Welcome to Bennett's World: a collection of articles and references covering a wide variety of topics in which I am involved. I am a very political person but I have no allegiance to any political party. Follow me on twitter @colinhove

Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Please help the Bedouin living in Israel

I have written this letter to my Peter Kyle, MP for Hove and Portslade, which is the western part of the city of Brighton & Hove. This is an international question, and I suggest that you write similar letters to the legislators in your own country, if you are not in the UK. If you are in the UK, would you please write to your MP and/or Members of the House of Lords with whom you are acquainted.

***************

Dear Peter Kyle MP,
The Israeli army is about to demolish the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran in the South of Israel and evict the residents to make way for new villages on the same sites with similar names, but restricted to Jewish Israeli citizens.
The bulldozers are due today (Tuesday 22nd of November) – the only thing that can stop them are international protests, especially from Members of Parliament and from the UK government.

This demolition has been delayed for two years due to international protests at this extreme case of ethnic cleansing, but has now given the go-ahead for the village to be razed, destroying the homes and livelihoods of many families. Following the announcement, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel filed a last-minute request with the Be’er Sheva Magistrate’s Court to freeze the demolition process, which was rejected.
Umm al-Hiran is a village of 700 Bedouin inside Israel. The Israelis plan to demolish the whole village and build a Jewish-only village on the ruins of Umm al-Hiran with a similar name, Hiran.
The Bedouin - who are Israeli citizens - have made it clear they do not object to Jewish Israelis moving next door – there is plenty of room in the Negev desert – but cannot see why their village needs to be demolished and why the two communities cannot live together as neighbours.
I would like you to urgently ask the Foreign Secretary to protest in the strongest terms to the Israeli government:
  • That the threat of demolition should be lifted and the present population of Umm al-Hiran should be allowed to continue living there, free of building restrictions
  • That the policy of denying services to Bedouin villages, demolishing permanent buildings and relocating Bedouins to townships should be abandoned
There are an estimated 200,000 Bedouin in Israel and over 50,000 in the West Bank, many still engaged in their traditional livelihood of herding sheep, but also many Bedouin doctors, lawyers and teachers who continue to live in traditional villages, despite the denial of basic services such as electricity, water and metalled roads and the repeated destruction by Israeli army bulldozers of schools, kindergartens and clinics – many funded by international donors such as the UK – as well as Bedouin homes and animal shelters.

I urge you to please take urgent action now.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home