A panel of seven High Court of Justice judges today voided a government decision from 2002 to establish national education priority areas. The court ruling will come into effect a year from today. The High Court of Justice ruled in favor of a petition filed by the Supreme Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee and Adalah - The Legal Center for Minority Rights in Israel.
The petitioners asked the court to void the classification of national priority areas because they discriminated against Israeli Arabs. 500 Jewish communities, but only four Arab communities, were included in the National Priority A and B Areas. Supreme Court president Judge Aharon Barak and Judge Mishael Cheshin wrote the ruling, with each commenting on a different aspect of the issue. Judge Ayala Procaccia, Judge Dorit and Judge Beinisch, and Judge Salim Joubran added comments. The ruling was unanimous.
The court abolished national priority education areas because they discriminate between Jews and Arabs, immeasurably harming equality. Barak ruled that the state had no formula or explanation for how it determined boundaries or distinguished between outlying areas and the center of the country. Therefore, he said, it was hard to establish a geographical basis, and that probably was not the sole criterion.
Barak also examined the end result, in which national priority education areas created discrimination and a geographical zoning policy under which only four small Arab villages were classified as national priority education areas. He said the the Arab community as a whole lagged far behind the Jewish community in education, yet most of the national priority education areas defined by the government were Jewish.
Cheshin ruled that government lacked the authority to establish “basic arrangements” that were broadly defined and affected the entire country and population, or substantial segments of it. He said the authority to establish such criteria lay with the Knesset, not the executive branch.
Joubran cited Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which states, “The State of Israel... will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture...” He said this meant that a democratic society must strive to provide equal education and opportunities for all citizens. He therefore concluded that the government decision could not stand.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 27, 2006