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Video: United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee
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Today, the Palestinian people commemorate 75 years for the Nakba - the "Catastrophe"- the violent events and the mass expulsion of Palestinians with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The Nakba marks the destruction of more than 500 Palestinian villages, the killing of over 10,000 Palestinians, and the forced displacement of 750,000 more who lost their homes, lands, and means of livelihood.
Since its establishment, Israel has enforced a policy of mass displacement of Palestinians- an ongoing Nakba- by seizing their lands and forcibly evicting them from their homes and villages for the purpose of settling Israeli Jews throughout the country. Israeli authorities have also long imposed restrictions on commemorating the Nakba, in particular with the enactment of the 2011 Nakba Law, clamping down on Palestinians' right to narrate and commemorate their history and ongoing Nakba.
In this newsletter, we illustrate, via a new, online interactive map, how Israel continues in its policy to forcibly displace the Bedouin residents from their villages in the Naqab (Negev). We also highlight the case of mass graves in the Palestinian village of Tantura, that was destroyed in 1948, and a related event that Adalah will host with our partners later this month. |
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NEW, ONLINE INTERACTIVE MAP OF BEDOUIN COMMUNITIES UNDER THREAT IN THE NAQAB
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Today, Adalah, together with Bimkom- Planners for Planning Rights and the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages in Naqab, launched a new online interactive map of the ongoing forced displacement in the Naqab. The map highlights two major practices of state-imposed displacement: Forced evacuation of the unrecognized villages and major "development projects" that will benefit Israeli Jewish citizens exclusively while displacing Bedouin communities. |
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AL-BQEA’AH:
A BEDOUIN VILLAGE UNDER IMMINENT THREAT
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A home in Al-Bqea'ah village in the Naqab after it was demolished by Israeli authorities, February 2022. Photo: Marwan Abu Freih
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The residents of what is today Al-Bqea’ah village in the Naqab were expelled in the 1950s by Israel from their lands in Kurnub, and moved to this village. Despite this forced transfer, Al-Bqea’ah remains unrecognized by the state, and no public services are provided. In 2022, state authorities filed 18 eviction lawsuits against 254 residents of the village and their families, presenting them as “trespassers''. Adalah, together with Meezan Organization for Human Rights, is representing the residents before the Beer Sheva court to stop the evictions that would displace the entire village.
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PHOSPHATE MINE:
DISPLACEMENT PROJECT
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The road leading to the area where Sde Brir mine is planned to be built. Photo: Arabs 48.
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In 2018, the Israeli government approved a master plan for the construction of the Sde Brir phosphate mine in the Naqab. The construction of the mine would forcibly displace thousands of Bedouin residents from their homes and villages, and lead to serious health and environmental hazards for the remaining residents in the area. Two petitions were filed to the Israeli Supreme Court, including one by Adalah and other organizations on behalf of residents of the Bedouin village of Al-Fur’ah, requesting the cancellation of the plan for the phosphate mine. The court approved the plan following the state's commitment to conduct a new environmental impact survey that would consider the health risks to the Bedouin communities in the area. The court also ordered the state to consider the option of canceling the plan altogether. Despite this ruling, the new Israeli government intends to go forward with the plan and has drafted a government proposal to advance the mine.
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COMMEMORATING THE NAKBA OF TANTURA
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Tantura, south of Haifa, was a coastal Palestinian village, that was destroyed in 1948. Its 1,700 residents were expelled and hundreds were killed by a Jewish militia that attacked the village. Forensic Architecture (FA) has conducted an in-depth investigation to locate graves and graveyards in the destroyed village, and Adalah is preparing a legal action to demand the recognition and the demarcation of the graveyards and burial sites in Tantura and to allow visits by the victims’ families. Later this month, Adalah, FA, and the Tantura Committee will host an event on the findings:
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