WEST BANK-BEDOUIN EVICTION Israel plans to evict thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem area

Record ID: 565594

  • Title: WEST BANK-BEDOUIN EVICTION Israel plans to evict thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem area
  • Date: 24th September 2014
  • Summary: AL-KHAN AL-AHMAR, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 20, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TENTS AND HOUSES OF ARAB JAHALIN, A BEDOUIN TRIBE WOMAN ENTERING SHEEP TENT VARIOUS OF GROUP OF MEN WALKING UP HILL NEAR TENTS CHILDREN PLAYING AL-KHAN AL-AHMAR, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 23, 2014) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY (UNRWA) SPOKESMAN IN WEST BANK, NADER DAGHER, SPEAKING TO MEMBER OF BEDOUIN COMMUNITY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESMAN FOR UNRWA IN WEST BANK, NADER DAGHER, SAYING: "This area E1, forms 60 percent of the West Bank's space. We are speaking about an area, if the settlements continue being built in it, that will end the two state solution, which the United Nations is calling for. To force them to leave this area and put them in one area, is for the sake of the settlements expansion. There will be an expansion of Ma'ale Adumim and Mishor Adumim settlements. This is a move to displace these Bedouins from here." AL-KHAN AL-AHMAR, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 20, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMAN WALKING NEAR TENTS CHILDREN PLAYING VARIOUS OF KFAR ADUMIM SETTLEMENT AS SEEN FROM ARAB JAHALIN AL-KHAN AL-AHMAR, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 23, 2014) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESMAN FOR THE BEDOUIN COMMUNITIES, EID KHAMIS, SAYING: "The Bedouin is like a fish in the sea, if you take the fish out of the sea, the fish will die. The Bedouin, if you take him out of his life, out of desert, the nature, the livestock, the air, the sun and other things, it means you kill the Bedouin life, you also kill the livestock, camels and sheep. If they take us out from here, to the Israeli project, it means the end of the Bedouin life." AL-KHAN AL-AHMAR, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 20, 2014) (REUTERS) TENTS IN BEDOUIN COMMUNITY GOATS AND CHICKENS IN PEN GOAT IN PEN MEMBER OF BEDOUIN COMMUNITY, NASER AHMED, SITTING WITH RELATIVE UNDER TENT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF BEDOUIN COMMUNITY, NASER AHMED, SAYING: "Neuima, we can't go there. We can't adapt to that area. We have been living here for years, we are used to this area. I know it's hard here, but in the other hand we are used to it." VARIOUS OF ARAB JAHALIN, MAIN ROAD FROM JERUSALEM TO JERICHO AND DEAD SEA IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF MA'ALE ADUMIM SETTLEMENT BETWEEN JERICHO AND JERUSALEM IN DISTANCE NEUIMA, WEST BANK (SEPTEMBER 22, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RE-LOCATED BEDOUIN COMMUNITY VARIOUS OF BEDOUIN MUKHTAR (COMMUNITY LEADER), SULIMAN ABU FAISAL, SITTING IN TENT AND TALKING ABU FAISAL POINTING TO MAP OF AREA (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) BEDOUIN MUKHTAR (COMMUNITY LEADER), SULIMAN ABU FAISAL, SAYING: "The plan is to cut the area into parts. Each part will have 500 metres allocated to each tribe. This is not enough for Bedouins, for sheep, for storage of the sheep's food. This is not enough for the Bedouins needs." ISRAELI MILITARY BASE IN DISTANCE ISRAELI SETTLEMENT NEAR BEDOUIN COMMUNITIES IN DISTANCE VARIOUS OF LAND WHERE ISRAEL PLANS TO RE-LOCATE BEDOUIN COMMUNITIES
  • Embargoed: 9th October 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: West bank
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3R0KPAJ7DUHLG8GL9ZWFII92K
  • Story Text: Bedouin tents and wandering goats dot the barren hills on the drive from Jerusalem down to the Dead Sea, giving residents and visitors a glimpse of how the Holy Land must have looked in ancient times.
    But the Bedouin's traditional way of life is slowly crumbling.
    Israel has plans to evict thousands of Palestinian Bedouin shepherds from occupied West Bank land including the outskirts of Jerusalem, to make way for Jewish settlement expansion there, according to a group of World Aid organisation.
    The United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has confirmed an Israeli plan to move 7,000 farmers, half of them from a flashpoint West Bank area where Washington has long opposed an Israeli settlement plan seen as stemming Palestinian access to Jerusalem.
    The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) last week urged the international community to 'step up its opposition' to the planned transfer of thousands of Bedouins from the central areas of the West Bank to the newly created town of Neuima near Jericho.
    "This area E1, forms 60 percent of the West Bank's space. We are speaking about an area, if the settlements continue being built in it, that will end the two state solution, which the United Nations is calling for. To force them to leave this area and put them in one area, is for the sake of the settlements expansion. There will be an expansion of Ma'ale Adumim and Mishor Adumim settlements. This is a move to displace these Bedouins from here," said UNRWA Spokesman in West Bank, Nader Dagher.
    A statement by a coalition of 42 non-governmental organisations, among them Oxfam and Save the Children, confirmed a report in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz last week that Israel had taken steps to finalise blueprints to move some 12,500 Palestinian farmers, a much higher number than confirmed by the OCHA, to an enclave it intends to build for them in the West Bank's Jordan Valley.
    The spokesman for the Bedouin communities, Eid Khamis, condemned the project.
    "The Bedouin is like a fish in the sea, if you take the fish out of the sea, the fish will die. The Bedouin, if you take him out of his life, out of desert, the nature, the livestock, the air, the sun and other things, it means you kill the Bedouin life, you also kill the livestock, camels and sheep. If they take us out from here, to the Israeli project, it means the end of the Bedouin life," he said.
    The Palestine Liberation Organisation issued a statement accusing Israel of seeking "to turn occupation into annexation through the forced displacement of Palestinian population and its replacement with foreign settlers."
    The PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department said the expansion of Israel's two existing settlements in the area, including its largest West Bank enclave Ma'ale Adumim, which Israel wants to keep as part of any peace deal "makes the achievement of a sovereign Palestinian State impossible."
    Israel's Defence Ministry had no immediate reply to a request for comment.
    Haaretz reported that Israel had published plans for the proposed evictions earlier this month, giving any Palestinians affected by the decision 60 days to appeal it in court.
    One member of the Bedouin community, Naser Ahmed, said this will force the community to give up many aspects of their traditional way of life, which relies on land, livestock and tents.
    "Neuima, we can't go there. We can't adapt to that area. We have been living here for years, we are used to this area. I know it's hard here, but in the other hand we are used to it," he said.
    More than 265 families of Arab Jahalin tribe have lived in al-Khan al-Ahmer since 1951.
    Bedouin Mukhtar, Suliman Abu Faisal, a community leader said that not enough land would be allocated to each family.
    "The plan is to cut the area into parts. Each part will have 500 metres allocated to each tribe. This is not enough for Bedouins, for sheep, for storage of the sheep's food. This is not enough for the Bedouins needs," he said.
    Israel has long come under world criticism for evicting members of the Bedouin community and other Palestinians from territory sought for army bases or settlements on land Israel captured in the 1967 war.
    Israel annexed East Jerusalem more than 30 years ago, in a move not internationally recognised.
    It pulled its forces from Gaza in 2005, but still maintains direct control of the bulk of the West Bank, known as Area C, while allowing the Palestinians varying degrees of self-rule over the rest - Areas A and B.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants to create an independent state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
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