The Nazareth District Court this week invalidated a housing tender released by the Israel Lands Administration and Afula City Hall after determining the Israeli Arabs who won the homes were involved in price fixing. The tender addresses 27 lots upon which 43 houses were to be built. All of the winners happened to be Israeli Arabs, signaling foul play.

Both the Israel Lands Administration and Afula City Hall announced there was no foul play. The losing groups of bidders did not believe this and they took their case to court.

The tender began in June 2015 and the announced results led to protests in Afula as residents objected to the construction of an exclusively Arab neighborhood in the city. Justice Avraham Avraham sided with the petitioners, explaining there were flaws in the wording of the tender and sufficient reason to suspect price fixing, deciding to invalidate it. The court’s decision was decried by the Arab Bloc in Knesset, calling the ruling “shameful”.

MK Ahmed Tibi called it discriminatory, stating “they don’t want Arabs in Afula”. MK Basel Ghattas added, “The court sanctioned a racist petition. These kinds of ruling will not change history for we belong here and this is our land and we are the owners’.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)