1948 Palestinians: The Links
THE ARAB ASSOCIATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (HRA) was founded in 1988 to promote and protect the political, civil, economic, and cultural rights of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel and to further the domestic implementation of international human rights principles. It is an independent non-governmental organisation registered in Israel. Click here for more information.
ADALAH: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel is the first Palestinian-run legal center in Israel. Established in November 1996, Adalah serves the Arab community nationwide or close to 20 percent of the population of Israel. Over the years, the Palestinian community in Israel has recognised the need to look inward and to focus their attention on attaining equal rights as full citizens and as a national ethnic minority. Adalah is one of the main expressions of this need. Recent developments in Israeli domestic law and Israel's ratification of numerous international human rights treaties which contain minority rights protections lend support to claims to group discrimination and the State's obligation to afford positive rights to the Arab minority in Israel.
ITTIJAH: Union of Arab Community Based Associations is an innovative, umbrella organisation for Palestinian Arab NGOs and CBOs in Israel. Founded in 1995, Ittijah was created by a group of prominent local NGOs in response to a clear and widely felt desire and need for increased co-operation and exchange between Palestinian Arab organisations. It plays an increasingly important role in facilitating the efforts of Arab NGOs, and in advancing the postitive development of the Palestinian Arab minority in Israel toward a healthy and productive civil society.
THE ASSOCIATION OF FORTY supports the Bedouin living outside the townships in unrecognised villages. In order to put pressure on the Bedouin to leave the unrecognised villages, official policy is to deny these communities basic services and prevent them from developing infrastructure. Planning laws are used to prevent villagers from building any permanent constructions or repairing existing temporary ones. Connection to water and electricity networks is prohibited.