Israeli Ethnic discrimination: Arbitrary enforcement of the law in Israel?

Over the years, Israel has coped with homes and neighborhoods that were established without proper authorization or legal permits.

In 1984, the Israel Ministry of Housing issued a report that over 10,000 homes were illegally constructed by Israeli Arab residents on the Acre-Tzfat road.

1984 was an election year in Israel. Ezer Weitzman, running with Benyamin Ben Eliezer on the Yachad Party ticket, campaigned in the Arab sector and promised to legalize these homes if elected.

After the July 1984 election, in which Labor and Likud were essentially tied in the number of seats, the YACHAD Party, with its three seats, entered the coalition on the condition that the 10,000 homes be legalized. And that is what happened.

In early 2003, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, headed by former UN Ambassador Dore Gold, issued a position paper which documented are more than 6,000 illegal and unauthorized homes built in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. That study, authored by human rights lawyer Justus Reid Weiner, a scholar-in-residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, can be located at: http://www.jcpa.org/jlmbldg.htm

Ever since the publication of the JCPA study, the question has been raised as to whether the government of Israel will order the demolition of these 6,000 homes.

As this is being written, the government of Israel, during yet another election campaign, has issued demolition orders against Jewish communities that have not received legal authorization.

The question remains: Will the government of Israel only demolish Jewish neighborhoods that have been constructed without proper permits? Is that not arbitrary enforcement of the law against only one ethnic group, while another ethnic group is allowed to flaunt the law?