Israel demolishes Bedouin village

[Hoplite]

Israel demolishes Bedouin village - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Israeli authorities have demolished the homes of about 300 Bedouins in a village in the southern Negev desert.

The entire village of al-Arakib was bulldozed on Tuesday, with many of the former residents' cattle, trees and belongings lost.

According to the Negev Co-existence Forum,around half of the 155,000 Bedouins in the Negev - all of whom are Israeli citizens - live in villages that are unrecognised by the government, without municipal services like water and electricity.

Wonderful.

 

[Demon of Light]

Israel demolishes Bedouin village - Middle East - Al Jazeera English





Wonderful.

The Treatment of the Negev Bedouins is really quite a travesty. They were basically neutral in the 1948 war, but afterwards were ghettoized like other Israeli Arabs during the martial law period until 1966. Ironically even with all the abuse they still had many volunteer to serve in the IDF. Yet Israel's mistreatment of them has persisted.

 

[Apocalypse]

Those are citizens of Israel, this is an Israeli land, those are buildings that were built illegally and without local authority permission, the rule of law was enforced.
Where the heck is the abuse here? Where's the illegality in destroying buildings that were built illegally?
Seriously it seems like al-Jazeera has nothing else to report on.

Besides that, the Israeli government has for years laid and executed plans to promote the living conditions of the Bedouins in the Negev Desert, but it makes it difficult to do so since they are a wandering people, they move from one place to another all the time and that's their way of life and traditions.

 

[spud_meister]

you would think Israel would treat the Bedouin a lot better, considering the 10% of Bedouin youth volunteer for the IDF, and that the Bedouin can be quite good at causing trouble.

 

[Hoplite]

Those are citizens of Israel, this is an Israeli land, those are buildings that were built illegally and without local authority permission, the rule of law was enforced.
Where the heck is the abuse here? Where's the illegality in destroying buildings that were built illegally?
Seriously it seems like al-Jazeera has nothing else to report on.

Many of these villages were here before these court rulings.

Besides that, the Israeli government has for years laid and executed plans to
promote the living conditions of the Bedouins in the Negev Desert

It doesnt seem to be doing anything.

but it makes it difficult to do so since they are a wandering people, they move from one place to another all the time and that's their way of life and traditions.

Not all Bedouins are nomads. Hence the...village....

 

[Apocalypse]

you would think Israel would treat the Bedouin a lot better, considering the 10% of Bedouin youth volunteer for the IDF, and that the Bedouin can be quite good at causing trouble.

They are being treated perfectly fine, considering the ways they choose to live, and their service is being honored like that of the Druze.
However I can't see the logic behind your expectations for a different treatment by the law. Everyone should be equal in front of the law, and being Bedouine shouldn't make them immune.

 

[spud_meister]

They are being treated perfectly fine, considering the ways they choose to live, and their service is being honored like that of the Druze.
However I can't see the logic behind your expectations for a different treatment by the law. Everyone should be equal in front of the law, and being Bedouine shouldn't make them immune.

i'm just sympathetic towards them because i have a mate who's Bedouin.

but demolishing people homes 11 years after the court order was given seems pretty redundant, if it hadn't caused any problems in those 11 years of being recognised as illegal, why couldn't it have continued sitting their quietly, i don't see the point.

 

[Apocalypse]

Many of these villages were here before these court rulings.

The village is not recognized as a legally built by the Israeli government, the governing authority of both the land it is on and the people who live in it.

It doesnt seem to be doing anything.

I can see that you aren't even following the subject you open a thread about, this was a very ignornat statement, the change the government has promoted was huge.
In the early 70's, the Bedouines were all nomadic and living in huts and small encampents.
Today half of them are living in urban towns built by Israel for them.
Here, from Wikipedia:

Around half the population live in seven towns built for them by the Israeli government between 1979 and 1982. The largest Bedouin locality in Israel is the city of Rahat. Other towns include Ar'arat an-Naqab (Ar'ara BaNegev), Bir Hadaj, Hura, Kuseife, Lakiya, Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom) and Tel as-Sabi (Tel Sheva).

The other half of Bedouin citizens of Israel live in 39-45 villages which are not recognized by the Israeli government and are thus ineligible for municipal services such as connection to the electrical grid, water mains or trash-pickup.[43] According to the Israel Land Authority, in 2007 40% of the Bedouin lived in Unrecognized villages,[44] although the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages (RCUV) refer to Bedouin in unrecognized villages as half the Negev Bedouin population.[45] The RCUV figures include the five villages which remain unrecognized despite incorporation into the Abu Basma Regional Council.

