DOCSLIB.ORG

RLS Israel Newsletter Swaid 2010

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
RLS Israel Newsletter Swaid 2010 Newsletter des rls-Büros in Tel Aviv 1 October 2010 DR. HANNA SWAID1 Land, Planning and Housing Plight Facing the Arab Citizens in Israel Land, planning and housing laws and policies in Israel have been criticized for discriminating and adversely affecting the Arab citizens of the state since it was founded. !"#"$%&'(%)"*"()+,"(-""$(.","*+&(&"/0.&+%0,"(0$0%0+%0,".(0$(%)0.(["&23(0$#&420$/(+(5*656."2(7+86*(*"96*7(0$(%)"(:&+$$0$/( and Building Law and an approved reform in the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Law. These initiatives are opposed by different environmental and Human Rights organizations and other stakeholders, who claim among other things that these reforms do not tackle any of the problems of the Arab citizens of Israel and sometimes even worsen the situation. The reform in the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) Law was approved by the Knesset in the summer of 2009 and implies changes in land ownership. The nature of these changes brought residents of the Arab village of Makar, in ;".%"*$(<+&0&""3(+$2(=+$$+(>?+02(69(=+2+.)(%6([&"(+(5"%0%06$(0$(@+$4+*'(ABCB(%6(%)"(=0/)(D64*%(69(@4.%0#"(EFG<GHI3( arguing that the suggested land reform violates the rights of Israel’s Arab citizens. In the following newsletter, Hanna Swaid explains the present problematic condition of Arab localities and population in Israel with regards to land, planning and housing, and highlights some of the adverse implications of the recent reform of the ILA Law. The State of Israel and its Arab Citizens The population of the State of Israel consists today of approximately 7.5 million inhabitants, 20.3% of them are Arabs (Muslims, Christians and Druze). Although the Israeli Declaration of Independence (1948) ensures “to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex” equality of social and political rights, freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture2, the society suffers from a serious rift between Arab and Jewish citizens. The rift also exists between the Arab citizens and the !"#"$%&'!"&"("&)'!%M%')%+)'[-$'+$%.$&'/%"0$%')123% The Arab minority has suffered from discriminatory 4)5&+&$!%#'-%41#+"&+$!%&'%"0$%[$5-%)6%45#''&'/7%5#'-7% and development not only over the last few decades but, indeed, since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. The Arab population of Israel has been caught in a Yafa an-Naseriyye local council - courtesy of Wikimedia vicious circle of underdevelopment, which has led The main socio-economic characteristics to high poverty and unemployment rates. Most of representing the plight of the Arab population of the Arab townships score very low on the national Israel are: socio-economic scale. The cycle of permanent Almost 50% of the Arab citizens in Israel live ('-$1-$8$5)42$'"% &!% +#(!$-% #'-% &'"$'!&[$-% .9% #% ∗ below the poverty line, including combination of factors, including marginalization approximately 60% of Arab children. by governmental policies, low participation of Arab citizens in the work force (particularly women), ∗ Most Arab townships (hosting about 90% of unemployment, low-paying jobs and rare job the total Arab population in Israel) are found in opportunities. the categories 1-3 on the national socio- 1 Dr. Hanna Swaid, is a Member of Knesset on behalf of HADASH – Democratic Alliance for Peace and Equality since 2006. He received his PhD in Civil Engineering and Urban Planning at the Technion in Haifa (1988). He was a member of the National Council for Planning and Construction (1995-2003) and the Director General of the Arab Center for Alternative Planning (2003-2006). 2 See http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace Process/GuidetothePeaceProcess/DeclarationofEstablishmentStateof Israel (18 August 2010). economic scale (which is divided into 10 state welfare policies and governmental categories, with category 10 representing the institutions in various aspects of life, including 2)!"%#6\($'"%")>'!0&4!?3 employment, social services, education, industry, and trade. ∗ Unemployment among Arab communities is about 50% higher than the national average. In It is widely believed that economic development is some Arab towns unemployment exceeds 25%. most essential for changing the present situation of the Arab population in Israel. Achieving ∗ Most Arab townships lack industrial/commercial economic development and improving the quality and employment zones and suffer from limited )6%5&6$%)6%B1#.%+&"&E$'!%+)(5-%4)"$'"&#559%1$\$+"%)'% local job opportunities (“bedroom commu- "0$&1%+0#'+$!%")%.$+)2$%#'%&'"$/1#5%#'-%&'\($'"&#5% '&"&$!P?3 part of Israeli society. ∗ Participation in the workforce reaches only 45% among Arabs (compared with the national Planning, Land and Development Rights #8$1#/$% )6% @@A?7% >&"0% B1#.