“They took nine years of our lives waiting for a building permit, when one should have been issued in accordance with a municipal building plan. That still does not exist and probably will never exist,” said M., a former resident of the city of Maghar in northern Israel who asked to stay anonymous because of social pressure in her community. The lack of housing forced M. to live in a rented apartment in central Israel, far from her family and community. “I’m between a rock and a hard place,” added Daliat al-Carmel resident Nahad Natour. “I don’t want my son to have a criminal record and I don’t want to pay fines, but apart from illegal construction, there’s no other way for my child to have a place to live.” 

A., on the other hand, is a Bedouin from the Negev, who is raising five children alone – three of whom have disabilities – in a hut that she built without permission from the government. A. requested anonymity because she worried she could otherwise face danger from the village. She showed a demolition order that she had been sent and asked, “Where will I go from here?”

These three examples are anything but exceptions to  the Arab community in Israel. They represent a housing crisis that is only in decline. Within  the Jewish population of Israel, the housing crisis is primarily highlighted in astronomically high prices.  For the Arab population, the crisis is even more fundamental as it stems mainly from the legal situation. Or, more accurately, from the absence of a legal solution, since in many Arab communities, it is simply impossible to build legally because the state’s planning bodies have, for years, done almost nothing to promote comprehensive construction plans. The process to build these plans happens when local authorities invest money to create a masterplan and then, once completed, pass that plan onto the committee for district approval. Without these plans, people cannot build homes. Add to this the cultural and historical ways of thinking prevalent in the Arab community, such as the sweeping opposition to the unification and division of land or the resistance to sell land especially when the historical background includes the mass appropriation of land by the State of Israel. Moreover, the conditions facing Bedouin communities in Israel’s south are even more severe – especially for the estimated 50,000 to 100,000 people living in unrecognized communities where construction is automatically illegal.

Young married couples, who do not have a house of their own, are forced to find solutions. Many of those whose families own land build homes without permits and indirectly, they merely exacerbate the overall problem. Others look for an apartment to rent, a relative rarity in Arab communities, and if they do not find one, they move to mixed or Jewish communities, where there is a greater supply of apartments.

“To deal with this situation, both players must be involved – the state and the community,” said Dr. Orwa Switat, an urban planner and researcher, who warns that the current situation is exacerbating the disintegration of Arab communities – a process with significant indirect consequences . “The state must come up with profound solutions for the housing crisis, with societal and cultural sensitivity, and, at the same time, allocating resources and state-owned land for this end,” he said. “And the community must emphasize the public interest, whereby, on occasion, there is no choice but to set aside land that is currently in private hands for public needs, to ensure that services and infrastructure are provided.”

The Arab community needs an addition of 13,000 housing units per year. A State Comptroller’s Report from 2015 presented similar findings, adding that around 7,000 housing units were being constructed every year in Arab communities – 6,000 fewer than needed.

No Data from the Ministry

The Arab community in Israel, which consisted of a little over 2 million people in 2021, has suffered a housing crisis for the past several decades. As strange as it may sound – especially given that, for the past ten years or so, the real estate market in Israel has been the hottest potato in the economy – the Housing and Construction Ministry has no official data on the extent of the housing crisis in the Arab community. The ministry claims that, for various  reasons, there is no way to gauge the magnitude of the problem. However, other bodies, including some government departments, have managed to produce data. For example, a resolution passed by the cabinet in 2012 stated that the Arab community needs an addition of 13,000 housing units per year. A State Comptroller’s Report from 2015 presented similar findings, adding that around 7,000 housing units were being constructed every year in Arab communities – 6,000 fewer than needed.

The most up-to-date estimate comes from Switat, who advises local authorities on urban and neighborhood planning and is a member of the Haifa Municipality’s Preservation Committee. Based on a study he conducted for Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) - a public research university located in Haifa - he said that without even trying to close the existing gap, “we need around 100,000 additional housing units over the next ten years.”

