Hundreds of Umm al-Fahm\u2019s streets remain nameless as Israel refuses to allow the town\u2019s Palestinians to honour their national icons<\/p>\n
In the town of Umm al-Fahm, more than a third of all letters never reach their destination. Identity cards, passports and drivers\u2019 licences go missing, welfare cheques are lost, appointments expire, and penalties mount up over unpaid fines.<\/p>\n
GPS navigation apps like Waze fail, taxis struggle to find customers, and private delivery companies have to be met at the town\u2019s entrance and escorted in.<\/p>\n
It is scene of administrative chaos more appropriate for a village in remotest rural Africa than a town of 60,000 residents in central Israel, one of the wealthiest and most developed countries in the world.<\/p>\n
For decades Umm al-Fahm\u2019s 301 streets have lacked any names or house numbers. But five years after the municipality submitted a list of names for every street, Israeli government officials are still dragging their feet.<\/p>\n
They have not yet given an official reason, but there seems little doubt about the cause of the interminable delay. The names of some 40 streets \u2013 including a Yasser Arafat Street \u2013 have enraged Israel\u2019s right wing government.<\/p>\n
Umm al-Fahm is the second largest Palestinian community in Israel, after Nazareth.<\/p>\n
\u2018Denial of identity and history\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n About a fifth of Israel\u2019s population are Palestinians, remnants of communities that were not expelled during the Nakba \u2013 Arabic for \u201ccatastrophe\u201d, the word…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n