[News] Bedouin Women Demonstrate Against Razing Of Villages

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Bedouin Women Hold Non-Violent Demo Against Razing Of Villages

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  Wednesday August 25, 2010 17:16
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 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News 
<http://www.imemc.org/report_posts?subject=Report%20post:%20Story%2059327%20with%20title:%20Bedouin%20Women%20Hold%20Non-Violent%20Demo%20Against%20Razing%20Of%20Villages&message=Report%20post:%20Story%2059327%20with%20title:%20Bedouin%20Women%20Hold%20Non-Violent%20Demo%20Against%20Razing%20Of%20Villages%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.imemc.org%2Findex.php%3Fobj_id%3D53%26story_id%3D59327%26%0A%0AEnter+your+reason+here+-+please+do+not+remove+the+above+link+as+it+will+allow+an+editor+to+easily+remove+the+offending+content>
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http://www.imemc.org/article/59327

Around 700 Bedouin women held a protest in 
Jerusalem challenging the demolition of their 
villages by Israeli forces. They travelled to 
Jerusalem from the Negev desert in southern 
Israel, where they live in 'unrecognized' 
villages that have been razed multiple times since Israel was created in 1948.

They gathered outside the Israeli Ministry of the 
Interior on Tuesday, after the destruction of 
al-Arakid village this past weekend, holding 
signs and chanting slogans. Even as the mid-day 
sun beat down, and the women maintained their 
daily Ramadan fast of no water and food from 
sunrise to sunset, they continued to chant and 
attempt to dialogue with employees entering and leaving the building.

The women also submitted a letter of demands to 
the Israeli Interior Minister's advisor on 
minority affairs, Saeed Muadi. The demands 
included a recognition of their villages, and equal treatment under the law.

One activist, Hanan el-Sana, told the Israeli 
daily Yedioth Ahranoth, “The systematic razing of 
unrecognized villages in the Negev by the 
authorities shows the State has no respect for 
human dignity or the religious customs of the 
area's inhabitants. The (Bedouin) women feel that 
no one is hearing their cries. They feel this is 
the beginning of a long public campaign that will 
continue until the Israeli government recognizes 
the villages. For 60 years, we have suffered in 
our villages without basic necessities such as 
water, sewage systems, and electricity, and we 
have also lost our traditional livelihood because 
of the land appropriation policy. Add to this the 
recent home demolitions – the situation has become intolerable.”

The head of the Council of Unrecognized Villages 
in the Negev, Ibrahim al-Waqili, called on 
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to 
resign due to his blatant violation of 
international human rights law with his ongoing 
policy of destruction of Bedouin villages in southern Israel.




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