An Israeli court on Sunday ordered the northern town of Afula to reopen its park to the general public, following a ban on nonresident visitors that rights groups said was aimed at keeping Arabs out.
Afula last month imposed an order restricting access to the park to residents only, effectively cutting off the popular 25-acre park from residents of neighboring towns.
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The Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel challenged the ban in court, claiming the prohibition was aimed at denying access to Arab Israelis from nearby villages.
Lawyers for Afula – a city of 50,000 people in Israel's north – denied the allegations, arguing in court that the prohibition was simply meant to prevent the park's overcrowding during the popular summer months and that residents should be prioritized as the facility was funded by the municipality.
Yet, while nonresident Arabs were denied access after the ban went into effect, two separate Israeli television channels aired footage documenting nonresident Jews given access to the park, even after they told gate security that they did not live in the town.
In his ruling, Judge Danny Sarfati stopped short of deeming the ban racially motivated but nonetheless ruled that municipal parks are public property that must be made accessible to all.
In its petition, Adalah argued that the decision to restrict access to the park "came in order to implement a racist electoral promise by the new mayor [who] declared publicly that he would work to 'prevent the occupation of the park, raise Israeli flags and play Hebrew music.'"
Adalah also posted a clip of Mayor Avi Elkabetz proclaiming during his election campaign, "Afula is in danger. … We will keep Afula Jewish."
Adalah further argued that "restricting the park's access is an indication of the escalation of the policy of apartheid deriving from the law of nationalism."
The Israeli government last year passed the controversial nation-state law declaring that only Jews have the right to self-determination in Israel, sparking huge protests from the country's non-Jewish minority.
Arab citizens, who make up some 17.5% of Israel's population, have strongly criticized the law, arguing it marginalizes their civic identity.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS.
