Palestinians condemn plan to forcibly transfer thousands of Bedouins

[Jefferson23]

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian minister of agriculture and 42 organizations on Thursday condemned newly-unveiled Israeli plans to demolish dozens of villages and "forcibly transfer" thousands of Bedouin Palestinians from their homes.

Palestinian Minister of Agriculture Shawqi al-Ayasa said in a statement that the six Israeli plans publicized this week would have serious negative impacts on Palestinian society and would severely harm the Bedouin way of life, "shaking the economic and social structure of the Palestinian community."

Al-Ayasa accused Israel of "wanting to create segregated areas, killing any possibility of a two-state solution by preventing Palestinian sovereignty on all of the territory occupied in 1967."

The minister's remarks came Thursday after Israel's military coordinator of civilian affairs in the West Bank announced a plan to construct two towns meant to house all of the Bedouins of the West Bank far from their currently-existing villages.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=726903

[Jefferson23]

1. Background. There are three wide spread myths about the Bedouin. They are as follows:

1. The Bedouin are taking over the Negev.

“Panels Ltd.” recently conducted a poll for Rabbis For Human Rights. Initially, 87% of Jewish Israelis agreed that “The Bedouin are taking over the Negev,” on an average believing that the Bedouin claim 43.9% of the Negev. After learning that the Bedouin claim only 5.4% of the Negev, a majority indicated that this was fair (47 %, vs. 34.6%)

2. The Bedouin never owned the land.

Many Bedouin do not have “Western” proofs of ownership. However, their meticulous land ownership system was honored by the Ottomans and the British and recognized by the pre-State Zionist Movement. The British kept a written record of Bedouin land ownership that mysteriously disappeared in the State archives. Scholars have found part of these records. In 1920, the PLDC of the Zionist Federation recorded 2.6 million dunam of land in the Negev as owned by the Bedouin. Today, the Bedouin are claiming a mere 650,000 dunam. These documents are available for all to see. We cannot say that the Bedouin did not own their lands.

Many insisted that the Bedouin don’t really own land. We have been told, “Bedouin claims were disproved in court.” Some villages, such as El-Araqib, have Turkish, British and even Israeli documentation of ownership, based on “Western” bills of purchase, titles, etc. However, the government is currently asking the High Court to reconsider its ruling that El-Araqib residents must have their day in District Court. The High Court rejected the government’s claim that their proofs of ownership are moot because the land was expropriated in 1953. The Begin/Praver plan could “solve” the government’s problem. The bill contains a map of where Bedouin will be allowed to live, chillingly reminiscent of the map defining where Jews were allowed to live in late 19th century Russia. El-Araqib is outside the permitted zone.

3. This plan is for the Bedouin’s own good.

Many argue that Israel must concentrate the Bedouin to provide water, electricity, jobs and training. In the Negev there are smaller and more far flung Jewish communities receiving services – even single family farms. More communities are planned. We wouldn’t refuse water and electricity to Jewish communities. The State would not tell me, “We are going to move you for your own good.” Furthermore, government statistics show that poverty and unemployment are four times higher in the townships than in the recognized villages. Recognizing the 35 “Unrecognized” villages is simply better policy than transfer to the townships.

The question of where the Bedouin should live must be separated from the question of land ownership. Will the Bedouin be “better off” without their land? The best possible outcome for those who live within the Bedouin pale of settlement, and whom the committee the bill will create determines to be deserving, is that they will receive 50% of their land (or alternative land) and compensation. If neighbors don’t cooperate, that percentage goes down to 20%. If one doesn’t sign everything else away, one receives nothing.

MK Issawi Freij summed it up best, “We will give you water if you give us your lands.” Ya’akov once said to Esau, “I will give you food if you give me your birthright.” He thought he was being clever, but the price was anger, enmity, and twenty years of exile and estrangement from his brother.

in full: http://rhr.org.il/eng/2013/07/three-myths-about-the-bedouin/

[Shaktimaan]

2. Huh?

How is this related to the op?

[Jefferson23]

3. I have no idea what you're confused about. n/t

[Shaktimaan]

4. Really?

Your "background" refers to a completely different, irrelevant issue; one that's not even occurring anymore.

Which would imply you're either being dishonest or you're totally clueless about this issue you're so passionate about.

Perhaps the fact that one article refers to Israeli bedouins while the other is about Palestinians might have tipped you off.

[Jefferson23]

5. So you get to decide relevance? I see you are as lost as ever. n/t

[Shaktimaan]

6. Hahaha

By all means. Tell us how it's relevant.
This should be good.

[Jefferson23]

7. I already did, that you do not appreciate the background is of no consequence to me.

This is not surprising, as your initial reaction to most threads here is, huh?

[Shaktimaan]

8. Did you?

Because it seems to me you just cut and pasted an old article about different people, living somewhere else, regarding a different issue, wrt a set of myths Israelis supposedly have about THEM, and called it background.