The extent of illegal construction in Arab communities also provides some insight into the extent of the housing crisis in Arab communities. According to research published in May of this year by Sikkuy – The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, illegal construction fits under one of two categories: temporary buildings, such as precast and huts, and permanent buildings. According to their research, between 2015 and 2020, some 15,000 temporary buildings and 14,000 permanent buildings were built without a permit. This means that around 4,600 illegal structures are built every year. In other words, for every 1.5 legal buildings in Arab communities, one was built without a permit. Another study by Dr. Enaya Banna-Jeries and Wajdi Khalayleh, two researchers from the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, suggested that around two-thirds of the illegal structures erected in Israel are concentrated in just 10 Arab communities.

In Bedouin communities, as stated, the situation is especially dire. There are 35 unrecognized communities in the Negev Desert, where construction is, by definition, illegal. According to a Sikkuy report, some 100,000 people live in these communities – around one-third of the Arab population of the Negev. Official government figures are lower, and they range between 50,000 and 80,000 people. Under the Lapid-Bennet  government, and after many years of inactivity on the matter, the Authority for Development and Settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev published a new plan in May 2022. Given the change of government in Jerusalem after the November elections, it remains unclear what will happen with this plan.

Sikkuy’s study examined 70 of the 85 Arab municipalities  and local authorities in Israel (not including Arab communities located within Jewish regional municipalities) and found that 27 did not have a construction master plan approved after 2000.

No Plan for Arab Communities

The reasons for the housing crisis in the Arab community can be divided into two main categories. The first is external, as in the lack of interest that Israeli governments have shown in solving the problem over the years. The second is internal, from within the Arab community itself.

On the governmental side, various researchers point to poor planning for the future and failure to approve far-reaching and detailed construction projects. Sikkuy’s study examined 70 of the 85 Arab municipalities  and local authorities in Israel (not including Arab communities located within Jewish regional municipalities) and found that 27 did not have a construction master plan approved after 2000. Without such plans, there is almost no possibility for new and legal construction in these communities.

The study also found that, even when a planning process did exist, it was long and exhausting. According to Sikkuy, the average waiting time for approval for a construction master plan was around 80 months (six and a half years). In one case, it lasted for an astonishing 13 years. It is worth noting that even once the master plan is approved, the individual requests for permits must be processed – which can take several more years.

In addition to the absence of a master plan, the researchers added, there are also bureaucratic impediments, such as the failure to transfer budgets to Arab local authorities, dedicated to planning purposes, and a lack of Arab representation in the various planning bodies. For example, of the 556 people employed by the Housing and Construction Ministry, there are just 39 Arab employees (around 7 percent, which is less than half the number of Arabs in the general population). In other planning bodies, Arab representation is even lower.

In a conversation with Shomrim, Amin Abu Haya, the head of the Minorities Department in the Housing and Construction Ministry, did not deny the severity of the situation but argued that, in recent years, efforts have been made to improve it. “We are trying hard to push through organized planning and if we used to ignore illegal construction, that is not the case today, and we are looking for solutions,” he said. 

As an example of these efforts, Abu Haya said that the ministry has invested 22 million shekels ($6.5 million) in planning a new neighborhood in Umm al-Fahm. The goal, he said, “is to legalize 3,500 illegally constructed houses and to build 4,000 additional housing units.”

In 2019, the State Comptroller published a report on the government's handling of construction in the Arab community. In the report’s summary, the Comptroller wrote: “Resolutions (passed by the government) including plans of action, concessions and legislative changes designed to promote statutory planning and the registration of land rights, and also included the allocation of significant funding for their implementation. However, by the end of the inspection time, the plans did not generally contribute to solving the problem or were only slightly useful.”

Wissam Nabwani, The head of the Julis Regional Council: “The biggest problem is that people think they can continue building without permits. That’s impossible and people have to understand it. It takes two years to work on a master plan and in the meantime, someone builds an illegal home in the middle of the road – destroying all the plans.”

