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<h1 class="title">Clashes break out in Bedouin village after Israeli
police deliver demolition orders</h1>
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<div class="stamp">Oct. 27, 2016 <br>
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NEGEV <font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773739">http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773739</a></font><br>
<br>
Clashes broke out on Wednesday between Israeli police and local
youth in the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj in Israel’s Negev desert,
after Israeli police affixed demolition orders on some villagers’
homes. <br>
<br>
Locals told Ma’an that Israeli forces detained a number of people
during the clashes, and that some Bir Hadaj residents were injured
in the process. <br>
<br>
They added that Israeli police issued demolition notices for homes
belonging to the Abu Murayhil family ordering that the houses be
demolished within 24 hours.<br>
<br>
Locals said these houses had <a
href="http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=773476"
target="_blank">been demolished by Israeli authorities two weeks
earlier</a>, and had been recently rebuilt with the help of the
Higher Guidance Committee of Arab Residents in the Negev. <br>
<br>
“Israel thinks that it will find a solution by using force,” Bir
Hadaj local committee head Salama Abu Idesan said. “It is not
accustomed to negotiate with citizens, but we confirm that we are
willing to have a dialogue and will not leave our land.<br>
<br>
”Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said in a statement on
Wednesday that “a group of masked youth driving tractors threw rocks
at Israeli forces and set tires on fire” when police came to issue
the demolition notices.<br>
<br>
Al-Samri added that Israeli forces then deployed “heavily” in the
area and detained a number of youth suspected of carrying out these
“extremely dangerous acts.<br>
<br>
”Bir Hadaj is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered “unrecognized”
by the Israeli state. According to ACRI, more than half of the
approximately 160,000 Negev Bedouins reside in unrecognized
villages.<br>
<br>
While Bedouins of the Negev are Israeli citizens, the villages
unrecognized by the government have faced relentless efforts by the
Israeli authorities to expel them from their lands and transferring
them to government-zoned townships in order to make room for Jewish
Israeli homes.<br>
<br>
Indigenous rights groups have pointed out that the transfer of the
Bedouins into densely populated townships also removes them from
their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyles which is dependent on
access to a wide range of grazing land for their animals.<br>
<br>
Former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
James Anaya released a report on the treatment of the Bedouin in the
Negev back in 2011, shortly before the Israeli cabinet approved
plans to relocate some 30,000 Bedouins from 13 unrecognized villages
to government-approved townships, reporting that Bedouins in the
permanent townships "rank on the bottom of all social and economic
indicators and suffer from the highest unemployment rates and income
levels in Israel.<br>
<br>
"The unrecognized Bedouin villages were established in the Negev
soon after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war following the creation of the
state of Israel. Many of the Bedouins were forcibly transferred to
the village sites during the 17-year period when Palestinians inside
Israel were governed under Israeli military law, which ended shortly
before Israel's military takeover of Gaza and the West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, in 1967.<br>
<br>
Now more than 60 years later, the villages have yet to be recognized
by Israel and live under constant threats of demolition and forcible
removal.<br>
<br>
The classification of their villages as “unrecognized” prevents
Bedouins from developing or expanding their communities, as their
villages are considered illegal by Israeli authorities.Israeli
authorities have also refused to connect unrecognized Bedouin
villages to the national water and electricity grids, while
excluding the communities from access to health and educational
services, and basic infrastructure.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, Israeli Jewish communities in the Negev continuously
expand, with five new Jewish plans approved last year. According to
an investigation undertaken by Israeli rights groups ACRI and
Bimkom, two of the approved communities are located in areas where
unrecognized Bedouin villages already exist.<br>
<br>
The plan would see the displacement of at least 7,500 Bedouins from
Bir Hadaj and Katamat, another unrecognized village.
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