee maintains it was not party to the May decision and is suing the ILA in a hearing set for September 2. It appears to have little hope of success.
Mr Kaadan, head of nursing staff at Hadera Hospital where he cares for Jews, has not been robbed of any of his enthusiasm. His four daughters, aged 4 to 14, still stand to benefit. Im going to start laying the foundations soon, he said. Im going to be a model of co-existence. Im convinced Ill be their mayor.
Not if his would-be neighbours have their way. Its not personal but why is he so obsessed to live in a place that doesnt want him? asked Ofra Cohin, 45. I want my children to be raised Jewish, to go to a Jewish school in a Jewish community. It will threaten our Jewishness. Its a kind of provocation.
Carmi Harel, 67, said Israels biggest mistake from the outset was failing to expel all the Arabs. Now the main trap for us isnt the Palestinians, but the Arabs who live in the country, he said. Im afraid something bad will happen if he comes here.
MOVING neighbourhoods to get the children a better school is hardly novel. But Adel Kaadans approach displays a certain lan. The Israeli Arab decided he would relocate to a town reserved exclusively for Jews to take advantage of its superior amenities.
That was the plan, anyway. Nine years on, his oldest daughter is nearly old enough to leave school and his expanding family has gone nowhere, frustrated at every turn in his efforts to leave his Arab town that reeks of raw sewage for an orderly, gated community.
But all that seems finally set to change. On September 2 Israels Supreme Court is expected to remove the last of the hurdles in his path. Much to the chagrin of his putative neighbours in Katzir, a town of 700 families, he will win a plot of land to build a house.
Mr Kaadan, 49, and his wife, Iman, have battled through endless court cases and foot-dragging by officials. They have taken on the Jewish states once blatantly racist property laws that discriminated against the 1.2 million Israeli Arabs who make up 20 per cent of the population.
The question arises: is this a state for all its citizens or only Jews? Mr Kaadan said, sitting in his neat home in Baqa al-Gharbiyye. Even now theres no equality between Jews and Arabs. Its an apartheid state. Do I as an Arab have the right to practise democracy, or is it my duty only to eat, sleep and work?
Four years ago he thought he got the answer when he won a landmark Supreme Court ruling. The judgment declared that the state authority which leased the land to the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency to establish Katzir as an exclusively Jewish community was wrong. It could not base land distribution on a policy that discriminated against non-Jews.
That should have ended the matter. But, two years later, the Kaadans still had not been allocated their plot in the hilltop community, set up in 1982 by Ariel Sharon as a bulwark against overwhelmingly Israeli Arab villages all around. So they returned to court.
Katzir was ordered to complete its application procedures within 60 days. Community guardians moved the goalposts constantly before declaring Mrs Kaadan, a teacher, socially unfit to live there.
In court again, Dan Yakir, their lawyer, argued that was clearly racist as many of the interviews with the Kaadans focused on their political motivation. He requested that the state land authority allocate a plot directly.
Israel Lands Authority (ILA) failed to respond and a leaked internal memo revealed its strategy was to do nothing in the hope that Mr Kaadan would simply go away. Last September Mr Yakir and Israels civil rights association filed yet another petition holding the authority in contempt and demanding a plot at 1995 prices. In May, the authority caved in and granted Mr Kaadan his land at those prices, around $15,000 (8,234) rather than $100,000.
Katzirs selection committee maintains it was not party to the May decision and is suing the ILA in a hearing set for September 2. It appears to have little hope of success.
Mr Kaadan, head of nursing staff at Hadera Hospital where he cares for Jews, has not been robbed of any of his enthusiasm. His four daughters, aged 4 to 14, still stand to benefit. Im going to start laying the foundations soon, he said. Im going to be a model of co-existence. Im convinced Ill be their mayor.
Not if his would-be neighbours have their way. Its not personal but why is he so obsessed to live in a place that doesnt want him? asked Ofra Cohin, 45. I want my children to be raised Jewish, to go to a Jewish school in a Jewish community. It will threaten our Jewishness. Its a kind of provocation.
Carmi Harel, 67, said Israels biggest mistake from the outset was failing to expel all the Arabs. Now the main trap for us isnt the Palestinians, but the Arabs who live in the country, he said. Im afraid something bad will happen if he comes here.