The Arab residents of Ramla represent 23% of the city’s population - yet their representation as city employees is only 12%. In other mixed cities the situation is not much better: the percentage of Arab residents in Acre is over 30%, and only 20% of city employees are Arab; and in Nof HaGalil (formerly Nazareth Illit), the Arab residents represent nearly a quarter of the city’s residents, yet only 5% of municipal employees. This grim picture is made even worse when measuring Arab representation among top, highly paid employees, where it is much lower and essentially marginal.
These numbers point to the exclusion of Arab residents from participating in the decision-making mechanisms shaping municipal policy, and the inequality Arab residents experience in mixed cities.
Today, we appealed to the municipalities of the mixed cities Ramla, Acre, and Nof HaGalil (Nazareth Illit), and demanded they act to promote the adequate representation of the Arab population among municipal employees, in all departments and levels, including as employees of companies and municipal corporations. Attorney Gadeer Nicola, Director of the Arab Minority Rights Unit at ACRI, demanded the following: setting a standard for adequate representation relative to the percentage of Arabs residents in the population, introducing an affirmative action preferential policy for Arab candidates in employment, and establishing a clear plan for achieving these, including timetables and quantitative goals.