% >)2$'% The Orr Commission Report3% % )6% :;;<% &-$'"&[$-% participation amounting only to 20%. planning, land and development rights as the ∗ The average wages of Arab employees reach major reason for confrontations between Arab only 65% of the national average wages in citizens and state institutions. The report pointed Israel. at accumulating anger, mistrust and despair among Arab citizens due to longstanding ∗ Public companies rarely recruit Arab employees, systematic institutional discrimination encom- and most of private sector companies do not passing almost all domains of life, including recruit Arabs, allegedly because of security housing, employment, social and civil rights. restrictions. Up until now, national and regional development ∗ D"#"$% &'!"&"("&)'!% -)% ')"% )4$'% )6[+$!% &'% B1#.% plans initiated by the state authorities were townships, thus hindering employment oppor- approved and implemented without minimal tunities for Arabs, mainly women. Arabs involvement of Arab citizens or institutions represent only 6% of the total employees in the representing them. Most Arab municipalities and public sector and state institutions (while Arabs civil society organizations lack professional comprise more than 20% of the total capacity, resources and dedication to perform this 4)4(5#"&)'?%.$+#(!$%)6%!$+(1&"9%1$!"1&+"&)'!3 “watchdog” function. Arab communities lack professional public organizations to represent their ∗ Allocation of state land for employment needs and interests and act as their professional purposes (industrial, commercial, leisure, “voice” on planning, housing, and developmental #/1&+(5"(1#5?%&!%8$19%5&2&"$-%&'%B1#.%")>'!0&4!3 issues. ∗ Arab businesses are limited to local F0$% 0&!")19% )6% O+#14$"P% B1#.% 5#'-% +)'[!+#"&)'% .9% opportunities and markets and lack any the state, implemented over the 1950s until 1980s, national, regional or global prospects. has led Arab citizens to mistrust any plan initiated by the government, and rather view it as another So far, the consecutive governments in Israel have means to control and limit their normal growth. played a passive role in assisting Arab com- This is often interpreted by the government and munities to develop and grow. They continue to state authorities as unwillingness and reluctance to make promises and pledges but fail to act participate. The Orr Commission noted that these effectively. The major strategy adopted by Arab compounded problems, which are due to the citizens to change this situation has been to exert state’s failure to integrate the Arab minority into political and public pressure on the government, the general population, and to provide democratic anticipating it will act to fundamentally change the and equitable treatment, have created among the traditional policies and attitudes, enhance resource Arab minority increased frustration and mistrust allocation to achieve improvements and equality, towards the state, which ultimately led to the and close the gap between the Jewish and Arab violent events as observed in October 2000. In the communities in the state. following paragraphs, the major problematic land The combination of continuous deprivation policies and planning issues concerning the Arab minority implemented by state authorities on the one side in Israel are introduced and discussed. and the absence of individual self-reliant development strategies and plans among the Arab Inequitable Land Allocation citizens on the other side continues to intensify F0$% 2#H)1&"9% )6% B1#.% 5#'-!% >$1$% +)'[!+#"$-% .9% po verty and frustration among Arab citizens of state authorities since the establishment of the Isr ael. This has led to almost full economic dependency of the Arab population in Israel on State of Israel. Now, the Arab citizens own only 3 The Orr Inquiry Commission was set up by the government of Israel in order to investigate into the reasons which stood behind the eruption of October 2000 violent confrontations between Israeli Arab citizens and security forces leaving 13 Arab youth shot dead by the police in several Arab townships. 2 3.5% of the total area of the state, while they all localities in Israel. Also, they determine the comprise more than 20% of the population. The zoning of state and private lands all over the majority of the lands in Mandatory Palestine were country. As such, their decisions have direct owned by Arab citizens before 1948. The implications concerning the jurisdictional jurisdiction area of all Arab townships reaches boundaries4 of local authorities, and consequently only about 3% of the area of the state. the allocation of state lands and budgets for planning and local economic and social The comparison between land allocation to the development. Fair representation of Arab citizens Arab city of Sakhnin and to the neighboring
Load more

Recommended publications
  • From: Gifted Arab Gifted Arab Child in Israel, by Hanna David (Pp. 124-142)
