Israeli Arab Bedouins have rejected a decision issued by the Israeli Supreme Court to demolish the village of Umm El-Hieran village in order to establish a new Jewish town called Hiran over its ruins.
The head of the regional council for unrecognised Bedouin villages, Attiya Al-Asam, said the court’s decision “proves beyond doubt that the Israeli court is a tool to implement the Israeli authorities’ schemes that aim to demolish Arab villages and displace their citizens from the Negev.”
In remarks to Quds Press, Al Asam said the people of Umm El-Hieran reject the court’s decision and refuse to evacuate their homes even if Israeli forces used all their power to throw them out, and that they will face any attempt to implement the decision even if it leads to confrontations.
He explained that the villagers were living in an agricultural area before being displaced to the mountains “and 60 years later the government comes up and tells them that they took control of this territory illegally and has to leave using the court to its advantage.”
Al-Asam warned that the Israeli court’s decision “is a prelude to evacuate about a dozen Arab villages, to demolish them and establish Jewish settlements on their ruins,” stressing that “the Arab citizens will resist these schemes.”He pointed out that Arab leaders in the Negev have prepared a plan to respond to this decision.
Meanwhile, Arab Israeli MP Talab Abu Arar said he considered the Israeli court’s rejection of the citizens’ appeal a confirmation that the Israeli legal system “deepens racism towards Arabs, promotes distrust among the Arabs in the Israeli courts which supports government positions, not taking into account the current situation in the Negev and that the population has been living in the region for decades with the competent authorities’ consent.”
Abu Arar called on the villagers to be patient and not to lose hope.