Today, many Bedouin call themselves 'Negev Arabs' rather than ‘Bedouin,’ explaining that 'Bedouin' identity is intimately tied in with a pastoral nomadic way of life – a way of life they say is over. Although the Bedouin in Israel continue to be perceived as nomads, today all of them are fully sedentarized, and about half are urbanites.[30] Nevertheless, Negev Bedouin continue to possess goats and sheep: in 2000 the Ministry of Agriculture estimated that the Negev Bedouin owned 200,000 head of sheep and 5,000 of goats, while Bedouin estimates referred to 230,000 sheep and 20,000 goats.[46]

Negev Bedouin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not all Bedouins are nomads. Hence the...village....

Bedouines are mostly no longer nomads, yes, but they used to be during the government's projects.

 

[RyrineaHaruno]

I wonder why their doing this too the Bedouin village when they were Neutral in the 1948 war. This is just a shame people actually beleive Israel wants peace when it does stuff like this.

 

[Apocalypse]

i'm just sympathetic towards them because i have a mate who's Bedouin.

but demolishing people homes 11 years after the court order was given seems pretty redundant, if it hadn't caused any problems in those 11 years of being recognised as illegal, why couldn't it have continued sitting their quietly, i don't see the point.

Such court orders are normally delayed and delayed until the authority can find some substitute for the evacuated bunch.

 

[Apocalypse]

I wonder why their doing this too the Bedouin village when they were Neutral in the 1948 war. This is just a shame people actually beleive Israel wants peace when it does stuff like this.

Israel isn't interested in peace with who? The Bedouin country? :lol:

 

[Arcana XV]

Those are citizens of Israel, this is an Israeli land, those are buildings that were built illegally and without local authority permission, the rule of law was enforced.
Where the heck is the abuse here? Where's the illegality in destroying buildings that were built illegally?
Seriously it seems like al-Jazeera has nothing else to report on.

Besides that, the Israeli government has for years laid and executed plans to promote the living conditions of the Bedouins in the Negev Desert, but it makes it difficult to do so since they are a wandering people, they move from one place to another all the time and that's their way of life and traditions.

So, are there plans to move these people to a legal location? What are they supposed to do now?

 

[spud_meister]

So, are there plans to move these people to a legal location? What are they supposed to do now?

"Several hundred people were taken back to the Rahat area where they originally came from," he told the AFP news agency, referring to a nearby Bedouin town in Israel's arid south.

BBC News - Israel police raze 'illegal' Bedouin village in Negev

 

[Apocalypse]

So, are there plans to move these people to a legal location? What are they supposed to do now?

As far as I understood it in this specific case there shouldn't be a problem, as the folks who lived in that village have also owned houses in Rahat and Kfar Kassem.

 

[digsbe]

I wonder why their doing this too the Bedouin village when they were Neutral in the 1948 war. This is just a shame people actually beleive Israel wants peace when it does stuff like this.

They destroyed it because the buildings were illegal. Should we not believe that Palestine doesn't want peace because they want to kill Jews and elect terrorists to represent them? This story is just anti-Israeli propaganda.

 

[Arcana XV]

As far as I understood it in this specific case there shouldn't be a problem, as the folks who lived in that village have also owned houses in Rahat and Kfar Kassem.

Ah. Ok.

I'm rather torn on this issue. On the one hand, the law is the law and they were warned to evacuate the illegal village. On the other hand, I don't really understand what makes a village "illegal" when it's populated by legal citizens of the country.

 

[donsutherland1]

From the BBC:

Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the homes had been "illegally built" and were destroyed in line with a court ruling issued 11 years ago.

BBC News - Israel police raze 'illegal' Bedouin village in Negev

In any country in which the rule of law prevails, one needs to obtain the necessary legal approvals to occupy land/build structures. Failure to do so can lead to legal decisions that require one to vacate the areas in question. As there was a court ruling in place and there is no indication that any courts had subsequently overturned the ruling from 11 years ago, the action appears to have been an enforcement of the court's decision.

Israel's having laws concerning the building of structures is not an exception. Israel's enforcing court decisions is also not unique to Israel.

