«Israeli» Bulldozers to Raze Palestinian Village

Local Editor

The "Israeli" regime announced plans to demolish Umm al-Hiran, a Bedouin village in the country's southern Negev region that is home to Palestinian citizens of the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.

The so-called "‘Israel' Lands Administration" [ILA], an "Israeli" regime body that administers public land, said it will begin razing the village on Tuesday. At least 30 residents will be displaced.

The "Israeli" regime plans to build a village for families linked to illegal settlement movement in the occupied West Bank in the place of Umm al-Hiran, while forcibly transferring Palestinian villagers to planned townships in the Negev desert.

A petition was filed on Monday in a court by Adalah, a Haifa-based advocacy group for the rights of the estimated 1.7 million Palestinians of the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories and live in cities, towns and villages within the country's borders.

"The case of Umm al-Hiran encapsulates ‘Israel's' land policy..." Amjad Iraqi, Adalah's international advocacy coordinator said.

"This village is one example of dozens of unrecognized villages in the Negev which are slated for destruction," Iraqi added.

He went on to say, "It comes at a time when there are many demolitions occurring in both unrecognized and newly recognized Bedouin villages."

Including Umm al-Hiran, some 40 so-called "unrecognized" Bedouin villages in the Negev region are slated for demolition despite being home to tens of thousands of residents.

Most of these communities were put on the land in question by the "Israeli" military after being displaced from their ancestral villages during the 1948 occupation of Palestinian territories to build the "Israeli" entity.

Because "Israel" does not recognize the villages, many are denied access to electricity, water, and other municipal services.

Earlier this month, "Israeli" bulldozers destroyed al-Araqib, a southern Negev village that has been demolished more than 100 times since 2010.

Knesset member Yousef Jabareen, who is a member of the Arab Joint List electoral coalition, condemned the move to demolish Umm al-Hiran as a "dangerous escalation" targeting the Palestinian citizens of the 1948 "Israeli" occupied Palestinian territories.

"It proves the government continues its policy to target the Arab community and treat them as enemies at the expense of their basic right to housing," Jabareen said, noting the move comes at a time when "Israeli" lawmakers are attempting to legalize Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank.

He went on to say that the "Israeli" regime "targets its Palestinian citizens, while oppressing the Palestinian people [and] denying both Palestinian groups their basic rights for dignity and freedom."

According to Adalah's online database, Palestinian citizens of the 1948 "Israeli" occupied Palestinian territories suffer from dozens of discriminatory laws that limit their access to state resources - including land - and stifle their political freedoms.

Last week, a ministerial committee in the "Israeli" government approved a bill banning mosques from using loudspeakers to broadcast the call to prayer. The bill had not yet been passed by the "Israeli" entity's Knesset.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team