|
|
|
||
|
My shoes – I can’t find my shoes – they are in the rubble by Yeela Raanan - Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev 19 August, 2007
Demolitions again today in the Negev Adel Abu-Sbeit lives in the unrecognized village of Saaweh. He has eight young children. For the first ten years of his marriage he lived in the sheep den – he cleaned it up, put a pretty tiled floor, but it still was not a home. Adel is a successful businessman. In the end he tired with living in his beautified sheep den and he dared build a beautiful home. Together with the rest of his village, he had been waiting since 1998 for the government to open a new neighborhood in the Bedouin town of Hura. He and his village members were ready to give up their village life, living on their ancestral lands, in order to comply with Israel’s unjustified demands that they live in an urban setting. But there seemed to be no end to this waiting, and Adel has only one life to live. So he built his beloved wife and children a beautiful home, in their village, on their ancestral land. Since there is no authority that can dispense building permits in the village of Saawa (as in all 45 other Bedouin villages in the Israeli Negev), Adel’s home is “illegal”. Last Wednesday representatives from the Authority for the “Advancement” of the Bedouins told him his home is to be demolished. The pressure worked. Adel brought his entire village to sign an agreement that they are willing to give up their ancestral land and move to a “temporary place”, until the promised neighborhood in Hura will become available. The draft of the agreement was written on Saturday, but Sunday Adel was told his house will be demolished. Adel turned to the Israeli court. The court postponed the demolition of the home until the end of the court argument – then it decided not only to allow the demolition of the home, but also to add a 15,000nis ($3,500) fine – for making the bulldozers wait and taking the court time… Adel’s wife was found this morning walking through the desert to her father’s home, crying. “Until 11:00am this morning I was willing to leave my village and move according to the government’s demands to the town of Hura,” said Adel, “But now, after the way the government and the courts have treated me, I will live in a tent, and not move.”
Previous testimonies::
|
It seems that the words of the Minister of Planning and
Construction have no effect on the demolitions in the Negev. A
week ago the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages
closed the refugee camp by the Israeli Knesset, after the
declaration of the Ministers of Interior and of Planning and
Construction that they wish to halt demolitions for a year –
until a new process can be instigated, as the ministers wish for
the cooperation of the Bedouin community. There is still a need
for the recommendation of the Legal advisor to the government.
But the local Negev officials are interested in showing the
Ministers who is the boss around here – and what better way than
to demolish another house.