Thank you for your support of Bimkom’s activities!
Dear friends,
At the start of the Jewish year I want to take this opportunity to thank you again for your support of Bimkom’s activities.
This has not been an easy year. The Coronavirus has not ended and has only added further burdens to marginalized and weakened populations that we work with.
Bimkom’s staff and board have continued, throughout this complex year, to strive to protect the right to fair and appropriate planning for all.
Let me share with you a taste of the issues we’ve been working on:
East Jerusalem
- A new outline plan for the al-Isawiyyah neighborhood has been approved (on condition of certain changes) for deposition This is a complex and innovative plan, prepared by architect Ari Cohen, that includes strategies for large scale regularization of unauthorized construction, and for residents and landowners to choose different paths for developing their land. Many of the ideas are based on Bimkom’s approach to resident-led planning (read more here). We hope this plan will begin to be implemented soon, and that the innovative planning tools will become standard throughout East Jerusalem.
Nonetheless, the planned area is smaller than required, so we will be preparing an objection to the plan, while continuing to support the new planning strategies it proposes.
- The Site of the Hidden Maps: Confiscation and expropriation of Palestinian homes and land in Jerusalem is an ongoing issue and source of tension. The fact of land expropriations is well known and has been published in the official publications of the State of Israel, but the maps themselves were never shared or displayed for public view.
Bimkom obtained the maps under the Freedom of Information Law and they have now been scanned in their entirety and uploaded to a new website: Bimkom’s own Sari Kronish, head of our East Jerusalem Department, speaks about planning and housing in East Jerusalem.
Women as Decision Makers in Planning
- In the final weeks of 2020 we began an exciting new project in partnership with Sidreh – a Bedouin women’s organization) and the Israeli Association for Distributive Justice. In this project, we are working to increase the ability of women from marginalized groups to take an active role in planning-related decisions that affect themselves, their families and their communities. We have begun contacts with women in the Bedouin local authorities of al-Kasum and Neve Midbar in the Negev, where we will be advancing women’s employment and business centers. We will also work on issues of housing and public services in the Old City of Acco (Acre) and in another Arab locality in the North, with women who are taking part in trainings with us. Additionally, there will be education programs on human rights, gender and planning for Haredi women architecture students, and for participants in the Desert Stars leadership institute for Bedouin youth.
As part of this project, two new women architects have become part of the Bimkom team.
Bedouin Villages
- We have been working for some years with the Bedouin community of Um Matnan to promote in-site recognition of their village, and planning that is appropriate for their culture and lifestyle. In July, and following a meeting with Bedouin Knesset member Saeed Alkharoumi (who has since most sadly passed away), it was decided that the best solution for the village is not independent recognition, but rather expanding the statutory boundary of the nearby Abu Krinat to include the land and houses of Um Matnan. In the last few months we’ve been working with the community to prepare maps and documents outlining how this should be done.
- We have also been accompanying the communities of Abde, Hashem Zaneh and Rahme as they move toward formal recognition. This has been approved in principle, but the authorities are conditioning final implementation on certain changes, such as moving the homes into a much more limited area. The residents think that these conditions are unreasonable, and Bimkom, together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Sikkuy and the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages, have written to the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services to try to reach an acceptable solution. We will be meeting with the minister in October.
- Citizens whose homes are unrecognized still have a rights to access services – especially education. Bimkom has worked with fellow NGO Sikkuy to identify sites for “service centers” that will provide educational frameworks and other services in or near to unrecognized villages in the Negev. The Social Services Ministry has now asked that we prioritize our list of some 25 sites so that they can work toward implementation in the most critical cases (and hopefully eventually in them all).
