Law.117 Admission committees, together with other Israeli policies, make it
impossible for Palestinian citizens of Israel to purchase or lease land in more
than 700 Israeli towns,118 covering approximately 80 percent of the land in
Israel.119
On 1 August 2004, four years after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the
Kaadan family could not be denied the right to move to the town Katzir,
the Israel Lands Administration made their decision No. 1015 entitled
“recommendation procedures for accepting candidates to purchase
leasing rights for lands in agricultural and community settlements.”120 This
decision provides a framework for creating admission committees, which in
community settlements are composed of a senior official from the settlement
agency (either The Jewish Agency or The World Zionist Organization), a
senior official from the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction, as well
as representatives of the cooperative association, the regional council and
the settlement body. In agricultural settlements the composition of the
admission committees is determined by the governing bodies of the society
itself.121 “The admission committees created by decision 1015 have the
right to deny people the right to move to a community if the committee,
among others, does not find the candidate suited to the social life in the
community.”122 The admission committees operate in 695 agricultural and
community towns, which account for 68.5 percent of all towns in Israel and
approximately 85 percent of all villages.123 Following much criticism and legal
challenges, admission committees were changed in 2010, but are still able
to deny individuals the right to move to a community based on the arbitrary
“suitability” criterion.124
117 Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “Israeli Supreme Court upholds “Admission
Committees Law” that allows Israeli Jewish communities to exclude Palestinian Arab citizens”, 17
September 2014. Available at: http://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/8327
118 Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “Suggested items to the UN Committee
on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) for the List of Themes for the State of Israel”, 8
December 2011, page 10. Available at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/
Adalah_Israel_CERD80.pdf
119 Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “The Inequality Report: The Palestinian
Arab Minority in Israel”, 2011, page 24. Available at: http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/
Christian%20Aid%20Report%20December%202010%20FINAL(1).pdf
120 Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “Adalah to ILA: Cancel Criteria for
Accepting Candidates to Agricultural and Community Towns which Discriminate against Arab Citizens
of Israel”, 27 April 2005. Available at: http://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/6415
121 Ibid.
122 Ibid.
123 Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, “The Inequality Report: The Palestinian
Arab Minority in Israel”, 2011, page 24. Available at: http://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/upfiles/
Christian%20Aid%20Report%20December%202010%20FINAL(1).pdf
124 Ibid. page 25
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