Israeli Arabs sue bus company for refusing to let them board

04/05/2009

Israeli Arabs sue bus company for refusing to let them board

http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1082965.html

Four Israeli Arabs on Monday sued the Dan bus company for allegedly barring them from boarding a vehicle because of their ethnicity. 

The four residents of Kafr Qasem allege that the company discriminated against them, treating them in a "demeaning and humiliating manner" because of their background and ethnicity. 

Each of four plaintiffs is demanding NIS 50,000 in compensation. 

The plaintiffs allege that they sought to board the company's 186 line to Kafr Qassem in late January only to be denied entry by the driver after he inspected their identification cards and discovered that they were Arabs. 

The four say that they were removed from the bus in a humiliating fashion while non-Arab passengers boarded the bus unhindered. They also say the driver refused to give them his personal and professional information. 

According to the law suit presented Monday to the Kfar Sava Magistrate's Court, the plaintiffs have suffered extreme anxiety and deep humiliation as a result of the ordeal. 

The plaintiff's attorneys say that they asked Dan to clarify offer their version of the incident and issue a public apology, but did not receive an adequate response from the bus company. 

Árabes israelenses processam empresa de ônibus por não permitir que eles embarquem

Quatro árabes-israelenses nessa segunda-feira iniciaram um processo contra a empresa de ônibus Dan por barrarem seus ingressos no veículo devido sua etnicidade.

Os quatro residentes de Kafr Qassem alegam que a empresa discriminou-os, tratando-os de maneira "humilhante" por causa de sua etnicidade.

Cada um dos autores da ação está demandando 50.000 shekels israelenses de indenização.

Os requerentes alegam que tentaram embarcar no ônibus na linha 186 para Kafr Qassem no fim de janeiro quando tiveram a entrada barrada depois que o motorista conferiu seus documentos de identidade e descobriu que eles eram árabes.

Os quatros foram então removidos do ônibus de modo humilhante enquanto outros passageiros não-árabes continuaram embarcando. De acordo com os quatro cidadãos israelenses, o motorista ainda se recusou a fornecer informações pessoais e profissionais.

De acordo com o processo iniciado na segunda-feira na corte de Kfar Sava, os autores sofreram extrema ansiedade e profunda humilhação como resultado da expulsão do ônibus.

O advogado do grupo pediu à empresa Dan que esclarecesse os fatos e oferecesse sua versão, assim como um pedido de desculpas em público, mas a empresa não ofereceu uma resposta adequada.

Israel/Occupied Territories: High Court decision institutionalizes racial discrimination

AMNESTY INTERNATIONALPublic StatementAI Index: MDE 15/042/2006 (Public)News Service No: 126 16 May 2006

The decision by the Israeli High Court of Justice on 14 May to uphold a law which explicitly denies family rights on the basis of ethnicity or national origins is a step further in the institutionalization of racial discrimination in Israel. The “Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law” bars family reunification for Israelis married to Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. It specifically targets Israeli Arabs (Palestinian citizens of Israel), who make up a fifth of Israel’s population, and Palestinian Jerusalemites,(1) for it is they who marry Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Thousands of couples are affected by this discriminatory law, which forces Israeli Arabs married to Palestinians to leave their country or to be separated from their spouses and children. Israeli military law forbids Israelis from entering the main population centres in the Occupied Territories and Israeli citizens cannot join their Palestinian spouses there, and at the same time Palestinian spouses staying in Israel without a permit are constantly at risk of being deported and separated from their families. Thus, Israeli-Palestinian couples would ultimately be forced to move to another country in order to live together – an option which is neither feasible nor desirable for those concerned. In addition, Palestinian Jerusalemites would lose their residency and their right to ever live in Jerusalem again if they move out of the city. Five of the 11 High Court of Justice’s judges who ruled on this law on 14 May, including the Court’s President, voted against upholding the law, recognizing that it infringes human rights. The Court’s President, Aharon Barak, stated that the law violates the right of Israeli Arabs to equality. Indeed, the law violates the absolute prohibition on discrimination contained in international human rights law, notably several treaties which Israel has ratified and is obliged to uphold, including the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The provision in the law which allows for the discretionary granting of temporary residence permits for Palestinian male spouses over 35 and female spouses over 25 is arbitrary in nature and does not alter the discriminatory character of the law. It will also not benefit the majority of Israeli-Palestinian couples, who marry at a younger age. Moreover, the permit applications of spouses who meet the age criteria can be rejected on the grounds that a member of his/her extended family is considered a “security risk” by Israeli security services. Thousands of Palestinians seeking family reunification prior to the passing of this law were rejected on unspecified “security” grounds in circumstances where the failure to provide detailed reasons for each rejection made it impossible for those rejected to mount an effective legal challenge to the decision. The Israeli authorities have sought to justify the law on security grounds but have brought no convincing evidence to substantiate such claims. Even claims that some 25 people, some of whom were born to Israeli parents and were not in Israel as a result of family reunification, have been involved in attacks in security-related offences, cannot justify denying family reunification to every Palestinian. Doing so is discriminatory and disproportionate and would constitute a form of collective punishment, prohibited under international law. Moreover, statements by Israeli officials and legislators who support the new law indicate that it is primarily motivated by demographic, rather than security, considerations - that is, a determination to reduce the percentage of Israeli Arabs among the country's population. The ban on family unification for Israeli-Palestinian couples, initially introduced by an administrative decision of the Interior Minister in 2002 and subsequently passed into law by the Israeli Knesset in July 2003, is due to be reviewed by the Israeli Knesset next July. Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Israeli government and on Members of the Knesset to repeal this law and to ensure that any steps taken to address security concerns, including any amendments to the citizenship law, comply with international human rights law – notably the principle of non-discrimination.(1) Palestinians who remained in Israel after the establishment of the state in 1948 became Israeli citizens, whereas the Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem received a special status as permanent residents after Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967 and its subsequent annexation. Today, there are about 230,000 Palestinian permanent residents of Jerusalem.

Source: Amnesty International - http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/042/2006/en/dom-MDE150422006en.html