Connect the School in Rakhma to Electricity

Illustrative. A school in a Bedouin village. Photo: Yossi Zamir, Shatil-stok

Approximately 400 students in grades 1–9 study at the school in the Bedouin village of Rakhma. The school is not connected to an electrical system, so its power supply is provided by a generator located on the school grounds. The Local Planning and Building Committee in the nearby city of Yeruham has long refused to grant the required approval to connect the school to electricity, even though the school is operated by the Ministry of Education. 

With no other alternative, the school is forced to use a noisy, polluting generator that poses a health risk to the students, staff, and residents living near the school, and that occupies space intended for the construction of an additional classroom. Due to the high cost of operating the generator, residents of the village are unable to benefit from the school’s resources in the afternoons since the school is unable to offer extracurricular activities, supplemental academic support, or the use of the library. 

On March 23, 2026, ACRI submitted an appeal to the Local Planning and Building Committee of the Yeruham Local Council, demanding that it immediately approve the school’s connection to electricity. In the appeal, Attorney Elza Bugnet from ACRI, urban planner Cesar Yehudkin from Bimkom – Planning and Human Rights, and Yael Agmon, a social and economic coordinator, noted that the request for an electricity connection submitted by the Neve Midbar Regional Council has been pending before the Local Committee for a long time. The delay does not stem from planning or safety considerations. Instead, the committee is attempting to push the residents of Rakhma out of their homes and away from the areas of Yeruham, while using the well‑being of Rakhma’s children as a bargaining chip in the broader question regarding the location and boundaries of the village. 

This is an infringement on the Bedouin students’ rights to education, equal opportunity, and health, particularly since they already experience blatant and entrenched discrimination, neglect, and an acute shortage of budgets and classrooms. An administrative authority should not use the infrastructure connection process as a tool for advancing other interests, and there is no justification for denying electricity to an educational institution that operates lawfully and with a permit. 

Appeal by ACRI and Bimkom, March 23, 2026 (Heb)