Shurat HaDin wins court victory for Jewish families In Jaffa

Shurat HaDin
For Immediate Release
25 February '10

The Tel Aviv District Court handed down a ruling that Jewish families, who had won a public tender to purchase land in the Tel-Aviv suburb of Jaffa, are entitled to go forward with their plans to construct a multi-family building. The families' rights to build had been challenged in court by a coalition of Arab-Israelis and politically motivated NGOs. The coalition demanded that the families' bid be disqualified by the court based solely upon the fact that they are Jewish and that their presence in Jaffa will tip the demographic balance of the neighborhood and discriminates against Arabs.

Several months ago, the families submitted a joint bid on a plot of land in Jaffa which had been offered up in a public auction by the Israel Lands Authority (ILA). The families planned to build a residential building, with twenty apartments, on the plot. A competing, lower bid was submitted by an Arab contractor. After considering all the bids, the ILA awarded the rights to the Jewish group.

Following the families' victory, a coalition of twenty-five Israeli-Arabs from Jaffa, along with three Israeli human rights NGOs, filed a petition in the Tel Aviv District Court against the ILA, insisting that the families' successful bid be disqualified. The coalition argued that since the families intended to build apartments primarily for Jewish citizens, the ILA - a government agency - had somehow discriminated against the Arab contractor and Arab residents of Jaffa in conducting the public auction. The petitioners argued that the local Arab population of Jaffa suffers from a housing shortage and that the court should issue an injunction against building any apartments, unless the builders agree to allocate housing units specifically for Arabs!

To fight for their rights, the families had turned to Shurat HaDin to
represent them in court.

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