    From: Gifted Arab Gifted Arab Child in Israel, by Hanna David (pp. 124-142) The life story of Prof. Fadia Nasser-Abu Alhija Here is the life story of Prof. Fadia Nasser-Abu Alhija, who has succeeded in overcoming all possible barriers to higher education and becoming a role model for many Arab women and women in general. Prof. Fadia Nasser-Abu Alhija is professor at the School of Education of Tel Aviv University, where she heads the Department of Curriculum Planning and Instruction and the Program for Research, Measurement and Evaluation Methods. Previously, she was research coordinator for GRE testing at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, NJ (USA). Her main research topics are measurement and evaluation of gender- and culture-related achievements; evaluation of teachers and teaching, and the structural validity of testing methods. Prof. Nasser-Abu Alhija earned her Ph.D. in Research, Evaluation, Measurement and Statistical Methods from the University of Georgia (U.S.) in 1997. Prof. Nasser-Abu Alhija's areas of research are: research methods, measurement, evaluation and statistics. Her PhD thesis was: The Performance of Regression-Based Variations of the Screen Procedure for Determining the Number of Common Factors. In the last 30 years Prof. Nasser-Abu Alhija has taught and instructed mathematics at high school, college and university level. She has participated in various teams, in Israel and abroad, whose expertise has been the evaluation of students and staff members. She was a member of 15 academic committees, including the research committee of the Mofet Institute,1 The committee for undergraduate students at the school of Education, Tel Aviv University; a few professional committees of the Israeli Ministry of Education, 1 The MOFET Institute is a center for the research and development of programs in teacher education and teaching in Israeli teachers' colleges.
    [Show full text]
  • Activity Report 2018
    MATANEL FOUNDATION activity report 2018 MATANEL FOUNDATION ACTIVITY REPORT Program: Summer Youth University, Tel Aviv Youth University Year: 2018 Please present your activity report according to the following lines. The whole rapport will not exceed 2 or 3 pages (as word document). Name of the Program: Summer Youth University Year of activity: 2018 Name of the report's writer: Sharon Regev Function of the report's writer: Public Affairs, Tel Aviv Youth University Mail: [email protected] Phones: 03-6407674 Website / Facebook address of the organization: https://noar.tau.ac.il/ https://www.facebook.com/Enoar.tau Number of active participants in the program: 54 (in the financial report we note 55 students due to withdrawal of one student at the first day( . Estimated number of impacted participants: 54 Give the actually state of the program (where the program stands at the date of the activity report, no more than ten lines): Introduction The University of Tel Aviv ran, for the 18th year, its "Summer Youth University". The program is attended each year by exceptional high-school students who have successfully completed grades 10 and 11. Program participants from a lower socioeconomic status, who demonstrate a high potential for excellence in their studies, are identified with the help of high school headmasters from population centres in Israel's social and geographical periphery: religious alongside secular, Jewish alongside Arab, new immigrants alongside veteran inhabitants. The young students live in boarding conditions and return home during weekends. Daily activities last from morning till evening, and include participation in academic courses, study and reinforcement groups, learning skills, reading and writing in English, social and cultural activities etc.
    [Show full text]
  • President Trump's Declaration on Jerusalem: Arab Citizens’ Response and Jewish-Arab Discourse in Israel December 2017
    President Trump's Declaration on Jerusalem: Arab Citizens’ Response and Jewish-Arab Discourse in Israel December 2017 On December 1st, American President Donald Trump allowed a waiver of the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act1 to expire and in so doing, technically recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and set in motion plans enabling the relocation the American Embassy there from its current location in Tel Aviv. A few days later, on December 6th, President Trump formally and publicly recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in a televised announcement and issued a directive to the State Department to begin the embassy move. These actions reverse longstanding American and international precedent regarding Jerusalem,2 as well as convention since 1993 that “the status of Jerusalem is a core issue to be addressed bilaterally in permanent status negotiations” between Israel and the Palestinians.3 Within the context of Arab citizens of Israel and Jewish-Arab relations in the country, the announcements have had a polarizing effect. While the majority of Jewish Israeli political leaders seem to be aligned in support of the actions, Arab political leadership has been vocal in its opposition. Even before the official announcement, MK Ayman Odeh, the Chair of the Joint Arab List, called President Trump "a pyromaniac" and warned that he "will set the entire region ablaze with his madness” if he goes through with it. MK Ahmad Tibi, also from the Joint List, said moving the US embassy “is in violation of international law” and will “seriously damage the vision for two states.”4 For Arab citizens of Israel, the opposition to the moves has a number of different roots.