The Scariest Words: Unifying and Dividing

The state, as mentioned, is only one of the players involved in the housing crisis of the Arab Sector. When it comes to the internal reasons stemming from within the Arab community, researchers say the large quantity of privately owned land is one of the main obstacles. Abu Haya from the Housing and Construction Ministry explained that “many private landowners do not go ahead with the construction of all the permitted housing units and instead build according to their immediate needs; the rest of their land they keep for future generations.”

Sikkuy’s Wajdi Khalayleh agrees, adding that most of the land included in the masterplans that have been approved is privately owned, which means that anyone who does not own land has no solution since “the landowners keep their land for family members.”

Another significant obstacle to privately owned land is unification and division – a phrase that scares every Arab landowner in Israel. In the Arab community, land is highly valued and there are few people willing to give up part of their land for public usage - as required by Israeli law.

“Most of the land is privately owned, which makes it harder to plan because of public spaces,” explained Tira mayor Mamoun Abd al-Hay. “What can we say to a resident who inherited the land from his grandfather and isn’t willing to cede it?”

The head of the Julis Regional Council, Wissam Nabwani, has managed to overcome this problem and has added to his council’s masterplan an area of 1.05 million square meters for construction, 240,000 square meters for industry and, in total, there is a plan for the construction of 547 additional housing units. “When dealing with this issue, it is vitally important to leave politics aside; to explain to the public that [the issue of unification and division] is a good thing, since it creates, in the end, a neighborhood and that it is untenable to continue to refuse to cede parcels of land while, at the same time, wanting to build a new house. We have to explain to residents that without unification and division, there won’t be any planning and there won’t be any construction. Of course, everybody has to be treated equally to minimize objections.”

All of the above mentioned problems prompt many people to build without permits – which in itself has become a significant obstacle to legal construction, as Abu Haya explained. “Illegal construction, in the center of an area that had plans for, derails the plans and obligates us to plan anew.”

Nabwani agreed. “The biggest problem is that people think they can continue building without permits. That’s impossible and people have to understand it. It takes two years to work on a master plan and in the meantime, someone builds an illegal home in the middle of the road – destroying all the plans.”

In this context, Nabwani mentioned the Kaminitz Law – Amendment 116 to the Planning and Construction Law – which makes it easier for the state to demolish illegally built houses and which greatly angered Israeli Arabs. “Some people have called for the Kaminitz Law to be rescinded,” he says, “but I believe that the Kaminitz Law isn’t the problem. In Julis, it only helps us make plans.”

Arab Couples Forced to Move to Jewish Communities

Just as in Jewish society, the group that suffers most from the housing crisis in the Arab community are young couples. Given their inability to build or buy an apartment, the obvious answer is to rent. However, unlike among the Jewish population, of which one-third live in rented accommodation, rental apartments in Arab towns and cities are something of a rarity. 

For example, M., the Maghar resident,, tried to find an apartment to rent with her partner. When they were unsuccessful, the couple was forced to move to a low socio-economic Jewish community. “We both work to be able to live with dignity and to pay the rent,” she said, but added that she is saddened that she has moved away from her family and community. Daliat al-Carmel resident Nahad Natour said that he went through a long and painful process before ultimately deciding to build a house for his son without a permit. He bought two parcels of land, but the master plan that would have allowed him to build on them has been held up for years. Tired of waiting, he decided to build without a permit – and was issued a demolition order. Nahad said he chose to build illegally since he had no other solution and found himself in a legal and financial tailspin.

For impoverished communities, the situation is even direr. A., the mother-of-five from the Negev, gets legal assistance from Women Lawyers for Social Justice, established in 2001 to give a voice to women subject to social, geographic, national, ethnic and economic discrimination in Israeli society.

