In Pictures

Gallery

In Pictures: Bedouin face Israeli demolitions

Bedouin home demolitions in Israel have increased, as the state plans to displace up to 40,000 citizens.

Israel plans to demolish the unrecognised Bedouin village of Atir, and turn the area into a forest. 13-year-old Mousa Abu al-Kean(***)s home was demolished in 2013.
By Silvia Boarini
Published On 9 May 2014

“The ground is being prepared for the mass evictions of residents.” That is the conclusion of a new report that details an increase in home demolitions in Bedouin villages in Israel’s southern Negev desert.

Between January 2012 and July 2013, 1,261 homes in Bedouin villages were demolished in the Negev, according to a report released by the joint Arab-Jewish group, Negev Coexistence Forum (NCF). This number marks a sharp increase from 2008, when less than 250 Bedouin homes were demolished.

“The result of the home demolition policy is that thousands of people are left homeless every year,” Haia Noach, director of NCF, told Al Jazeera. “Israel is violating international human-rights covenants and its own Basic Law and is disguising it as an illegal act on the side of the Bedouin.”

Approximately 220,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel live in the country’s southern desert region. About half the community lives in villages that are unrecognised by the state (and do not receive basic services such as water, electricity and paved roads), while the other half live in newly-recognised villages or government-planned townships.

Advertisement

The Israeli government has devised a plan, known as the Prawer-Begin plan, which, if passed into law, would legalise the scrapping of most unrecognised Bedouin villages, forcibly displace up to 40,000 Bedouin citizens to recognised towns, and transfer ownership of disputed lands to the state. The plan has been transferred from the prime minister’s office to the ministry of agriculture, and its implementation is currently frozen.

At the height of demonstrations against the Prawer-Begin in July 2013, General Doron Almog, director of the Headquarters for Economic and Community Development of the Negev Bedouin, told Al Jazeera that the regularisation of Bedouin settlement is necessary in order to implement the state’s development plans. Almog said that the Prawer-Begin plan will bring Bedouin citizens to the same socioeconomic level as the area’s Jewish citizens.

Human rights groups in Israel and abroad have widely denounced the Prawer-Begin plan as a land grab that will exclude Bedouins from development. NCF argues that the plan provides “governmental cover for a massive extension of home demolitions”, and will exacerbate already-tense relations between the state and its Bedouin minority.

"The state wants us to move to [the Bedouin township of] Hura," Fatma Abu Alkean (right) told Al Jazeera, "but Atir is our village. Our life is here. This is our land."
Advertisement
Israeli authorities demolished 74-year-old Khader Abu al-Kean(***)s home in Atir in May 2013. "This part of Atir was home to 10 families. We rebuilt our homes, but for four months the bulldozers kept coming back every other week."
Naif Agele(***)s brother(***)s house, in the unrecognised section of the Bedouin township of Kuseife, was demolished in March 2014. "It took my brother two months to build this house for his family. The state destroyed it in 10 minutes," Agele said.
Abdelaziz Ahmed Agele(***)s home in Kuseife was demolished in March 2013. His family now lives in a makeshift tent. "The children are small. They need shelter. They need to be safe. They keep asking me, (***)Dad, where is our house?(***)"
The Israeli government issued demolition orders for all the houses in the unrecognised village of al-Sira in 2006. In the Regional Master Plan, al-Sira is zoned to become an industrial area, linked to a nearby Israeli military base, Nevatim.
Al-Sira resident Sabha Alamour has seven children. "We don(***)t have playing yards, or kindergardens, or even a clinic to take [the children] when they are ill. We work very hard to support them and care for them, but it is very difficult to make them feel safe in this crazy situation." 
Advertisement
Wadi al-Na(***)am is an unrecognised village home to roughly 8,000 people. Israel wants to move residents to a nearby government-planned township called Segev Shalom, and demolitions are frequent.
Israel recognised the village of al-Sayyed in 2005, but home demolitions still occur. "We were here under the Ottomans, under the British, and now we are here under Israel. Who is in power changes, but we remain steadfast," Sheikh Hassan Sayyed said.
Handara Ahmdalla(***)s brother, Bilal, had his home demolished in March 2014 in the unrecognised village of al-Zaroura.
The unrecognised village of Al-Zarnouk is organised as a farm. Its 5,000 residents face a constant threat of eviction. "It(***)s difficult living here but I love this village. I believe this is our land and it is not fair that we are forced to leave," Majida Abu Kweider said.
The unrecognised village of al-Araqib was demolished 66 times between July 2010 and mid-March 2014. "They can demolish us 100 times, but they will not demolish our will to remain," said Sheikh Saiah al-Turi.
The residents of al-Araqib have lived in the village cemetery since January 2011. The Jewish National Fund is planting a forest where their original houses stood.