Naqab(Negev), Palestine: Israel continues its ‘secret’ policies of house demolitions and violations against the indigenous Arabs of the unrecognized villages. The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages (RCUV), in cooperation with HIC-HLRN, requests your immediate action in the current violations taking place in the Naqab (Negev).

Unrecognized village in the Negev

Description of Events

In the early morning hours of Monday, 25 June 2007, a large contingent of Israeli police forces, along with support from the Israel Border Patrol and under orders from the Israeli Ministry of Interior, demolished 28 structures, including 25 houses, in the Unrecognized Village, of Attir - Umm al-Hiran and left over 150 men, women and children homeless and without any personal belongings in the scorching heat of the Naqab Desert.

The Government of Israel (GoI) had forcibly relocated the residents from their ancestral lands to the village of Attir - Umm al-Hiran in 1956. Now, 51 years later the GoI intends to relocate them again so that GoI, Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund can build a Jewish town on the land of the victims. Two years ago, the residents received demolition orders to evacuate the territory, but remained steadfast on their property. On the night of Sunday, 24 June 2007, Israeli authorities were at one of the resident’s home, partaking in true Bedouin hospitality, with the understanding that next morning the Bedouin Arabs would sign a compensation agreement and voluntarily move. Instead of an agreement and instead of compensation, bulldozers were brought in to demolish their homes. The government offered neither compensation nor alternative shelter, thus depriving hundreds, including women and children, of their shelter and belongings in the scorching heat of the Naqab Desert.

The forced evictions and displacement of the residents of Attir - Umm al-Hiran was carried out at the behest of the Israeli authorities, including the National Security Council, to ensure both the cleansing of the Arab population from the Naqab for the future resettlement of Jews on the stolen land and as compensation to settlers redeployed in 2005 from settler colonies in the Gaza Strip. These actions not only violate general principles of international human rights and humanitarian law, but also illustrate the depth of racial discrimination against the indigenous Palestinians within the political structures of the State of Israel and its parastatal institutions.  In full realization of the State’s intentions, the residents of Attir – Umm al-Hiran, demonstrated against these plans, to which Israel responded by closing all entry roads into the village and arresting RCUV Director Husain al-Rifai-ah, placing him in administrative detention.[1][1]

The current demolitions are part and parcel of Israel’s increasingly campaign forcibly to displace the Arab residents of the Naqab (Negev) and settle their land with Jewish settlers.

Background Information on Palestinian Villages in the Naqab (Negev).

The Arab residents of the Naqab (Negev) have been living on their land for centuries. In the aftermath of the Palestinian Naqba (disaster, resulting from the 1948 Israeli conquest), a direct consequence of the mass violations and population transfer committed by Zionist military commanders who became Israel’s political leaders in 1948, only 10% of the original Arab population of the Naqab remained.

The indigenous Bedouin Arabs are a unique community of the Palestinian people that has lived in the Negev for centuries. In 1948, they formed 98% of the population of the Naqab. However, after the establishment of Israel, only a small fraction of the population was left in the Naqab, Israeli forces having expelled the rest to Jordan and Egypt. The Israeli authorities have refused to recognize the Bedouins' traditional tenure rights. Dispossessed of the lands they have owned for centuries, today the 160,000 Bedouins are the most disadvantaged citizens in Israel. Almost half of the Bedouin community of indigenous citizens live in seven failing government-planned townships or “concentrations” (rekuzim), as Israeli planners calls them. The remainder lives in at least 45 villages that the State of Israel still refuses to recognize. These villages do not appear on any official maps of Israel and, without recognition, are denied basic services such as running water, electricity, garbage collection, etc.

One of the principal methods by which the government hopes to resettle this indigenous community in the townships is by demolishing their houses in the unrecognized villages on the premise that they are “illegal,” and by simultaneously foreclosing all avenues for legal construction within the traditional villages.  On 30 May 2006, the Minister of Interior announced at the Parliament that, during the past three years, Israeli authorities had demolished 560 houses in the “unrecognized” villages. These demolitions have taken place in the early hours of the morning by squads of local police and Israel Land Administration officials. Reportedly, these authorities drive families out of their homes under police order, and destroy the houses with bulldozers, causing civilian casualties. Moreover, these demolitions have resulted in rendering thousands of people homeless, with many of the evictees now living in overcrowded conditions with their relatives, while some have build shacks from scrap materials.

Duty holders

The State of Israel, its elected government, parastatal institutions and its military forces bear the duty to uphold norms of applicable international human rights law as minimum obligations in their treatment of the Palestinian Arab citizens, including the indigenous Bedouin community, on the basis of nondiscrimination.  The State has assumed these duties, including by way of its treaty ratifications and affirmations mentioned below. By extension, compliance with these rules also is required of local authorities and private parties, which the State of Israel also is required by law to ensure, in order to protect against violations

International Law

The State practices reported here violate the inhabitants’ human right to adequate housing; i.e., the right of all women, men and children to gain and sustain a secure place to live in peace and dignity. House demolitions represent a gross human rights violation and a violation of the international human rights norms, especially provisions regulating adequacy, nondiscrimination and military necessity. It is worth noting that the Israeli authorities generally do not inform the inhabitants in advance of demolition, and do not allow them a chance to salvage possessions or furniture.

The Israeli authorities do not ensure that “all persons should possess a degree of security of tenure [that] guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats,” as provided in General Comment No. 4, elaborating the States obligations under treaty.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) requires that States parties, such as Israel, “take immediate measures aimed at conferring legal security of tenure upon those persons and households currently lacking such protection, in genuine consultation with affected persons and groups” (para. 8[a]).

According to General Comment No. 7, “States Parties shall ensure, prior to carrying out any evictions, and particularly those involving large groups, that all feasible alternatives are explored in consultation with the affected persons, with a view to avoiding, or at least minimizing, the need to use force.

Legal remedies or procedures should be provided to those who are affected by eviction orders.” States Parties shall also see to it that all the individuals concerned have a right to adequate compensation for any affected personal and real property (para. 15).

 The same legal standard provides that evictions “should not result in individuals being rendered homeless or vulnerable to the violation of other human rights. Where those affected are unable to provide for themselves, the State Party must take all appropriate measures, to the maximum of its available resources, to ensure that adequate alternative housing, resettlement or access to productive land, as the case may be, is available” (para. 17).

Actions requested:

Please write to the Israeli authorities, international officials, and/or your local politicians demanding that:

   1. Israel cease its illegal actions against indigenous Palestinians;

   2. Israel’s parastatal organizations (WZO and JNF) registered and operating internationally be recognized as foreign agents (representing a foreign State), and not as charitable organizations; and that

   3. Both Israel and its parastatal organizations be held accountable for their conduct both in Palestine and international

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