Publishing date: 08/06/2012

The Arab Center for Alternative Planning (ACAP) and BIMKOM submitted a legal objection on behalf of the citizen’s of Yarka against the new Master Plan for the Northern District which leaves about 130 houses in the town outside the town’s Master Plan.  This puts over 600 residents homes under the threat of demolition.

The Regional Master Plan TAMAM 2/9/2 completely ignores 130 houses in the town of Yarka, leaving these homes outside the development zone, thus placing them under the permanent threat of demolition.  All of these houses are built on the private land of their owners, which is mentioned in the objection submitted by ACAP.  Furthermore, in the objection ACAP mentioned that this is widespread in most Arab towns and villages, where the majority of land is privately owned by citizens, not by the State or the Israel Lands Administration.  Therefore, the Arab citizen has no other choice but to build on private land outside the boundaries of the construction areas. 

ACAP pointed out that the stated objective of the plan in question was to find a solution to the problem of building outside the town’s building area.  However, in reality, the plan excludes large areas of development to the North and East of the village and leaves them outside the developmental zones.

In the legal objection submitted, ACAP analyzed the proposed plan and did not find any reason to deny expanding the development of the village of Yarka to include all areas North of the town, especially since regional Master Plan TAMA 35 classifies this region as “urban fabric” designated for the expansion and development of the town.   ACAP called for the annexation of 1,100 dunams East and North of the town to the developmental areas, which would help meet the housing needs of many families in theYarka, which was ignored in the proposed current plan.