Two reports from NCF: Racial discrimination and Home demolitions
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Negev Bedouin
Feb 7, 2012, 9:23:31 AM2/7/12
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this is an email forwarded from NCF - Negev Coexistence Forum.
On 30 January, the NCF submitted an alternative report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The report focuses on Israel’s implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) regarding the Arab-Bedouin population in the Negev-Naqab. The committee will review Israel on 15 and 16 February 2012.
ICERD provides a legally-binding framework that indigenous people, such as the Negev Bedouin, can use to call attention to cases of racial discrimination. As a signatory, Israel has a legal obligation to comply with its provisions. As documented in this report, however, the Negev Bedouin are subject to a number of racially discriminatory Israeli laws, policies and practices as a result of the state’s determination to increase the region’s Jewish population at the expense of its indigenous citizens.
This report documents a number of significant developments over the past 12 months. Most significantly, the number of home demolitions more than doubled to 1,000, reflecting the intensification of the state’s aggressiveness towards its Bedouin citizens. Further, on December 6, the Magistrate’s Court cancelled 45 demolition orders in the village of Alsira, however, the same court the following week rejected a request to cancel 33 demolition orders in the village of Atir Um al-Hiran. Finally, in an operation known as “Determined Arm”, 33 homes in a single week in November were demolished.
Policy decisions negatively impacting the community are also highlighted. For instance, on September 11, the Israeli cabinet approved the Prawer-Amidror Plan that, if implemented, will result in the eviction of 30,000 to 45,000 Bedouin from their homes and the demolition of entire villages. Further, on October 30 the government approved the establishment of 10 new Jewish settlements around Arad, some of which will be built on the sites of Bedouin villages.
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בהמשך מייל מהפורום לדו קיום בנגב, שבו תקצירים ולינקים לשני דוחות אשר הוציא הפורום לדו קיום בנגב, הדו"ח האלטרנטיבי לועדה לביטול אפליה גזעית באו"ם, השני על הריסות הבתים של שנת 2011. למעלה מ 1000 בתים נהרסו בשנה זו, עליה משמעותית מהשנים שקדמו.
NCF submits report on racism against the Negev Bedouin to the UN
ICERD provides a legally-binding framework that indigenous people, such as the Negev Bedouin, can use to call attention to cases of racial discrimination. As a signatory, Israel has a legal obligation to comply with its provisions. As documented in this report, however, the Negev Bedouin are subject to a number of racially discriminatory Israeli laws, policies and practices as a result of the state’s determination to increase the region’s Jewish population at the expense of its indigenous citizens.
For instance, the state unequally distributes services and access to resources and land, attempts to concentrate the Bedouin into specific townships and fails to recognise traditional rights to land. Further, unlike Bedouin villages, not only have Jewish farms in the Negev recently been retroactively approved by the state but ten new settlements have also been approved. Thousands of Bedouin, on the other hand, face forced displacement under the proposed Prawer-Amidror Plan that was formulated with barely input from the Bedouin community and approved by the cabinet on 11 September 2011.
Half of the Negev Bedouin population lives in so-called “unrecognised villages” which lack basic services such as running water, electricity, waste removal, telephone lines, paved roads, schools and medical clinics. Residents in these villages have experienced an escalation of home demolitions over the past years by the Israeli authorities which are using increasingly aggressive force. The seven government-planned towns are not equipped, contrary to the state’s position, to absorb the influx of an estimated 30,000 new residents in the event that the proposed Prawer-Amidror Plan is implemented. These towns rank at the bottom of all social and economic indicators and suffer from the highest unemployment rates in Israel. Most Bedouin reject the proposal in any event and refuse to renounce their claims and abandon their ancestral land. The Bedouin are a traditional society and most wish to maintain their agricultural lifestyle rather than moved to developed towns.
In closing, the NCF makes recommendations where the State of Israel could further advance its compliance with ICERD with respect to the Arab-Bedouin of the Negev.
Half of the Negev Bedouin population lives in so-called “unrecognised villages” which lack basic services such as running water, electricity, waste removal, telephone lines, paved roads, schools and medical clinics. Residents in these villages have experienced an escalation of home demolitions over the past years by the Israeli authorities which are using increasingly aggressive force. The seven government-planned towns are not equipped, contrary to the state’s position, to absorb the influx of an estimated 30,000 new residents in the event that the proposed Prawer-Amidror Plan is implemented. These towns rank at the bottom of all social and economic indicators and suffer from the highest unemployment rates in Israel. Most Bedouin reject the proposal in any event and refuse to renounce their claims and abandon their ancestral land. The Bedouin are a traditional society and most wish to maintain their agricultural lifestyle rather than moved to developed towns.
In closing, the NCF makes recommendations where the State of Israel could further advance its compliance with ICERD with respect to the Arab-Bedouin of the Negev.
Following the Committee's review in mid-February, the NCF will circulate its Concluding Observations.
The full report can be found on our website here.
The full report can be found on our website here.
NCF finalises annual report on home demolitions in the Negev
The NCF's annual report to coincide with International Human Rights Day was recently released in English. It documents human rights violations against the indigenous Negev Bedouin in “unrecognised villages”, primarily in the form of home demolitions. Throughout 2011, the government continued its policy of narrowing the available living area in the Negev for the Arab minority through not recognising their villages, demolishing homes, destroying crops and demanding to recover demolition costs from the residents who lost their homes (as was the case in Al Arakib).
This report documents a number of significant developments over the past 12 months. Most significantly, the number of home demolitions more than doubled to 1,000, reflecting the intensification of the state’s aggressiveness towards its Bedouin citizens. Further, on December 6, the Magistrate’s Court cancelled 45 demolition orders in the village of Alsira, however, the same court the following week rejected a request to cancel 33 demolition orders in the village of Atir Um al-Hiran. Finally, in an operation known as “Determined Arm”, 33 homes in a single week in November were demolished.
Policy decisions negatively impacting the community are also highlighted. For instance, on September 11, the Israeli cabinet approved the Prawer-Amidror Plan that, if implemented, will result in the eviction of 30,000 to 45,000 Bedouin from their homes and the demolition of entire villages. Further, on October 30 the government approved the establishment of 10 new Jewish settlements around Arad, some of which will be built on the sites of Bedouin villages.
The full report can be found on our website here.
Other research reports
The NCF also takes this opportunity to draw your attention to, and recommend, a new report regarding the accessibility of water for the residents of unrecognised villages. The report, The Human Right to Water in Israel, is available here.
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