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dir="ltr"> <font size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-forces-umm-al-hiran-villagers-agree-expulsion">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-forces-umm-al-hiran-villagers-agree-expulsion</a></font>
<h1 class="reader-title">Israel forces Umm al-Hiran villagers to
"agree" to expulsion</h1>
<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/tamara-nassar">Tamara
Nassar</a></span> <span class="field field-blog">-</span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single"
content="2018-04-12T00:01:55+00:00">12 April 2018</span></span>
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<figure id="file-59366"><source media="(min-width:
72rem)"><figcaption><small><span></span></small></figcaption></figure>
<p>The Israeli government has forced residents of the
Palestinian Bedouin village of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/umm-al-hiran">Umm
al-Hiran</a> to agree to be expelled from their
homes and resettled to the Bedouin town of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/hura">Hura</a>
in the southern <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/naqab-negev">Naqab</a>
region under threats of violence.</p>
<p>A community leader, Raed Abu al-Qiyan, said that the
Israeli government’s Bedouin resettlement authority
forced residents to sign the agreement in the early
dawn hours of Tuesday as the Israelis brought police
and demolition teams into the village.</p>
<p>He said that the families of about 170 residents
signed on to the agreement, fearing a repeat of the
“blood and murder” of January 2017 when Israeli police
demolished homes in the village and <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/palestinian-israel-killed-during-demolition-raid">killed</a>
a 50-year-old Palestinian <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/yaqoub-abu-al-qiyan">math
teacher</a>.</p>
<p>“I speak to you while I cry, after we were forced to
sign an agreement that will distance us from Umm
al-Hiran where we have lived for 63 years, for the
racist purpose of building a Jewish-only settlement on
the ruins of Umm al-Hiran,” al-Qiyan <a
href="https://www.arab48.com/%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D9%85%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9/2018/04/11/%D8%A3%D9%87%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%82%D9%84%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AC%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82">told</a>
the publication <em>Arab48.</em></p>
<h2>“An act of extreme racism”</h2>
<p>The legal advocacy group <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/adalah">Adalah</a>,
which has represented residents of Umm al-Hiran for 15
years, on Wednesday condemned the reported agreement.</p>
<p>Adalah <a
href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9467">said</a>
its lawyers “took no part in the negotiations to reach
a settlement with Israeli authorities due to our
principled opposition to eviction and demolition.”</p>
<p>Adalah called the forced displacement of Umm
al-Hiran’s residents an “act of extreme racism,
embodying Israel’s colonialist land policies with the
backing of the entire Israeli court system.”</p>
<p>“Israel is moving forward with the destruction of Umm
al-Hiran in a plan – reminiscent of the darkest of
regimes such as apartheid-era South Africa – to build
a new Jewish-only town on its ruins,” Adalah added.</p>
<h2>Court challenge</h2>
<p>On Monday, Adalah had <a
href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9460">filed
a petition</a> to Israel’s high court, demanding
that authorities cancel the imminent destruction of
the village.</p>
<p>Yet Israeli police, accompanied by demolition
workers, arrived in the village early Tuesday to
survey the area for demolition, <a
href="https://www.arab48.com/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%AE%D8%A8%D9%80%D9%80%D9%80%D8%A7%D8%B1/%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%A9/2018/04/10/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%B7%D8%A9-%D9%88%D9%85%D9%82%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84%D9%88-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%AF%D9%85-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%82%D9%87%D9%85-%D8%A5%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A3%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%82%D8%A8-">according</a>
to <em>Arab48.</em></p>
<div id="file-59371">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">israeli police enter the
palestinian village of umm al-hiran this morning
to inspect, prepare for impending demolition.
israel plans to build a jewish-only settlement
atop it, and 350 palestinians would be forced
into homelessness.</p>
<p>pictures via journalist khaled abu kharma / fb
<a href="https://t.co/UwAPhfBRZ0">pic.twitter.com/UwAPhfBRZ0</a></p>
— Tamara Nassar (@TamaraINassar) <a
href="https://twitter.com/TamaraINassar/status/983795504239783939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
10, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Israel <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/israel-evacuate-destroy-entire-palestinian-village-umm-al-hiran">announced</a>
its <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/AdalahEnglish/photos/a.426440920772295.1073741828.420582878024766/1652977828118592/?type=3&theater">demolition
plans </a> on 21 March when Israeli police posted
eviction notices on homes and the village’s mosque
stating that demolition would take place between 15
and 29 April.</p>
<h2>Jewish-only settlement</h2>
<p>If carried out, Israel will make 350 Palestinians –
all citizens of Israel – <a
href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9441">homeless</a>.</p>
<p>Only “a Jewish-Israeli citizen or permanent resident
of Israel who observes the Torah and commandments
according to Orthodox Jewish values” will be permitted
to live in the new settlement, according to <a
href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/9186">documents</a>
obtained by Adalah last August.</p>
<p>Residents of the new settlement, to be called Hiran,
would also have to be approved by an admissions
committee.</p>
<p>This discriminatory policy contradicts Israel’s 2015
high court ruling that the planned settlement will not
prevent anyone from living there, including
Palestinian Bedouins, according to Adalah.</p>
<p>In its petition, Adalah noted that this is “one of
the most severe cases in the legal history of Arab
citizens of Israel since 1948.”</p>
<p>Israel was established in that year as 750,000
Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by Zionist
militias. The approximately 160,000 Palestinians who
remained behind in what became Israel were granted
Israeli citizenship. But until 1966, they lived under
military rule and saw the Israeli state <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/new-pappe-book-highlights-plight-forgotten-palestinians/10668">continuously
confiscating their land</a> and treating them as an
enemy within, rather than as citizens with full and
equal rights.</p>
<p>Today, numbering about 1.5 million, Palestinian
citizens of Israel continue to live under <a
href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7771">dozens
of discriminatory laws</a>.</p>
<h2>Demolition and looting</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank on Monday,
Israeli forces <a
href="https://paltoday.ps/ar/post/320655">demolished</a>
and dismantled a primary school in the Bedouin town of
Dahariya, south of Hebron.</p>
<div id="file-59376">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Demolition of <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Palestinian?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Palestinian</a>
structures reported overnight and this morning
in Jibiya and Zanuta <a
href="https://t.co/wzI3AonCPV">pic.twitter.com/wzI3AonCPV</a></p>
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) <a
href="https://twitter.com/ochaopt/status/983593880531718144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
10, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The Zanuta school was one of seven opened by the
Palestinian Authority in March to challenge Israeli
encroachment in the area.</p>
<p>The school served more than 40 students and had six
rooms and a clinic.</p>
<p>Local media tweeted photos of the demolished school
and of children gathering for class by its ruins:</p>
<div id="file-59381">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">بعد أن هدمها الاحتلال وصادر
محتوياتها..صور من مدرسة زنوتا جنوب الخليل، صباح
اليوم. <a href="https://t.co/0A825gT7Pe">pic.twitter.com/0A825gT7Pe</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/983598801012314112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
10, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<div id="file-59386">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">نام الطلبة أمس ليستيقظوا
صباح اليوم فلا يجدوا مدرستهم.<br>
قوات الاحتلال تهدم مدرسة زنوتا الأساسية المختلطة
شرق الظاهرية جنوب <a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#الخليل</a>.
<a href="https://t.co/6NWJ3oqhJG">pic.twitter.com/6NWJ3oqhJG</a></p>
— Razan Alsa'afin (@Razanmedia) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Razanmedia/status/983600611055849472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
10, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>“Despite the demolition, the schoolchildren still
showed up to school on Tuesday in the cold rain. Their
teachers conducted classes on the floor of the
remaining structure,” the Ma’an News Agency <a
href="https://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780017">reported</a>.</p>
<p>Israel is threatening to demolish at least 45
Palestinian schools across the occupied West Bank,
including East Jerusalem, the UN humanitarian
coordination agency OCHA <a
href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/statement-acting-humanitarian-coordinator-opt-roberto-valent-israeli-authorities-destruction">stated</a>
in February.</p>
<p>Israel has already destroyed a number of schools,
many funded by international donors. However those
donors, particularly the European Union and its
members, <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/eu-lets-israel-destroy-west-bank-schools-it-funded">have
done nothing</a> to hold Israel accountable.</p>
<p>Also in Hebron, dozens of Israeli settlers occupied a
building near the Ibrahimi mosque on 26 March under
the protection of the Israeli army.</p>
<div id="file-59391">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">PHOTO: An Israeli soldier
guards a family of settlers standing in front of
a Palestinian home in Hebron after occupying it
the previous night <a
href="https://t.co/juC2KADkmu">https://t.co/juC2KADkmu</a>
<a
href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PalestineInPictures?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PalestineInPictures</a>
<a href="https://t.co/L6c4KJ5SRG">pic.twitter.com/L6c4KJ5SRG</a></p>
— Electronic Intifada (@intifada) <a
href="https://twitter.com/intifada/status/981409895978323968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April
4, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>These homes were previously occupied by Israeli
settlers from the group Hashmiei Kol Ohalech, which
allegedly purchases homes in the West Bank to
encourage Israeli settlement, but were evacuated in
2016.</p>
<p>Last July, another group of settlers from the same
organization <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/settlers-take-over-palestinian-home-hebron">occupied</a>
another building in Hebron belonging to the <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/abu-rajab-house">Abu
Rajab family</a>, but were ordered out in March by
Israel’s high court after they provided no proof of
ownership.</p>
<p>Palestinian media tweeted photos of the settlers
moving their belongings from the Abu Rajab home:</p>
<div id="file-59396">
<div>
<blockquote data-width="550">
<p dir="rtl" lang="ar">مستوطنون يُخلون أغراضهم من
منزل عائلة أبو رجب قرب المسجد الإبراهيمي في
مدينة الخليل قبل قليل <a
href="https://t.co/Y1TYOutg4p">pic.twitter.com/Y1TYOutg4p</a></p>
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) <a
href="https://twitter.com/qudsn/status/979393661845860352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March
29, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>The Israeli newspaper <em>Haaretz</em> <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israeli-settlers-occupy-homes-in-hebron-claimed-to-be-palestinian-1.5954588">reported</a>
that “the settlers agreed to leave the house after
they were promised ownership deliberations would be
expedited.”</p>
<p>Israeli settlers routinely use <a
href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-probe-almost-all-palestinian-land-deals-for-illegal-outposts-forged-1.5398548">forged
and fraudulent</a> real estate transactions in their
efforts to claim ownership over Palestinian property.</p>
<p>All Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal
under international law.</p>
<br>
</article>
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