Israeli government again razes neighborhoods in unrecognized Bedouin village

Temporary structures belonging to residents of the Kfar Umm Mitnan neighborhood destroyed, 10 December 2024

Eden Solomon reports in Haaretz on 11 December 2024:

Israel Land Authority workers accompanied by police on Monday demolished two neighborhoods in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm Mitnan in the Negev in southern Israel. Three residents were detained for questioning during the evacuation due to what the Israel Police termed “new occupation.”

The operation came six months after the residents of the Abu Halil and Al Ghanami neighborhoods demolished their own homes after being warned that if they failed to do so they would bear the costs of a government demolition. However, the government to date has not provided appropriate housing for the 240 residents, who had meanwhile erected makeshift structures and tents on the ruins.

Last week, the families received a final warning before the site was due to be evacuated again, once more without any offers for alternative housing.

“We built temporary tents and shacks because of the winter,” said an Abu Halil resident. “They’ve told us to dismantle everything.” He said residents were told to provide authorities with photos of their razed homes before last weekend,” after which “they will decide whether to come this week with bulldozers.”

ILA officials arrived on Monday with several bulldozers, dismantled the temporary structures that the families were living in and uprooted the surrounding vegetation. “They destroyed water tanks, solar panels and trees,” said an Al Ghanami resident. “Even the small bomb shelters that were here were demolished.”

He added, “Before they demolish everything, they have to arrange another available location. They left us homeless and came again to evict us and demolish what little is left.” Immediately after officials left, the residents began to rebuild their temporary homes once again.

The Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages reported that Supreme Court Justice Daphne Barak-Erez had approved the demolition of the two neighborhoods for the purposes of expanding the nearby Ramat Beka Industrial Zone. Today, the factories in the zone are spread out over a vast area, most of which is unused open space.

Due to the planned expansion, the village itself has already been moved from the area where it was originally located. However, because the government wants to move more factories now located in the Sharon area to Ramat Beka, residents have once again been required to evacuate.

The council said the only solution offered to the Abu Halil residents was 16 lots in the Bedouin village of Abu Qrenat, which the council said does not meet the needs of the residents, adding that the land does not have houses and the residents need at least 30 lots.

The extended Abu Halil family reached an agreement with the owner of the area to purchase lots elsewhere, but officials didn’t approve the arrangement. The authorities’ negotiations with the residents of the second neighborhood, the Al Ghanami family, are stalled because the family is expected to give up the areas it claims.

Together with the Adalah and the Bimkom NGOs, village residents and members of a local committee, the council has filed an objection to the expansion plan for the industrial zone.

“A review of the plan’s documents clearly shows that from the perspective of those behind it, the Bedouin citizens living in the area are invisible,” the document said. “The plan completely ignores their existence, or treats them as a problem that can be solved by expelling them, while completely ignoring the rights of these citizens.”

The ILA said in response that the second-round evacuation was done in accordance with the law and that residents were offered an alternative but refused to act on it.

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