Israeli court approves Bedouin land confiscation | World War 4 Report

22.5.15

Israeli court approves Bedouin land confiscation | World War 4 Report: Some 1,000 Palestinian citizens of Israel who live in Umm al-Hiran, a village in the southern Negev desert, face removal. Israel relocated the villagers there under a 1956 agreement permitting them to live there in exchange for them dropping claims to land from which they assert Israeli forces expelled them in 1948. Israeli authorities have refused to recognize the village, to supply basic services like water or electricity, or allow residents to obtain building permits. In 2009, authorities approved plans to use the land to build a Jewish community.

The high court ruled that the land belongs to the state, which is therefore entitled to deny permission for Umm al-Hiran inhabitants to live there, although the court rejected the government's claim that the residents are squatters. It also ruled that Umm al-Hiran being replaced by a new development "with institutions intended to serve the religious Jewish community" would not be discriminatory since, in principle, the Bedouin ex-residents could purchase homes there.