Since 2002, Israel Land Administration has been spraying fields cultivated by Arab-Bedouins in the Negev, claiming that they have invaded state’s lands. In many cases, the legal status of the lands that were being sprayed has not been settled. The spraying has been done despite the fact that houses and livestock were nearby. PHR-Israel and a few residents who were harmed, together with other organizations, submitted through Adalla a petition to the High Court of Justice to terminate the spraying. The petition 2887/04 was supported by a medical opinion prepared by PHR-Israel member Professor Eliyahu Richter, Head of the Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the Hebrew University.

A day after the petition was submitted, the court issued a temporary restraining order forbidding the state from spraying until further decision. The court later changed the temporary order into a conditional order demanding that the state explains why it insists on continuing to spray. The state’s response did not add any new information. In a court session held on Nov. 28, 2005, the court kept the order until a final decision is made. The verdict that was obtained on April 15, 2007 forbade the state from spraying the fields in the Negev with dangerous chemicals that endanger the health of people and livestock.