The Israeli district court in Haifa rejected an appeal to connect
“unrecognized” Bedouin villages in the Negev to clean waters and said
that this issue is related with the village regularization, Israeli
online daily Haaretz reported.
The appeal was filed by the Adalah Legal center on behalf of more than 100 Bedouin families in the Negev. The center argues that there is no connection between recognizing the villages and providing the residents with the needed water supply.
The center appealed against the water commissioner in Israel and said that the residents have the right to obtain the minimal substance conditions guaranteed by the Basic Law. “They have the right to Human Dignity, Liberty as well as the implementation of the international law”, the center reported.
Justice Ron Shapira, said in his decision that behind the appeal lies a larger issue which aims at the regularization of “illegal settlements”.
He added the the court does not ignore the problem of discrimination against the Bedouins, but the issue of “unrecognized villages cannot be resolve in this manner”, Israeli online daily Haaretz reported.
Adalah Center considered the court ruling as a decision that the “right to water is not absolute, therefore it can be limited”.
“This decision makes the water commissioner act as a tool in the hands of the government”, Adalah center reported, “This tool aims to expel the Arab-Bedouin residents of the unrecognized villages in the Negev by prohibiting them from receiving the basic rights of access to clean drinking water”.
The appeal was filed by Adalah in April 2005. The court issued its ruling and delivered it to the center last Thursday.