    [Show full text]
  • What Makes Elderly Arab Women of the Acre Elderly Club Laugh?”
    Journal of Service Science and Management, 2020, 13, 281-298 https://www.scirp.org/journal/jssm ISSN Online: 1940-9907 ISSN Print: 1940-9893 It Makes Me Laugh: “What Makes Elderly Arab Women of the Acre Elderly Club Laugh?” Janan Faraj Falah1,2 1Sakhnin Academic College, Sakhnin, Israel 2Western Galilee College, Akko, Israel How to cite this paper: Falah, J. F. (2020). It Abstract Makes Me Laugh: “What Makes Elderly Arab Women of the Acre Elderly Club Laugh?” This paper examines the importance of humor in the life of the elderly Arabic Journal of Service Science and Management, women. The Arab sector in Israel in general and in the city of Acre in partic- 13, 281-298. ular has experienced many changes since the establishment of the State of https://doi.org/10.4236/jssm.2020.132018 Israel. Modern living has entered the Arab society and affected the structure Received: March 16, 2020 of the extended and the nuclear Arab family. The increase in education level Accepted: April 13, 2020 had led to integration in work both by Arab men and by women. In compar- Published: April 16, 2020 ison to Western society, which emphasizes self-fulfillment, personal devel- opment and happiness, the Arab society, on the other hand, emphasizes the Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and collective and harmony of the individual in relation to one’s cultural and his- Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative torical origin and surrounding. Welfare authorities in Israel provide varied Commons Attribution International services for the elderly; one of the most common services is the elderly day License (CC BY 4.0).
    [Show full text]
  • Integrating the Arab-Palestinian Minority in Israeli Society: Time for a Strategic Change Ephraim Lavie
    Integrating the Arab-Palestinian Minority in Israeli Society: Time for a Strategic Change Ephraim Lavie Contributors: Meir Elran, Nadia Hilou, Eran Yashiv, Doron Matza, Keren Aviram, Hofni Gartner The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research Integrating the Arab-Palestinian Minority in Israeli Society: Time for a Strategic Change Ephraim Lavie Contributors: Meir Elran, Nadia Hilou, Eran Yashiv, Doron Matza, Keren Aviram, Hofni Gartner This book was written within the framework of the research program on the Arabs in Israel and was published thanks to the generous financial support of Bank Hapoalim and Joseph and Jeanette Neubauer of Philadelphia, Penn. Institute for National Security Studies The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), incorporating the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, was founded in 2006. The purpose of the Institute for National Security Studies is first, to conduct basic research that meets the highest academic standards on matters related to Israel’s national security as well as Middle East regional and international security affairs. Second, the Institute aims to contribute to the public debate and governmental deliberation of issues that are – or should be – at the top of Israel’s national security agenda. INSS seeks to address Israeli decision makers and policymakers, the defense establishment, public opinion makers, the academic community in Israel and abroad, and the general public. INSS publishes research that it deems worthy of public attention, while it maintains a strict policy of non-partisanship. The opinions expressed in this publication are the authors’ alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute, its trustees, boards, research staff, or the organizations and individuals that support its research.
    [Show full text]
  • Equality and Integration of the Arab Citizens in the Misgav Region
    Equality and Integration of the Arab Citizens in the Misgav Region: A Report from Sikkuy-Misgav September 2001 Preface The terrible events of October 2000 symbolized for us – Jewish Israeli citizens and residents of the Misgav Region – an existential watershed. When the demonstrations were over and things went back to what passes for normal, many of us began to feel that assumptions and conventions in place over the last 50 years are no longer valid. Almost instantaneously, we have entered a new era in the common life of Jews and Arabs in the State of Israel – and here in the Galilee. In November 2000, we gathered for the first time, a group of about 40 Jewish residents of Misgav who wanted to work together to remedy the existing civic inequality. We called ourselves “The Third Article” – after the article in Israel’s Declaration of independence which guarantees “absolute civic equality” for all citizens of the state. Our goal, as an activist group, was formulated as follows: “In the State of Israel, Arab citizens are discriminated against. This contradicts the declared values of the state, as anchored in law. As citizens of the state and residents of Misgav who view equal rights and civic partnership as cornerstones of democracy, we must put this matter on the public agenda and act to bring about its remediation in our area.” Subsequently, we decided to joint Sikkuy, which is working on the national level for the same goal, so as to avail ourselves of its support and experience. In light of this decision, we renamed ourselves “Sikkuy in Misgav,” but the underlying idea remains unchanged: to make civic equality, as a value, the focal point of our activism as a group of ordinary citizens.
