The budgets put aside in 1996 to implement recognition have still not been released by the parliamentary finance committee. In particular, it should immediately stop its policy of home demolitions and withdrawing basic services as a means of pressure. In light of its international commitments, Israel is obliged to develop a policy of affirmative action to address the disparities in living conditions between the citizens of the unrecognised villages and the rest of Israeli society. In all the villages demolition orders are still outstanding, and in some new ones have continued to be issued. There is no exact figure for the number of unrecognised villages, since there is no clear definition of what constitutes a village.
Government officials claim that villages are unrecognised because they are too small.
The mitzpim lookout settlements were established as part of the Judaisation of the Galilee programme to change the demographic balance of Arab areas. This has been interpreted to include retroactive cases where the statute of limitations would normally apply. All statistics on the unrecognised villages in this factsheet are taken from Association of Forty, an Arab NGO established in 1988 to coordinate the struggle for the rights of the unrecognised villages. The villages are excluded from government statistics. All mitzpim were built illegally on land zoned as agricultural on the district plan.