When she left her drug addict husband, who was violent toward her and her five children – three of whom have disabilities – A. was forced to move out of the family home. She managed to buy a 70 square meter structure – partly concrete and partly corrugated tin- built illegally in one of the communities in the Negev. She told Shomrim that this was the only option available and that she struggled to make it habitable. “It’s a two-room structure, a living room and a small kitchen,” she said, explaining how difficult it is to live with disabled children in a home that is not accessible. She was recently sent a demolition order and fined tens of thousands of shekels. “Where am I supposed to go?” she asked.

Another example is that of Najib Mehmed Abu Jamail, who lives in a tin shack in the unrecognized village of Wadi al-Na’am. Abu Jamail is a member of the regional council and his housing story is considered run-of-the-mill in Bedouin society. When his oldest son married, with no other alternative, he built him a home from corrugated tin. “Shortly after we finished construction, we were sent a demolition order, but we managed to get out of that somehow.” A few years later, his second son married and Abu Jamail built a tin shack for him, too. However, this time, the authorities acted quickly and the structure was torn down just a few days later. The newlywed couple managed to rent an apartment in Segev Shalom, but because the rent was so high, they returned shortly afterward to their parent’s home in the unrecognized village.

Currently, Abu Jamil, his wife and their third son live in one room in the family shack, with the other son and his wife living in the other room, “I don’t have any solution for my third son,” he said. “And it’s not just my family and I suffer here. All of the villages in the Negev are facing similar problems.”

Attorney Hanan al-Sana: “The state had plenty of opportunities to legalize the status of the unrecognized villages,” she said, “and to fund housing plans for Bedouins in the Negev, but not one of them has been implemented thus far.”

No Light at the End of the Tunnel

Over the past decade, NGOs, research institutions, the State Comptroller, the Knesset’s Information Center and others have all published countless articles exploring workable solutions. All of the experts Shomrim interviewed for this article agreed that the first stage must be broader government investment in master plans for Arab communities. The joint research by Sikkuy and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, for example, recommended allocating resources for the promotion of updated master plans for at least 23 local authorities and recommending that the Planning Authority update all of its approved master plans in accordance with expected needs in 2040. There is also a wall-to-wall agreement around the need for reduced committee bureaucracy and shorter approval times and a solution for illegal construction.

However, while there is an agreement regarding the government, there is no such agreement when dealing with those obstacles that stem from within the Arab community. The reticence to build or sell private lands, for example. While some of those interviewed for this article believe that other explanatory tools should be used, some, such as Wissam Nabwani, argued that “the only solution is in state-owned land.” He claimed that, in recent years, state-owned lands have been sold off only in a tiny proportion of Arab communities and that there was no such sell-off for many years. In the absence of such a plan, he said, and given the refusal of residents to sell their privately owned lands, there is no solution.

Other solutions that have been proposed focus on financial issues. A document drawn up by the Hebrew University’s Urban Clinic, the Coalition for Sustainable Housing, and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning pointed to the problem of credit and mortgages in the Arab community as a significant obstacle, which are partly responsible for some of the other issues (such as the fact that selling land is an unattractive prospect) and urges decision-makers to find a solution.

Does this mean there is some light at the end of the tunnel? On the contrary, Attorney Hanan al-Sana, the head of the Be’er Sheva division of Women Lawyers for Social Justice, says that while her NGO is supposed to deal mainly with representing Bedouin women, given the lack of alternative solutions, she has found herself becoming the main address for requests for housing assistance. The number of such requests, she said, has increased sharply over the past few years and there is no solution on the horizon. “The state had plenty of opportunities to legalize the status of the unrecognized villages,” she said, “and to fund housing plans for Bedouins in the Negev, but not one of them has been implemented thus far.”

Switat, the town planner, adds that he expects that if there is no change in the government’s priorities, “Arab communities will continue to get weaker, which will exacerbate social disintegration, polarization and social conflicts.”

He said that unless the problem is addressed at the most fundamental level, there will be an increase in what he describes as the negative migration of better-off people from Arab communities to Jewish and mixed communities. This migration will have a devastating effect on Arab communities and, by extension, the whole of the State of Israel.