ACAP staff held a meeting with representatives from the two towns and MK Hanna Swaid to continue the pursuit of the case professionally and politically.
ACAP staff organized a meeting with the mayor of Shfaram, Mr. Nahid Khazim, municipality spokesman, Mr. Assad Talhami, council member Mr. Faraj Khanfess, Basmat Tabon engineer, Jamal Zbeidat, with the participation of MK Dr. Hanna Swaid, to discuss the position paper that was submitted to the Ministry of Interior by ACAP on behalf of the local municipalities of Shfaram and Basmet Tabon. The purpose of the paper was to oppose the exception of Shfaram and Basmet Tabon from getting their share of the proceeds of Arnona from oil refineries in the Haifa area.
The Ministry of Interior excluded Shfaram and Basmet Tabon from the list.

The Director of the Ministry of the Interior, Omran Khalajy, ordered the establishment of an investigation committee to deal with the yearly income of Arnona from oil refineries from Haifa worth about 85 million yearly.  

In a report published to the public on 18/5/12, it should be noted that the Ministry of Interior did not discuss the criteria by which these municipalities were chosen to receive compensation.  Although it is evident that these two municipalities were discriminated against, they are located 8 kilometers within the refineries while other towns that got the tax return are located nine kilometers from the refineries.  Of all the towns which are located within nine kilometer radius only Shfaram and Basmet Tabon were excluded from the list.

 The Arab Center for Alternative Planning is preparing a position paper against the decision to be submitted to the Supreme Court of Justice. ACAP prepared a detailed position paper that shows clear discrimination, by the exception of Shfaram and Basmet Tabon from getting the tax return. As pointed out by ACAP in the position paper, the decision to establish a commission of inquiry to decide how to distribute annual income from tax Arnona was based on a decision of the High Court of Justice on 03.25.2010, but the Interior Ministry has ignored the entire objective which was to impose the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry which  is the equitable distribution of tax between concerned local authorities, and the Ministry ignoring entirely the towns of Shfaram and Basmet Tabon.

ACAP stated in the position paper that the exception of the two towns cannot be justified on any objective standards. Both towns share the environmental burden with most towns that were on to the list.  Thus, these two Arab towns deserve to receive portions of the proceeds, in most levels of specifications geographic, natural, and environmental and others. Shfaram and Basmet Tabon are even more eligible than most towns  that have been included. 
It is unreasonable that Kiryat Tabon is included and Basmat Tabon is not included:

ACAP stated its complete surprise at the absurdity of the Committee including Kiryat Tabon to the list while at the same time ignoring Basmat Tabon its neighboring village which is the closest to the refineries and therefore affected more in terms of these environmental harm. The attached map shows the nearest point of the border town of Kiryat Tabon about 9 kilometers from the refineries, and that the distance of border towns Basma Tabon and Shfaram are 8.5 and 8 kilometers respectively.

In the position paper submitted, ACAP stated that in professional and objective terms, the village Basma Tabon with its low socio-economic status compared with Kiryat Tabon, is more deserving for a share of the proceeds of the refineries. This also applies to the city of Shfaram compared with Kiryat Ata.
ACAP added that in addition to the standard geographical dimension, it makes sense to take the direction of the wind and height as factors to determine the towns most affected by the smoke refineries as a criteria for selecting towns to receive the tax compensation.
Opportunity to Apply Equality:

ACAP touched on the principle of "divisional justice" and the necessity to bridge the gap between Arab and Jewish towns.  Considering that the State in the case of the division of tax revenues from oil refineries has a real opportunity to give a vivid example of the seriousness of its intention to bridge the gap of economic and social relations between Arab town and Jewish communities, especially since these Arab towns are located at the bottom of the social - economic ladder.   ACAP continued its endorsement of the appeal of the right of towns Shfaram and Basmet  Tabon access to their reserved  revenue.  These revenues are in line with the successive decisions of the government since 1996 until today, which confirmed in more than a decision on the necessity of annexation of Arab towns and villages to local industrial zones.

A new standard for admitting towns to the list of candidates for tax refunds:

The staff of ACAP provided a professional proposal to consider the criteria that must be taken into account to determine how to divide revenues refineries to the concerned local authorities.  ACAP suggested including three central factors: the geographical dimension, social - economic level of the population of the town, and environmental impact of the refineries on the town.     According to statistics, for all the suggested criteria, both Shfa'amer and Basmat Tabon are more adversely affected than most of the other towns on the list.  ACAP believes that not including these two Arab towns among those eligible is consistent with the discriminatory approach adopted by the State to alienate Arab townships.