Arab Localities
- Bimkom submitted objections to the plan to declare as a nature reserve a large area of land (some 10,00 dunams – 2,500 acres) in Givat Alonim in Northern Israel, much of which is used by local communities for agriculture and grazing. We show how this plan will impact the culture of the Bedouins in the area, as well as their livelihood. While the objections were not accepted and the park is to be established, the planning committee assured us and the communities that grazing and agricultural rights will be preserved. The Bedouin residents feel that this is nonetheless a type of expropriation of their lands and are concerned that they will not have free access as in the past.
- One of the affected communities is Ibtin. The nature reserve will limit the ability of the community to expand as needed for natural growth. Bimkom has worked with the residents to prepare a blueprint of the desired expansion area, which has been submitted to the Regional Planning Council for their feedback.
Area C
- We filed an objection to plans to “upgrade” the waste disposal site between the Abu Dis and Wadi Abu Hindi communities. The plan if implemented, would take over lands belonging to or used by the villages, and additionally would block the road to Wadi Abu Hindi, making access to and from the village very difficult. The objection was rejected but the plan has been changed so that the access road will not be harmed.
- We also objected to the planned “Road 45” which is intended to ease the commute between Jerusalem and the settlements in the Geva Binyamin area. The road will take over lands from a number of villages in the area. Israel claims that the road will also serve the Palestinian population, and it is therefore reasonable to expropriate some of their land, however we point out that since the Palestinians are not able to enter Jerusalem, the road will in fact be of no benefit to them. Additionally, no public process was held to inform the residents and allow them to react to the plan (except via formal objections). The case is ongoing.
- Bimkom, together with ACRI has prepared 14 requests to connect villages in Area C to water and electric infrastructure. Based on the precedent set by Bimkom’s previous cases, infrastructure connections should be allowed for homes that can be proved to have existed before 1967, and from these homes, to the rest of the community. For each community, we have historical aerial photographs or other documentation of the pre-’67 homes, together with other data about the communities, and recommendations for how to implement the connections. The Corona period has only served to highlight the acute need for basic infrastructure – especially water.
To those celebrating the Jewish holidays we wish a chag sameach!
To all of you, many thanks for your trust and support!!
Hedva Radovanitz
Executive Director
Dear friends,
At the start of the Jewish year I want to take this opportunity to thank you again for your support of Bimkom’s activities.
This has not been an easy year. The Coronavirus has not ended and has only added further burdens to marginalized and weakened populations that we work with.
Bimkom’s staff and board have continued, throughout this complex year, to strive to protect the right to fair and appropriate planning for all.
Let me share with you a taste of the issues we’ve been working on:
East Jerusalem
- A new outline plan for the al-Isawiyyah neighborhood has been approved (on condition of certain changes) for deposition This is a complex and innovative plan, prepared by architect Ari Cohen, that includes strategies for large scale regularization of unauthorized construction, and for residents and landowners to choose different paths for developing their land. Many of the ideas are based on Bimkom’s approach to resident-led planning (read more here). We hope this plan will begin to be implemented soon, and that the innovative planning tools will become standard throughout East Jerusalem.
Nonetheless, the planned area is smaller than required, so we will be preparing an objection to the plan, while continuing to support the new planning strategies it proposes.
- The Site of the Hidden Maps: Confiscation and expropriation of Palestinian homes and land in Jerusalem is an ongoing issue and source of tension. The fact of land expropriations is well known and has been published in the official publications of the State of Israel, but the maps themselves were never shared or displayed for public view.
Bimkom obtained the maps under the Freedom of Information Law and they have now been scanned in their entirety and uploaded to a new website: Bimkom’s own Sari Kronish, head of our East Jerusalem Department, speaks about planning and housing in East Jerusalem.
Women as Decision Makers in Planning
- In the final weeks of 2020 we began an exciting new project in partnership with Sidreh – a Bedouin women’s organization) and the Israeli Association for Distributive Justice. In this project, we are working to increase the ability of women from marginalized groups to take an active role in planning-related decisions that affect themselves, their families and their communities. We have begun contacts with women in the Bedouin local authorities of al-Kasum and Neve Midbar in the Negev, where we will be advancing women’s employment and business centers. We will also work on issues of housing and public services in the Old City of Acco (Acre) and in another Arab locality in the North, with women who are taking part in trainings with us. Additionally, there will be education programs on human rights, gender and planning for Haredi women architecture students, and for participants in the Desert Stars leadership institute for Bedouin youth.