    [Show full text]
  • Inequality Report: the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel February 2011
    Inequality Report: The Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel February 2011 Inequality Report: The Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel February 2011 Introduction Inequality in Israel takes many forms. Some of the major fault-lines that divide Israeli society, creating relatively privileged and deprived groups, are Western Jews (Ashkenazim) versus Eastern Jews (Mizrahim); men versus women; Israel-born Jews (Sabar) versus new immigrants (Olim); Orthodox versus secular Jews; rural versus urban dwellers; rich versus poor; left-wing versus right-wing supporters; and gay versus straight people. This report focuses on inequalities between Jewish citizens of Israel—the majority—and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel, a national, non- immigrant minority living in its historical homeland.1 Today, Palestinian citizens of the state comprise 20% of the total population, numbering almost 1.2 million people.2 They remained in their homeland following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, becoming an involuntary minority. A part of the Palestinian people who currently live in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Diaspora, they belong to three religious communities: Muslim (82%), Christian (9.5%) and Druze (8.5%).3 Their status under international human rights instruments to which Israel is a State party is that of a national, ethnic, linguistic and religious minority. However, despite this status, the Palestinian minority is not declared as a national minority in the Basic Laws of Israel. In 1948, Israel was established as a Jewish state. The definition of Israel as “the Jewish State” or “the State of the Jewish People” makes inequality a practical, political and ideological reality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, who are marginalized and discriminated against by the state on the basis of their national belonging and religious affiliation as non-Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Did Beit Shean Let Betar Win? Latent Ethnic Solidarity and the Sports Ethic in Israel
    UCO C OO Why Did Beit Shean Let Betar Win? Latent Ethnic Solidarity and the Sports Ethic in Israel Tamir Sorek (university of fl orida) “You are not going to believe what you are about to see,” the Spanish television broadcaster warned his audience. He was reporting on a soccer game in Israel—not a subject of everyday interest for the international news media. Yet this particular match between Hapo’el Beit Shean and Betar Jerusalem, which took place on May 2, 1998 in the Kiryat Eliezer stadium in Haifa, was very much out of the ordinary. In fact, it was one of the strangest soccer games ever seen in Israel. A huge headline in Yedioth Ahronoth on May 3, 1998 summed it up in one word: “Shame.” What had happened? During the fi nal eight minutes of the game, with the score tied at 2–2, the Beit Shean team had “moved aside” and allowed Betar to score a win- ning goal. In the words of a Yedioth Ahronoth commentator: “I have watched soccer for 25 years, and I do not remember ever seeing such a bizarre, embarrassing, and shameful spectacle as the last eight minutes in Kiryat Eliezer.”1 Taking place in the penultimate round (29 out of 30) of the 1997–1998 soccer season, this game was particularly important. As in European countries, Israeli soc- cer teams compete in a hierarchical framework of leagues, the top two of which are known (since 1998) as Ligat ha’al (the premier league) and Haligah haleumit (the national league). Twelve teams compete in each league, and at the end of each sea- son, the bottom two teams in Ligat ha’al are relegated to the national league, while the top two national league teams are promoted to the premier league.
