Amnesty: Bedouin relocation plan possibly a ‘war crime’

Amnesty International on Wednesday called upon the Defense Ministry to cancel its alleged plan to relocate some 2,300 Bedouin living in the West Bank, saying such a move “could constitute a war crime.”

In a scathing report entitled “Stop the Transfer,” the human rights organization – which pro-Israel activists have long accused of bias against Israel – accuses Jerusalem of planning to forcibly displace Bedouins from 20 West Bank communities to an area outside the capital in order to “expand settlements.”

“Thousands of Bedouin living in some of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank are facing the destruction of their homes and livelihoods under this Israeli military plan. Many are registered refugees and some have been displaced multiple times since 1948,” said the deputy director of Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa Program, Ann Harrison. “The Israeli authorities must guarantee the right to adequate housing for residents in all 20 communities, along with Palestinians throughout the occupied West Bank. This means protecting them from forced evictions and conducting genuine consultations with all of the communities.”

A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, responded by saying that a decision regarding any relocation is yet to be taken. “The matter is being discussed with the relevant officials on the ground, including the tribe leaders,” the spokesman told The Times of Israel.

Last September, Jerusalem approved a plan to relocate up to 30,000 Bedouin from unrecognized villages into officially recognized localities. Israel argues that many of the Bedouin’s current settlements were constructed illegally and that in their new locations, residents would be connected to the national electricity and water networks. Representatives of the Bedouin community oppose the plan.

Wednesday’s report focused on communities near Jerusalem, which are to be relocated to a site 300 meters from the capital’s municipal garbage dump.

“The communities are all currently located near illegal settlements in the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement bloc, many of them in areas targeted for settlement expansion,” the report states. “The Israeli military authorities have not consulted representatives of the Bedouin communities about the displacement plan. Community representatives have told Amnesty International that they reject the plan because it would be impossible for them to maintain their traditional way of life if they were moved to a restricted area near the garbage dump.”

“Israeli military officials are putting a gloss on their plans by portraying them as a way of providing Bedouin with basic amenities such as water and electricity,” said Amnesty’s Harrison, “but in fact such forcible relocation of Bedouin would merely perpetuate years of dispossession and discrimination and could constitute a war crime.”

The Defense Ministry, however, maintains that the particular area under discussion, “suffers from an endemic problem of illegal building,” the spokesperson said, adding that several “alternatives” are being examined.