So I'm reasonably asking how you think these two things are related.

[Jefferson23]

9. Myths Israel supposedly has about them? Your posts are not reasonable, they're steeped in

nonsense, literally. You can read the links and the sources if you like..I am not
interested in fixing your issues.

[Shaktimaan]

10. Right.

That is exactly what your link was about.

You never seem able to defend any of your cut and paste jobs. Unsurprising really as you don't seem to understand what you're posting.

Did you even realize that your post and the op were about different groups of people living in different countries?

[Jefferson23]

11. I know what they're about, and your 'supposedly' statement tells me more than enough

of where you're coming from..thanks.

The OP's are too different for you.

[Shaktimaan]

12. Wait.

You have a problem with the word "supposedly?" Seriously?

Ummm, the word is accurate in that it describes my lack of awareness regarding how widespread these three statements are. I'm not sure why you consider yourself an expert on what Israeli Jews think regarding a specific issue as it doesn't seem like you've ever been there, or speak their language or even know any.

But I'd love to hear how Jewish Israeli views on Bedouin Israeli land ownership is "background" for the op.

[Jefferson23]

13. I see how lost you are from the get go and somehow you remain there, and

I'm fine with that. Understand now? I hope so.

[Shaktimaan]

14. I understand that

You have no interest in discussing any issue with someone who holds divergent views. Which is a shame because it's the entire point of message boards like this.

It's weird that you have no problem posting back to insist that you don't want to explain your statements, but somehow just can't find the energy to offer an intelligent defense of them. Particularly considering how my criticism was entirely valid.

[Jefferson23]

15. An intelligent defense is what you wanted you would not have asked, huh?

Nor added your 'supposedly myths' comment. You find that forceful displacement is only
connected as you see it. It's weird alright. The OP's did not need an explanation,they're
self explanatory on their own.

[Shaktimaan]

16. But that post wasn't about displacement.

It was about those specific myths Israelis held regarding The prawyer plan issue. It's reasonable to ask how those myths/corrections can be considered background for displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Can you point to anything in that link as being background for the West Bank displacement?

[Jefferson23]

17. Yea, reasonable to you..not to me. The link is there for anyone who is interested. n/t

[King_David]

18. Actually Shaktimaan is right

Your 2 articles have no connection to each other. ....

LOL

[Jefferson23]

19. Oh good, it's always great to see the tag team show up. n/t

[Jefferson23]

20. Stop forced transfer of Palestinian Bedouins

(11.09.2014)



42 Palestinian, Israeli, and international organizations are urgently calling on world leaders to stop Israeli plans to forcibly transfer thousands of Palestinian Bedouins out of their communities in the central part of the occupied West Bank and into a designated township.

The organizations stressed that the international community must take all possible measures to ensure that individual and mass forcible transfer, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, does not take place. The organizations said world leaders should immediately press Israel to cancel all transfer plans and allow Palestinians to remain in and develop their communities, warning that the transfer of Palestinian Bedouins from their current locations would free up land for Israeli settlement expansion in a way that could render the two-state solution unachievable.

The call comes as the Israeli government publicized this week six plans to move Palestinian Bedouins out of their communities around Jericho, Ramallah, and Jerusalem. The plans include moving Bedouins out of the politically sensitive area referred to as the Jerusalem Periphery or “E1,” where Israel has long-intended to demolish 23 Bedouin villages in order to expand and link settlements, established in violation of international law. Settlement expansion in this area would cut the West Bank in two, further disrupting movement and social and economic ties between major Palestinian cities and limiting the little access Palestinians in the West Bank have to Jerusalem.

All of the Palestinian Bedouin communities slated for transfer are located in Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank where Israel maintains full civil and military control. There are already around 341,000 Israeli settlers living in more than 100 settlements throughout Area C. Although Area C is within the internationally recognized 1967 borders of the occupied Palestinian territory, Israel only allows Palestinians to build on 1 percent of it. The lack of authority to build makes Palestinians vulnerable to home demolition, displacement, and forcible transfer and limits their ability to realize their rights to water, to adequate shelter, to education, health, and to livelihood.

http://www.nrc.no/?did=9183609

[Jefferson23]

21. Israeli government plans to forcibly relocate 12,500 Bedouin

Plans to expel communities from land east of Jerusalem and move them to new town in Jordan Valley were drafted without consulting tribes.

By Amira Hass | Sep. 16, 2014 | 8:44 AM |

Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank is advancing a plan to expel thousands of Bedouin from lands east of Jerusalem and forcibly relocate them to a new town in the Jordan Valley.

Between late August and last week, the administration published nine plans that together comprise the master plan for the proposed new town north of Jericho. The plans were drafted without consulting the Bedouin slated to live there, in violation of the Supreme Court’s recommendation.