As part of this project, two new women architects have become part of the Bimkom team.
Bedouin Villages
- We have been working for some years with the Bedouin community of Um Matnan to promote in-site recognition of their village, and planning that is appropriate for their culture and lifestyle. In July, and following a meeting with Bedouin Knesset member Saeed Alkharoumi (who has since most sadly passed away), it was decided that the best solution for the village is not independent recognition, but rather expanding the statutory boundary of the nearby Abu Krinat to include the land and houses of Um Matnan. In the last few months we’ve been working with the community to prepare maps and documents outlining how this should be done.
- We have also been accompanying the communities of Abde, Hashem Zaneh and Rahme as they move toward formal recognition. This has been approved in principle, but the authorities are conditioning final implementation on certain changes, such as moving the homes into a much more limited area. The residents think that these conditions are unreasonable, and Bimkom, together with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Sikkuy and the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages, have written to the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services to try to reach an acceptable solution. We will be meeting with the minister in October.
- Citizens whose homes are unrecognized still have a rights to access services – especially education. Bimkom has worked with fellow NGO Sikkuy to identify sites for “service centers” that will provide educational frameworks and other services in or near to unrecognized villages in the Negev. The Social Services Ministry has now asked that we prioritize our list of some 25 sites so that they can work toward implementation in the most critical cases (and hopefully eventually in them all).
Arab Localities
- Bimkom submitted objections to the plan to declare as a nature reserve a large area of land (some 10,00 dunams – 2,500 acres) in Givat Alonim in Northern Israel, much of which is used by local communities for agriculture and grazing. We show how this plan will impact the culture of the Bedouins in the area, as well as their livelihood. While the objections were not accepted and the park is to be established, the planning committee assured us and the communities that grazing and agricultural rights will be preserved. The Bedouin residents feel that this is nonetheless a type of expropriation of their lands and are concerned that they will not have free access as in the past.
- One of the affected communities is Ibtin. The nature reserve will limit the ability of the community to expand as needed for natural growth. Bimkom has worked with the residents to prepare a blueprint of the desired expansion area, which has been submitted to the Regional Planning Council for their feedback.
Area C
- We filed an objection to plans to “upgrade” the waste disposal site between the Abu Dis and Wadi Abu Hindi communities. The plan if implemented, would take over lands belonging to or used by the villages, and additionally would block the road to Wadi Abu Hindi, making access to and from the village very difficult. The objection was rejected but the plan has been changed so that the access road will not be harmed.
- We also objected to the planned “Road 45” which is intended to ease the commute between Jerusalem and the settlements in the Geva Binyamin area. The road will take over lands from a number of villages in the area. Israel claims that the road will also serve the Palestinian population, and it is therefore reasonable to expropriate some of their land, however we point out that since the Palestinians are not able to enter Jerusalem, the road will in fact be of no benefit to them. Additionally, no public process was held to inform the residents and allow them to react to the plan (except via formal objections). The case is ongoing.
- Bimkom, together with ACRI has prepared 14 requests to connect villages in Area C to water and electric infrastructure. Based on the precedent set by Bimkom’s previous cases, infrastructure connections should be allowed for homes that can be proved to have existed before 1967, and from these homes, to the rest of the community. For each community, we have historical aerial photographs or other documentation of the pre-’67 homes, together with other data about the communities, and recommendations for how to implement the connections. The Corona period has only served to highlight the acute need for basic infrastructure – especially water.
To those celebrating the Jewish holidays we wish a chag sameach!
To all of you, many thanks for your trust and support!!
Hedva Radovanitz
Executive Director
