To mark International Human Rights Day, ACRI hosted a conference at the Knesset to discuss strategic urban planning as a tool for reducing discrimination and improving society.
The conference was co-hosted along with ACRI by MK Tamar Zandberg, MK Yaakov Margi and Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights and featured:
Ruti Yovel, co-creator of "Salah, this is the Land of Israel"
Adv. Sharon Abraham-Weiss, CEO of The Association for Civil Rights in Israel
Prof. Erez Tzafadia, Sapir College and Bimkom Organization for Planning Rights
Prof. Nimrod Luz, Kinneret Academic College
Dr. Nava Keiner Freskov, Architect and Urban Planner, Technion University
Hagit Yosef, Urban Renewal Consultant and Planner
Matan Ravivovitch, Hagar Center, Research and Development Social Housing Policy at Tel Aviv University
Ibrahim Alwahashleh, head of the Neveh Midbar Regional Council
Shula Keshet, CEO of Achoti and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council
Rachel Katoshevsky, Deputy Director of the Southern District Planning Administration
Representative of the Authority for Urban Renewal
MK Meir Cohen, former mayor of Dimona
MK Leah Fadida, former deputy mayor of Yokneam Illit
MK Sa'id al-Harumi, former head of the Segev Shalom Council
MK Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya, former mayor of Taibeh
MK Haim Jelin, former head of the Eshkol Regional Council
MK Pnina Tamano-Shata, a key activist in the Ethiopian immigrant struggle
The film "Saleh Here is the Land of Israel" presented the institutional discrimination of Mizrahim and the periphery in Israel since the establishment of the State and the implications of this discrimination to this day. The film revealed how planning can be used as a tool to create discrimination or to benefit various groups or regions. The conference, using clips from the film, highlighted the implications of planning as a tool for human rights in terms of discrimination, equality and social justice.