Israel set to begin demolishing Bedouin Arab village Tuesday
Long-running despute over Umm Al-Hiran draws to a close as first 30 residents of Negev community face eviction to make room for Jewish town
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An Israeli government body said Israel is to carry out the first step in the planned demolition of a sprawling Bedouin Arab village in the southern desert.
The Israel Lands Administration said that initially, about 30 Bedouin residents will be displaced on Tuesday.
The case involves a long-running dispute between Israel and the formerly nomadic Bedouin of the Umm Al-Hiran village. Israel moved part of a Bedouin clan to the state-owned land 60 years ago, but now wishes to relocate residents to a government-designated Bedouin township.
The Arab advocacy group Adalah petitioned an Israeli court Monday to delay the demolition.
Outside his home in the Bedouin village of Atir-Umm al-Hiran, which will be razed to make way for new Jewish town, "Hiran". #Save_UmAlHiran pic.twitter.com/D89CBIHilO
— Adalah (@AdalahEnglish) November 22, 2016
Umm al-Hiran, home to nearly 500 people, was established by the Bedouin Al-Qia’an tribe in 1956 in coordination with the IDF, after a nearly decade-long dispute. Following Israel’s 1948 War of Independence, the tribe members were evicted by Israeli soldiers from their homes in the northwestern Negev, near Kibbutz Shoval, and lived in various locations until finally being moved to the current site. The story of the neighboring village of Atir is much the same.
A new Jewish town called Hiran is set to be built in place of Umm al-Hiran and the neighboring village of Atir, which will initially include 2,500 housing units. The new community will comprise mostly religious Jewish families.
The Bedouin villagers have been told they would receive 800-meter plots in the nearby town of Hura, built by the government in 1989 specifically to absorb Bedouins from the surrounding unrecognized villages.
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Inhabitants have appealed the move through the court system, but their claims have largely been rejected, with judges saying the action did not constitute discrimination as the Bedouins could theoretically live in the new town as well.
The final appeal to the Supreme Court to keep their villages from being demolished was rejected in January.
In 2016, the two most important annual political events in the Arab Israeli calendar, Land Day and the March of Return, took place near Umm al-Hiran, as a show of solidarity.
Dov Lieber contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.