    [Show full text]
  • IATF Fact Sheet
    1 FACT SHEET iataskforce.org Topic: Economy Updated: June 2014 General2 While the Arab economy is ostensibly integrated into the national economy of Israel, in practical terms it is largely segregated. There are considerable differences in the level of economic development in the Jewish and Arab sectors. These differentials are reflected in statistics on income, employment, economic development, industrialization, and socio-economic status. One of the causes is the low level of industrialization in the Arab economy compared to the Jewish one. At the time of the establishment of the state in 1948, most of the Arab population that remained in Israel worked in farming, in contrast to the more highly industrialized Jewish economy. Nevertheless, government policy appears to be a major cause of inequality in socio-economic development between Jews and Arabs. The Arab population is concentrated in areas, such as, the Galilee, the Triangle, and the Negev, that are considered to be on the periphery. Due to the fact that the centers of employment were elsewhere, Arabs had to look for work outside their towns of residence, which gradually turned into “bedroom communities.” The main features of government policy have been expropriation of economic resources such as land, and significant discrimination in the allocation of national economic and social resources. The Arab population has become almost completely dependent on Jewish concentrations of economic activity, and lacks real representation in government decision- making on economic development
    [Show full text]
  • Apartheid Housing: Israeli Court Upholds ‘Discriminatory’ Laws
    Apartheid Housing: Israeli Court Upholds ‘Discriminatory’ Laws As rights groups warn of 'apartheid housing' situation, Bethan Staton meets a Palestinian citizen of Israel shut out of community living By Bethan Staton Region: Middle East & North Africa Global Research, September 27, 2014 Theme: Law and Justice, Police State & Middle East Eye 26 September 2014 Civil Rights In-depth Report: PALESTINE A view of the Ramat Shlomo settlement from behind a fence (AFP). Sami Miaari was looking for a new home for his family when he first made enquiries about moving to Misgav, in Israel’s north, two years ago. The first step for the lecturer, who works at Tel Aviv University, was to approach the offices of the Misgav Regional Council. There, he thought, he’d find the forms to apply to one of Misgav’s Admissions Committees – the bodies that screen potential new residents of Israel’s small community towns. But the staff at the office, Miaari told Middle East Eye, said they couldn’t help. He should go, they said, directly to the villages themselves. Miaari did just that. But at the first village, he was again told that the forms he needed were unavailable. At a second community town, he says, he was directed back to the offices of the regional council. In a third, he found another dead end. The door to the communities of Misgav, it seemed, were barred shut. Wondering where the problem lay, Miaari asked a Jewish friend for some help. “The admissions offices are lying,” the friend told him. “They don’t want to give you the documents.” “That’s when I got to the point where I thought: I really need to start legal proceedings against these communities,” Miaari said.
    [Show full text]
  • Fatal Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm and Dissection in a Large Family with A
    Shalata et al. Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases (2018) 13:41 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13023-018-0769-7 RESEARCH Open Access Fatal thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection in a large family with a novel MYLK gene mutation: delineation of the clinical phenotype Adel Shalata1,2,3* , Mohammad Mahroom1,2,3, Dianna M. Milewicz4, Gong Limin4, Fadi Kassum3, Khader Badarna3, Nader Tarabeih3, Nimmer Assy5, Rona Fell6, Hector Cohen7, Munir Nashashibi8,9, Alejandro Livoff7, Muhammad Azab2, George Habib9,10, Dan Geiger11, Omer Weissbrod11 and William Nseir12 Abstract Background: Thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms and dissection often develop in hypertensive elderly patients. At higher risk are smokers and those who have a family history of aortic aneurysms. In most affected families, the aortic aneurysms and dissection is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner with decreased penetrance and variable expressivity. Mutations at two chromosomal loci, TAA1 at 11q23 and the TAA2 at 5q13–14, and eight genes, MYLK, MYH11, TGFBR2, TGFBR1, ACTA2, SMAD3, TGFB2, and MAT2A, have been identified as being responsible for the disease in 23% of affected families. Results: Herein, we inform on the clinical, genetic and pathological characteristics of nine living and deceased members of a large consanguineous Arab family with thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection who carry a missense mutation c.4471G > T (Ala1491Ser), in exon 27 of MYLK gene. We show a reduced kinase activity of the Ala1491Ser protein compared to wildtype protein. This mutation is expressed as aortic aneurysm and dissection in one of two distinct phenotypes. A severe fatal and early onset symptom in homozygous or mild late onset in heterozygous genotypes.
    [Show full text]
  • Urban Planning in Israel's Arab Communities
    Inter-Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues Urban Planning in Israel’s Arab Communities Essential and Complex Challenge for Economic and Residential Development February 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION I: OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1 AN ECOMOMIC DEVELOPMENT PRIORITY ........................................................................................ 2 PLANNING BARRIERS FOR ARAB MUNICIPALITIES ............................................................................ 3 Israel’s Planning Processes ......................................................................................................... 3 Unique Characteristics and Challenges in Arab Localities .......................................................... 4 GROWING GOVERNMENT FOCUS ..................................................................................................... 7 Development Approach: 120 Days Committee to GR-922 ......................................................... 7 Rule of Law and Enforcement Focus......................................................................................... 10 SECTION II: IMPLEMENTATION STATUS AND BARRIERS ........................................................... 12 CURRENT STATUS ...........................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]