In explanatory notes to the plans, to which the public now has 60 days to submit objections, the administration said its proposal suits the “dynamic changes” Bedouin society is undergoing as it moves from an agricultural society to “a modern society that earns its living by commerce, services, technical trades and more.”

The town is slated for about 12,500 Bedouin from the Jahalin, Kaabneh and Rashaida tribes. It is the third and largest of the towns the administration has designated for Bedouin in the West Bank.

The first is already inhabited by some 300 Jahalin Bedouin, though a portion of this plan has been frozen due to its dangerous proximity to the Abu Dis dump. The second, to be located in the northern Jordan Valley, is still in the planning stage.

Concentrating the Bedouin into a few permanent towns represents the culmination of a 40-year process of limiting their pasturage, restricting their migrations and refusing to let them build permanent homes in places where they have lived for decades. This process accelerated after the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

Since then, the Civil Administration has issued thousands of demolition orders against Bedouin tents and shacks, to which the Bedouin frequently responded by petitioning the High Court of Justice.

Shlomo Lecker, a lawyer who represented the Bedouin in nearly 100 such cases, told Haaretz that while the court never addressed his claim that the Bedouin were being discriminated against in comparison to Jewish settlers, it did accept his argument that they can’t be evicted when they have no other place to live. That is what prompted the Civil Administration to start planning new towns for them.

The latest plan was commissioned from a Palestinian firm called Asia, which is based in Ramallah. Members of the Rashaida tribe already live on the land earmarked for the new town, to be called Talet Nueima, and four years ago, they consented in principle to its establishment. Rashaida representatives told Haaretz they were reassured by the fact that the planners were Palestinian.

But two years ago, after the plan to relocate some of the Bedouin to the town near the Abu Dis dump was frozen, the Civil Administration altered the original plan for Talet Nueima, deciding to expand the town significantly and use it to house Bedouin from other areas and tribes as well.

Thus the plan grew from a town of some 370 dunams earmarked solely for the Rashaida tribe to one of 1,460 dunams earmarked for three different tribes. The town will be divided into 1,129 half-dunam plots, each of which is supposed to contain two houses plus one agricultural building.

The Palestinian Authority objects to the plan, saying it undermines the PA’s own plan to build a city nearby. While the land is located in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control, it is adjacent to Area A, which is under PA control.

During hearings on the petitions filed by Lecker, the High Court repeatedly advised the state to hold a dialogue with the Bedouin before completing the plan.

“We know a little of the history of relocation attempts; we’re aware that there is vehement opposition,” High Court Justice Uzi Vogelman said in April. “The question is whether such processes — which are structural, something at the level of the tribe — shouldn’t be implemented via a higher level of dialogue... The question is whether there is any dialogue forum beyond the announcements or the legal forum. My assessment is that without dialogue, it will be hard to implement these things.”

Jamil Hamadin, a member of the Jahalin tribe, told Haaretz the Civil Administration never consulted with his clan or any other Jahalin clans about the plan. He added that not only does putting different tribes into the same town run counter to Bedouin customs, but so does putting different clans from the same tribe into the same town.

“We’ve replaced wool tents with tin shacks and prefab homes, but that doesn’t mean we’ve changed our customs and laws, which obligate us to live and herd at a great distance from each other, or our need to live in open spaces,” he said.

At a meeting with government attorneys and Civil Administration officials on Thursday, Lecker asked whether, in light of Bedouin opposition to the plan, “the intention is to put the Bedouin on trucks,” as was done to the Jahalin in 1997, when they were evicted from lands that later became part of the settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.

“We won’t put them on trucks,” said Yuval Turgeman, the administration’s director of Bedouin affairs. “But we’ll take immediate action to demolish their residences and agricultural buildings, because there is an alternative here.”

A spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said dozens of meetings were held with Bedouin leaders.

As part of the effort to draft master plans “for the benefit of the area’s Bedouin population,” whose purpose is to allow the Bedouin to live in places with suitable infrastructure, the spokesman said, several plans to prepare such places have been advanced, partly through such meetings.

Once the plans are completed and building plots have been allocated, he added, all illegal Bedouin construction “will be dealt with in accordance with the law.”

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.615986

[Jefferson23]

22. Israeli forces begin demolitions in Bedouin village near Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces raided a number of Bedouin communities east of Jerusalem on Thursday days after handing them demolition and evacuation orders, a local activist said.

Popular committee spokesman Hani Halabiya told Ma'an that dozens of Israeli soldiers entered the Bedouin communities escorted by a bulldozer while an Israeli military plane circled above.

He added that the bulldozer demolished the walls surrounding homes and land in the Khillet al-Qamar area in Abu Dis without warning.

Halabiya warned that the demolitions in Khillet al-Qamar were part of Israel's larger plan to "displace" the 14,000 Bedouins living in nearly two dozen communities across the West Bank.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=728307