ASSOCIATION OF FORTY

Civic association, founded in 1988, that represents "unrecognized" Palestinian villages in Israel. Unrecognized villages are those the Israeli government does not recognize as legal, even though most of them existed before the establishment of the State of Israel. The government refers to them as "scattered settlements." They lack all basic services and infrastructure, including access roads, water, sewage, electricity, schools, and municipal services. The government has classified them all as "agricultural land"; it has no development planned for them and all construction is illegal. When the inhabitants (who are all Israeli citizens) have attempted to create infrastructure or services for themselves, the government has responded with demolitions and evacuation orders; the residents are considered to have "stolen land from the state." A 1988 survey found 32 unrecognized villages in the north and 117 in the south, largely in the Negev, with a total population of about 75,000. The Association of Forty, founded by a group of residents of the villages (and a number of their Jewish Israeli neighbors), attempts to achieve recognition of these places, to promote the provision of basic services, and to claim full citizenship rights for their inhabitants. They do this through providing legal services, through parliamentary lobbying, and through organizing activities to protest government land confiscations. The association has also helped initiate and plan projects to pave roads and connect villages to water, electricity, and telephone networks, and it has established health clinics and kindergartens. It attempts to publicize the problem of the unrecognized villages through exhibitions and local and international conferences. The association publishes a monthly newspaper, Sawt al-Qura (Voice of the villages). The association is a member of al-Ittijah and has worked with other non-governmental organizations. The association maintains a web site at www.assoc40.0rg.

SEE ALSO Ittijah.