West Bank Bedouins fear 'a second nakba'

Mar. 23, 2015 | Al Jazeera English

An Israeli plan to forcibly transfer Bedouins to nearby Palestinian villages has met with
staunch resistance.

Residents of Abu Dis erect a tent in 'Bawabet al-Quds' to signal that they want to decide who lives and builds in the village's land. Feb 16, 2015 ©Lena Odgaard

ABU DIS, OCCUPIED WEST BANK - In the middle of a small campsite consisting of two tin shacks, a group of men and women huddled around a fire burning in a barrel - oblivious to the gathering rainclouds and the Israeli military jeeps and soldiers surrounding the camp.

On the side of one of the shacks, the words "Bawabet al-Quds" - Gateway to Jerusalem - were spray-painted in big red and green letters.

The camp was located on a hillside next to the Palestinian village of Abu Dis, about four kilometres south of Jerusalem. It overlooked neighbouring Palestinian villages, as well as the red-roofed Israeli settlement of Ma'ale Adumim and a number of Bedouin communities of the Jahalin tribe.

Adel Salah, the mayor of Abu Dis, explained that the camp was established at the beginning of February after villagers noticed Israeli authorities preparing the area for the relocation of the nearby Bedouins.

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Palestinian Village Faces Demolition for Third Time

Nov. 15, 2012 | Al-Monitor

As the conflict escalates in Gaza, a dispute rages over Susiya, a small Palestinian village and herding community in the Hebron hills of the West Bank. 

SUSIYA, WEST BANK - In June 2012, Palestinian residents received more than 50 demolition orders from the Israeli Civil Administration, Israel’s governing body in the West Bank.

The Israeli human rights organization Rabbis for Human Rights appealed the order on behalf of the villagers. But if the demolitions are carried out, it will be the third time that the residents have been expelled and seen their homes destroyed.

Since the early 1980s Susiya residents and Jewish settlers have been locked in a legal battle over the land. Three years after Jewish settlers began inhabiting the land in 1983 — also calling their new settlement "Susiya" after an old Judean village — Israel declared the area an archaeological site and ordered the evacuation of the Palestinian village to make room for a national park.

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