Israeli desert plan would uproot 30,000 Bedouin

[xchrom]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/uk-israel-bedouin-idUKTRE7AM0WZ20111123

Reuters) - Bulldozed by Israel more than two dozen times, a village known by Bedouin Arabs as Al-Arakib is one of many ramshackle desert communities whose names have never appeared on any official map.

If Israel's parliament adopts proposed new legislation, it never will.

The plan to demolish more Bedouin homes in the southern Negev region and move 30,000 people to government-authorised villages connected to power and water lines has been hailed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "historic opportunity" to improve Bedouin lives.

But Israeli Arab leaders, who have long complained about discrimination against their community in the Jewish state, call it "ethnic cleansing," and aim to thwart the project with protests, a general strike and appeals to the United Nations to intervene.

[ellisonz]

1. Things like this really makes Netanyahu piss me off.

The Israeli left needs to get its politics together and make a unified opposition again.

[Scurrilous]

2. Israel to forcibly remove bedouin communities in settlements push

Relocation of 2,300 people in West Bank to site near Jerusalem rubbish tip would make contiguous Palestinian state impossible

<snip>

"Around 20 bedouin communities between Jerusalem and Jericho are to be forcibly relocated from the land on which they have lived for 60 years under an Israeli plan to expand a huge Jewish settlement.

The removal of around 2,300 members of the bedouin Jahalin tribe, two-thirds of whom are children, is due to begin next month. The Israeli authorities plan to relocate the families from the West Bank to a site close to a municipal rubbish dump on the edge of Jerusalem.

The bedouin say the move would expose them to health hazards, deny them access to land to graze their livestock and endanger their traditional lifestyle. They add that the viability of their existing communities has been seriously eroded by the growth of Jewish settlements, the creation of military zones, demolitions of homes and animal pens, and the building of a highway which cuts through their encampments.

"Because of the (military) closures and the settlements, we are living in a jail which gets smaller every year," said Eid Hamis Swelem Jahalin, 46, who was born in the encampment of Khan al-Ahmar, and has lived there almost all his life.

The relocation plan is the first phase of a longer term programme to remove around 27,000 bedouin Arabs from area C, the 62% of the West Bank under Israeli military control."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/05/israel-forcibly-remove-bedouin-west-bank?newsfeed=true


Rubbish tip? Sounds swell!!1!

[Crunchy Frog]

4. If that's not blatant ethnic cleansing then I don't know what is.

I wish our government had the balls or ovaries or whatever to stand up and say that this is unacceptable.

What would the global reaction be if this were a group of Native Americans?

[oberliner]

5. If only the Israelis treated the Bedouin as well as the US treated Native Americans

The world would be such a happier place.

[Crunchy Frog]

9. I'm not talking about the 19th Century, I'm talking about the present day.

But I think you probably knew that.

[shira]

10. WTF? Jewish settlements are mentioned several times in this article. Why?

What do Jewish settlements have to do with the Bedouin?

Jews can't live within Israel, without their homes being labeled settlements?

:shrug:

[Violet_Crumble]

15. This is so wrong...

Hopefully the courts will move in and stop this from happening like they've done with the attempt to move the Negev Bedouin from their homes...


For anyone confused about where Khan al-Ahmar and other Bedouin communities are, as the article states, they're in the West Bank, which as some people need to be reminded regularly, is NOT part of Israel.

Here's a map of the area that's being talked about in the article:

http://itouchmap.com/?c=we&UF=-793098&UN=-1148687&DG=RUIN

[Jefferson23]

3. Why would anyone imagine a government is hated for what they do?

:sarcasm:

[oberliner]

6. Every country's government does things that make people angry

Not in any way Israel-specific.

[Jefferson23]

11. I didn't say it was specific to Israel...you imagined that. n/t

[oberliner]

12. I thought you were referencing an earlier post

With respect to "hating" Israel - I thought you were referring to another post on DU where someone said they hated Israel because of its actions.

[Violet_Crumble]

7. self-delete

I just noticed Scurrilous has already posted the article :)

[Scurrilous]

8. ..

:hi:

[Scurrilous]

13. In legal precedent, Israel court stops demolition of unrecognized Bedouin village

Kiryat Gat magistrate's court urges state to provide systematic solution to Bedouin issue in the Negev, adding that a balance must be reached between public interests and legitimate Bedouin claims of ownership.

<snip>

"In an unusual and precedent-setting ruling, the Kirayt Gat magistrate's court cancelled a demolition order for an unrecognized Bedouin settlement in Israel's south on Tuesday.

The ruling effectively calls off the demolition of 51 structures in the unrecognized settlement of Al-Sura, which would have left its 400 residents homeless. The ruling was reached following a petition by Adala - the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

Al-Sura's 70 families have been residing in the village southeast of Be'er Sheva for the last seven decades, and were recognized by the British Mandate as legal owners of their land. Already in the 1970s, the families have petitioned Israeli authorities to be recognized as official owners, but their request has yet to receive a response.

Throughout the years they have been deemed squatters on government land, but claimed the state has yet to offer then an alternative, rejecting their offers at a solution."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/in-legal-precedent-israel-court-stops-demolition-of-unrecognized-bedouin-village-1.399989

[King_David]

14. Good

:thumbsup: