Israel has been criticized by Hadash for not building as many shelters in Arab cities and poor neighborhoods in big cities. In the northern city of Tamra, where four residents were killed in a missile barrage Saturday night, there are no public shelters available, and only 40% of residents have access to private shelters, Hadash MK Ayman Odeh said Sunday, June 15.

Thousands of sobbing residents crowded the narrow streets of Tamra on Tuesday, June 17, to watch as the four victims of an Iranian missile attack wooden coffins were carried to the town’s cemetery (Photo: Jamal Awad/Flash90)

“The state, unfortunately, still distinguishes between blood and blood,” Odeh wrote on social media after touring Tamra with a Hadash delegation earlier this week. “Tamra is not a village. It is a city without public shelters, Odeh added, saying that this was the case for 60 percent of local authorities — a term for communities not officially registered as cities, many of which are Arab.

The level of destruction from the missiles has been unprecedented in Israel, even after 20 months of continuous war in Gaza. Along with Tamra, barrages have also hit residential areas in Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, Bnei Brak, Beer Sheva, Holon, Petah Tikva and Haifa.

On Monday, Hadash MK Ofer Cassif demanded in a letter to the Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee to hold an urgent meeting to discuss the lack of proper protection in working-class and poorest socio-economic areas, including Arab towns. “Millions of citizens in Israel live in homes that are not fortified and without access to public shelters—particularly in south Tel Aviv, the Negev, and in Arab towns and villages—placing them in real and immediate danger in the face of the growing threat of rocket fire,” Cassif wrote.

The Hadash MK mentioned that the committee had already held a similar meeting in September. According to Cassif, following that meeting, the committee called to establish an inter-ministerial team to explore how to progress on the issue, and requested from the Ministry of Defense a detailed account of the gaps in protection across various cities. “However, no real progress has been recorded to date,” Cassif wrote. “The state must take action to implement a fortification plan in older neighborhoods and the periphery. Even when there is no economic profitability, the state must reach into its pockets, fund, and support these projects,” Cassif wrote.

The Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee held another meeting in November about the lack of proper protection in the Arab towns in the North. Three organizations – Injaz Center for Professional Arab Local Governance, The National Committee for Heads of Arab Local Authorities, and Sikkuy-Aufoq – For a Shared and Equal Society – wrote the following in a policy paper filed to the committee ahead of the meeting: “The issue of fortification is especially urgent in the northern communities, where residents are living unprotected in the face of mounting war threats. In many Arab communities in the north, there are no secure rooms or public shelters at all. Out of 39 settlements surveyed, 23 are Arab communities lacking proper shelter. A recent report by the Knesset’s Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee found that 59% of casualties in the north since the war broke out were Arab citizens.”

The policy paper’s authors added information regarding a lack of public shelters in Arab towns. In Tamra, Sakhnin, Jadeidi-Makr, Majd al-Krum, Deir al-Asad, Rameh, Nahf, which approximately 150,000 citizens altogether, there were no public shelters whatsoever. In comparison, Nahariya, Acre, Safed, and Carmiel, which numbered approximately 200,000 civilians altogether, had approximately 600 public shelters.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32756