Diagnosing Housing Rights Conditions in Israel/Palestine

When the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Raquel Rolnik (Brazil) addressed the UN Human Rights Council’s 22nd session in March 2013, she reported on her 2012 mission to Israel and Palestine. Her report described the evolution of the State of Israel’s housing policies from massive public investment in housing through the construction of some 1,100 entire towns for Jewish immigrants since 1948. In the 1990s, that policy shifted to an emphasis on mortgage subsidies, a clear reduction of State involvement in housing provision; the sale of public housing property; and an increasing emphasis on stimulus to the private sector. The combination of subsidized mortgage policies with few rental options under an unregulated market has led to an exponential increase in housing prices.

The latter phase distorted the housing market by increasing inequality, as housing price increases have been disproportionally high for the poorest. The construction of new public housing units, except for the elderly, has all but stopped and the stock has shrunk to approximately 66,000 units, mostly in the periphery and deprived areas. It was only in 2009 when laws were amended to obligate the allocation of portions of publicly tendered land to affordable housing, but the rapporteur found that this condition not fully implemented.

The right to adequate housing is not explicitly recognized in any Israeli law, and no legislation, including the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, omits to guarantee equality or prohibit discrimination. Additionally, the deep involvement of the parastatal Jewish National Fund and the Jewish Agency in formal planning and development has resulted in the exclusion of all non-Jewish groups.

The Basic Law: Israel Lands establishes the principle of “national” ownership of the land (sect. 1), which in Israeli terminology means “Jewish” ownership. Currently, the State claims 93% of Israel lands as nationally owned and “inalienable”; i.e., can only be leased, not sold. The SR acknowledges that this acquisition has been “achieved in part through the expropriation and acquisition of lands originally owned by displaced Palestinians.”  

By contrast, the SR points out that the State has established and built some 1,100 new Jewish communities, and not a single non-Jewish community, except for townships established for the forced urbanization of Bedouins. The housing sphere for Palestinians is characterized by expropriation of their lands; inadequate city planning and non-issuance of construction permits, often leading to irregular construction and, in some cases, to eviction and demolition orders due to an absence of construction permits; inadequate financial allocations to address “minority” housing needs; and the failure to adopt targeted and culturally adequate solutions to assist non-Jews.

Uneven public budget allocations further contribute to the deterioration of housing conditions of minorities. For example, an analysis of the Israeli State budget for 2012 showed that only 4 per cent of total allocations for city planning reached minority cities, and that 99 per cent of the agriculture support was dedicated to Jewish farmers and associations.

Half of all budget allocations to assist housing in minority localities are earmarked for the Naqab, where the Government pursues a strategy of urbanization of rural Palestinian Bedouins. The SR also reviewed the Prawer Plan, adopted in September 2012, which (a) does not recognize the right of the Bedouin to ownership of their ancestral land; (b) would legitimize the displacement, dispossession and eviction of residents in various unrecognized villages; (c) proposes insufficient and inadequate compensation; and (d) would strip courts of their power of judicial review and possibility to intervene or protect citizens from unfair State land and planning measures.

In the oPt:

Within the occupied territory of the Palestinian National Authority, the Amended Basic Law of 18 March 2003 protects the right to property, prohibiting expropriation except in the public interest and for fair compensation in accordance with the law or pursuant to a judicial ruling (art. 21, para. 3). The Palestinian Basic Law also protects the right to housing and determines that “every citizen shall have the right to proper housing” and that “The Palestinian National Authority shall secure housing for those who are without shelter” (art. 23).

Israeli modifications to Jordanian law in 1971 continue to eliminate Palestinian community participation in the zoning of Area C, which covers 60% of the West Bank. For example, almost all of the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas fall under the jurisdiction of two Jewish Regional Councils.

In 2011, Israeli authorities demolished a total of 622 Palestinian structures, displacing 1,094 people, nearly double the number for the previous year. In the first half of 2012, Israeli forces carried out 351 demolitions in Area C, further displacing 615 persons (330 children) and affecting over 1,900 individuals.  

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimates the housing deficit in West Bank and Gaza (to 2010) at about 132,759 units. It identifies the Israeli occupation and the destruction of homes as the biggest challenges for the housing sector, among other internal problems.

Constraints in the oPt arise from municipal planning procedures that disproportionately restrict the expansion and consolidation of Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem and other cities, while Israeli settler colonies have proliferated. In occupied Jerusalem, for example, the Local Outline Plan–Jerusalem 2000 directs the municipality’s development up to 2020, with “maintaining a solid Jewish majority in the city” as one of its main aims.”

The Rapporteur referred in her report to “visible neglect of services and infrastructure, including deficient sanitation services and dilapidated sewage and drainage infrastructure” in Palestinian quarters of Jerusalem. She found that 53% of the Palestinian residents have no suitable legal connection to water networks. In some neighborhoods communities are obliged to pay municipal taxes, but have no access to basic municipal services. 

In the Gaza Strip, housing conditions continue to be severely affected by military operations and the Israeli-imposed blockade. Israel’s Cast Lead offensive alone (2007–08), damaged or destroyed more than 20,000 homes. Approximately 71,000 new housing units are required to cover current housing needs in the Gaza Strip. In this context, the SR found that the Israel blockade has had a direct impact on Palestinians’ right to housing and basic services across the Gaza Strip.

In her report to the Human Rights Council, the SR concluded that the nondemocratic elements in Israeli spatial planning and urban development strategies actually deepen the conflict in Israel/Palestine. She called on the State of Israel to revise and reform its legal framework related to the right to adequate housing, adopting legislation that regulates private rental housing in order to ensure adequate protection of private tenants against unreasonable rent levels or rent increases.

Ms. Rolnik recognized the relevance of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to the specific rights, land ownership and cultural traditions of the Bedouin community facing dispossession, particularly in the Naqab. She called on the Israel immediately to stop all home demolitions and evictions in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, to explore all possible alternatives prior to evictions; to consult with the affected persons; and provide effective remedies to those affected by evictions. She identified, as a first step, the end to construction and expansion of all settler colonies and outposts, and development of a strategy to reverse the settlement process.

In order to uphold the right to housing, the SR urged Israel also to lift immediately the blockade of Gaza for all imports of construction materials and facilitate the work of international donors promoting reconstruction.

In light of these severe conditions, Ms. Rolnik called on the Palestinian National Authority to devise and implement a strategy to progressively protect the right to adequate housing of its inhabitants. In order to assist in that task, she called on the international community to ensure flexibility in reconstruction strategies, giving priority to those in extreme poverty situations, and to continue providing the Palestinian National Authority with direct budget support to enable it to fulfill its mandate.