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On February 15, 1998, the earlier Netanyahu government approved Decision No. 3292, classifying 553 "A" and "B" towns and villages as NPAs, only four being Arab ones, a decision Adalah also challenged for the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and the Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education for discriminating against non-Jews.
On February 27, 2006, the HCJ agreed, saying this law can't give the government or its officials sweeping authority to distribute benefits and budget allocations as it wishes. It allowed one year for implementation.
It's still waiting, and in June 2009, the Knesset passed the NPA Law as a provision of the Economic Arrangements Law, contradicting the HCJ's High Follow-Up ruling.
Its language is vague. It doesn't define an NPA or list qualifying towns and villages, what funding they'll get, or over what period of time. It also lets officials distribute benefits as they wish, based on whatever criteria they decide. It thus defies the HCJ by granting the government broad discretionary powers, and it extends past government decisions until January 13, 2012, six years after the Court's ruling.
Despite strong Knesset opposition, the law passed. According to attorney Ben Yitzhak, counsel to the Knesset's Finance Committee:
"The legislative proposal, as presently submitted here, does not include any mechanism of oversight or control by the Knesset....The fundamental rule, which the Supreme Court has also reiterated, is that legislation must anchor the general policy and the guiding criteria in the foundation of the action and legislative objective. (In) this sense, (it) constitutes a deviation from these models."
Other MKs called it in contempt of the HCJ ruling. It's supposed to have the final say, but not in Israel. Its governments have a history of ignoring or contravening Court rulings, doing as they please, with no recriminations from its highest judicial body that walks loudly but carries a small stick, and at times none at all.
Based on the new NPA law, the government classified NPAs by four criteria:
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