 

[Apocalypse]

Ah. Ok.

I'm rather torn on this issue. On the one hand, the law is the law and they were warned to evacuate the illegal village. On the other hand, I don't really understand what makes a village "illegal" when it's populated by legal citizens of the country.

Either building without a permission to build from the local authority or crossing the lines and conditions set for the builder in the granted building permission.

 

[Apocalypse]

Israel's having laws concerning the building of structures is not an exception. Israel's enforcing court decisions is also not unique to Israel.

What crazy reality do we live in that you actually have to make such a statement.

 

[danarhea]

Those are citizens of Israel, this is an Israeli land, those are buildings that were built illegally and without local authority permission, the rule of law was enforced.
Where the heck is the abuse here? Where's the illegality in destroying buildings that were built illegally?
Seriously it seems like al-Jazeera has nothing else to report on.

Besides that, the Israeli government has for years laid and executed plans to promote the living conditions of the Bedouins in the Negev Desert, but it makes it difficult to do so since they are a wandering people, they move from one place to another all the time and that's their way of life and traditions.

You have a point there.

In other news, here in Houston, a while back, a homeless community under an overpass on the Southwest Freeway, consisting of cardboard boxes, was removed by police, due to safety concerns. Damn, those Zionist pig cops. Jump on THIS story, Al-Jazeera. :mrgreen:

 

[Arcana XV]

Either building without a permission to build from the local authority or crossing the lines and conditions set for the builder in the granted building permission.

Makes sense. Maybe they couldn't afford the costs to do it all legally. Well, as long as they're not left homeless as a result and those who have no place else to go are taken care of, I guess I don't have too much of a problem with this.

 

[Demon of Light]

Those are citizens of Israel, this is an Israeli land, those are buildings that were built illegally and without local authority permission, the rule of law was enforced.
Where the heck is the abuse here? Where's the illegality in destroying buildings that were built illegally?
Seriously it seems like al-Jazeera has nothing else to report on.

Besides that, the Israeli government has for years laid and executed plans to promote the living conditions of the Bedouins in the Negev Desert, but it makes it difficult to do so since they are a wandering people, they move from one place to another all the time and that's their way of life and traditions.

My friend, you should look into how these "unrecognized" villages came into being. Israel declared the Negev to be state land after independence and barred anyone from living on it, except Jews of course. Bedouins were forced into urban settlements and any villages on the declared state land, whether they existed before this declaration or not, were declared illegal settlements. Bedouins were subject to frequent expulsions and resettlement.

 

[MKULTRABOY]

Those are citizens of Israel, this is an Israeli land, those are buildings that were built illegally and without local authority permission, the rule of law was enforced.
Where the heck is the abuse here? Where's the illegality in destroying buildings that were built illegally?
Seriously it seems like al-Jazeera has nothing else to report on.

Besides that, the Israeli government has for years laid and executed plans to promote the living conditions of the Bedouins in the Negev Desert, but it makes it difficult to do so since they are a wandering people, they move from one place to another all the time and that's their way of life and traditions.

Where they illegal when they were built?

 

[donsutherland1]

Israel declared the Negev to be state land after independence and barred anyone from living on it, except Jews of course. Bedouins were forced into urban settlements and any villages on the declared state land, whether they existed before this declaration or not, were declared illegal settlements.

Incorrect. Non-Jews are not barred from living in the Negev. Moreover, Bedouin are not barred from land ownership.

Under Israeli law, a person who has not registered his/her land in the Land Registry cannot claim ownership; but in the mid 1970s Israel let the Negev Bedouin register their land claims and issued certificates as to the size of the tracts claimed. These certificates served as the basis for the "right of possession" later granted by the government. Following the signing of the Treaty of Peace with Egypt, it became necessary to move an airport to a locality inhabited by 5000 Bedouin. The government, recognizing these land claim certificates, negotiated with the certificate holders and paid compensation to them. Most moved to Bedouin townships, built houses and established businesses.

In recent years the Ministerial Committee for the Advancement of Bedouin Affairs has undertaken to solve the problem of land ownership and has been assured of the necessary funds. The government is willing to leave some 20% of the land claimed in Bedouin possession and to compensate them for the remainder...

The Bedouin in Israel

 

[Hoplite]

Where they illegal when they were built?

No, the ruling was over 11 years ago but the village has been there far longer