Description

NEGEV (Ma'an) -- An Israeli court on Sunday ruled that the Bedouin community of Um al-Hiran in the Negev in southern Israel is illegal, on the grounds that the community settled on state lands, Israeli media reported.

"The state is the owner of the lands in dispute," Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein as writing. "The residents have acquired no rights to the land but have settled them [without any authorization], which the state cancelled legally."

Israeli planning authorities intend to build a "new town for Jewish residents in its place," Haaretz reported.

On Monday, Israeli authorities reportedly entered farm lands used by Um al-Hiran residents with the intentions of destroying crops, but residents were able to prevent forces from beginning the demolition.

Raed Abu al-Qian, a well-known activist in the area, said the move "came to increase pressure on the residents and to make home demolitions easy in the village," following the Israeli court ruling.

Said al-Khroumi, a member of a local committee for Arabs in Negev, said Israeli forces' presence at the village was "a heinous and barbarian aggression against the village and its residents."

He also called for anyone able to travel to Um al-Hiran to visit the village "show solidarity."

Bedouin member of the Israeli Knesset Talab Abu Arar accused Israeli Minister of Agriculture Uri Ariel of creating "a secret government committee" aimed at destroying the crops of Arab villages.

According to Abu Arar, the "secret committee" recommended that Arab villages in the Negev be emptied, and residents removed.

"This is a special Israeli form of ethnic cleansing," Abu Arar continued.

Abu Arar highlighted that Israeli authorities destroyed crops in the villages of Attir, Hurah and Saawah during the past several days.