On 30 March 1976, Israeli police killed six Palestinian citizens of Israel during protests against the government’s expropriation of massive tracts of Arab-owned land. This tragic event is commemorated annually as Land Day.
In 2018 – 42 years later – the lands and homes of Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev) are under imminent threat.
Earlier this month, Israeli authorities entered Umm al-Hiran and posted eviction orders on every house in the Bedouin village located in the country’s southern Naqab (Negev) desert. According to the orders, Israel will demolish the entire village at some point between 15 April and 29 April. The destruction of the village will leave 350 residents – mostly women and children – homeless.
The following day, Adalah appealed to the Israeli attorney general arguing that Umm al-Hiran residents are being forcibly displaced without having received a promised housing solution.
Adalah also stressed that the plan for the new town of Hiran, to be built on the ruins of Umm al-Hiran and designed exclusively for Jews, is blatantly racist and discriminatory.
During the legal battle against the destruction of Umm al-Hiran, the state told the court that Hiran would accept residents from all groups and nationalities. But Hiran’s bylaws clearly state otherwise: only Jewish citizens will be accepted. Although this lie has been publicly revealed, the state persists in its plan to destroy Umm al-Hiran.
An Israeli military helicopter flies over the ruins of Ya’akub Abu Al-Qi’an’s home.
In January 2017, Israeli police entering Umm al-Hiran to demolish homes in a military-style operationopened fire on Ya’akub Abu Al-Qi’an, a 50-year-old local math teacher. When first hit by the police gunfire, Abu Al-Qi’an was seriously wounded and lost control of the vehicle he was driving, running over and killing police officer Erez Levy. Police on the scene prevented paramedics from approaching Ya’akub and he also died.
Despite the unjustified shooting of Ya’akub, and the fact that no Israeli police officers have been held to account for his death, Israel intends to once again send forces to destroy Umm al-Hiran.
