BADIL

Anti-Right of Return Legislation by theIsraeli Parliament (Knesset)
On 17 May 2000, the Israeli Knesset passed, in a preliminary vote, a bill that requires the support of an absolute Knesset majority (61 members of parliament) for any future government decision in favor of repatriation into the territory of the Israeli state of Palestinians displaced in 1948 and 1967.

 The bill authorizes the Minister of Defense, pending approval by the Knesset Committee for Security and Foreign Affairs, to grant entry and residency permits to refugees for humanitarian reasons, under the condition that their number does not exceed 100 cases annually. The bill was proposed by MK Israel Katz (Likud) who said the initiative was above party politics, because it was "Zionist, Jewish, Israeli, ethical and right." It received the support not only of the Israeli right-wing opposition, but also of several Labor Party parliamentarians, including Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg and Minister Haim Ramon.

UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
Support this Nomination Support Palestinian Refugees The Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy-MIFTAH has successfully completed the formal procedures for the nomination of UNRWA for the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize. This timely initiative aims to draw international public attention not only to the ongoing importance of this UN Agency, the main provider of vital services to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East over the past fifty years, but also to the right and need of Palestinian refugees to international assistance and protection, including a durable solution based on UN Resolution 194 (right of return).

"In recognition of UNRWA's humanitarian services to the Palestinian refugees and its committed efforts for the building of a just peace in the region, MIFTAH urges you to mobilize resources for this nomination. At this crucial time of permanent status talks where refugees occupy a priority on the agenda of negotiations, this campaign aims at highlighting the question of refugees and the significant role of UNRWA."

At the end of April, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled in response to a petition filed by Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, that the Religious Affairs Ministry must allocate funds equally for cemeteries of all faiths. The Court refrained from granting Adalah's request to cancel the discriminatory paragraphs of the 1999 Budget law. Of the NIS 17 million allocated under the Budget Law for cemeteries in Israel, nearly all went to the Jewish sector.

 Of the 313 large mosques in pre-1948 Palestine, 200 mosques or religious buildings fell within the area that became Israel.¹ During the 1948 war and after many small cemeteries,  shrines and mosques located in Palestinian villages were destroyed, although recommendations were made by the Religious Affairs Ministry for the preservation of more prominent Muslim holy places.² Most cemeteries in the places of origin of the refugees remain in poor condition.

(excerpts from Brief by Salman Abu Sitta)
In mid-June, 52 members of the Israeli Knesset, representing an odd coalition, voted in favor of two bills allowing the sale of “Israel’s land reserves” (i.e. refugees’ land), approximately 4 million dunums (4,000 sq. km), to the select group of kibbutz and moshav, whose number does not exceed 130,000 members, at a price less than half the value of the land.

For the first time in 52 years, internallydisplaced Palestinians in Israel - constituting onequarter of Israel's Palestinian population today - succeeded to draw wide local and international attention to their struggle for return to their homes and properties by means of public "Return Marches" and rallies in the destroyed villages of Umm al-Zeinat and Damoun and the Palestinian town of Umm Al-Fahm.

 It was also the first time since 1948 that the Palestinian community in Israel issued a united call for a public boycott of the celebrations of Israel's "Independence Day" (14 May 2000). The boycott was led by the National Committee for the Defense of the Internally Displaced Palestinians in Israel in cooperation with the Arab Monitoring Committee composed of Palestinian mayors and members of the Knesset, political parties, and national institutions. A celebration staged by the Israeli authorities in the Palestinian town of Shafa'amr on 7 May was met by a Palestinian counter demonstration, which led to violent confrontations with the police and resulted in 20 Palestinian injuries and 30 arrests. For more on internally displaced Palestinians see BADIL Country Profiles.