Description

Photo:
Bedouin woman sits in front of the ruins of her family house in the Bedouin village of al-Arakib in the Negev Desert, north of Beersheva, 2010 (AFP Photo/David Buimovitch/File). Published by Maan News

A man examines a demolished structure in the Bedouin village of Al-Araqib, July 12, 2014. Credit: Ilan Assayag Published by Haaretz

Residents of the Bedouin settlement al-Araqib protesting the demolition of their homes, July 27, 2011. Credit: Eliyahu Hershkovitz
_____

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- An Israeli court last week ruled that several residents of the unrecognized village of al-Araqib in the Negev of southern Israel must pay the costs for demolitions carried out by Israeli forces, which have completely destroyed the village at least 116 times since 2010.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Tuesday that an Israeli court had ruled that six residents of the village must pay 262,000 shekels (more than $72,000) for the costs of demolishing the village, in addition to 100,000 shekels ($27,693) to cover the costs of the state’s lawyer.

The case began in Aug. 2011 against 34 village residents, as the Israeli state prosecution demanded reimbursement for costs of eight Israeli-ordered demolitions that destroyed the village between July and Dec. 2010, according to Haaretz.

Two of the village residents died during the legal proceedings, while 26 agreed on a compromise. However, six had continued until the end of the court proceedings.

Haaretz reported that the six would also have to pay for the state prosecution, “for recordings and minutes, which are likely to be a few thousand shekels more.”

The more than $100,000 that the residents have been ordered to pay is only the latest payment in which the village has had to compensate Israel for its routine demolitions in the village.

According to al-Araqib residents, before the latest court ruling, the village was ordered to pay more than two million shekels (approximately $541,000) for the cumulative cost of Israeli-enforced demolitions carried out against the village since 2010.

Al-Araqib is one of 35 Bedouin villages considered “unrecognized” by the Israeli state. According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), more than half of the approximately 160,000 Bedouins in the Negev reside in unrecognized villages.

The unrecognized Bedouin villages were established in the Negev soon after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war following the creation of the state of Israel.

Many of the Bedouins were forcibly transferred to the village sites during the 17-year period when Palestinians inside Israel were governed under Israeli military law, which ended shortly before Israel's military takeover of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967.

Now more than 60 years later, the villages have yet to be recognized by Israel and live under constant threats of demolition and forcible removal.

Haya Noah, director of the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, was quoted by Haaretz as saying that the decision was “another of the tricks used by the state to wear down and break up worthy civic struggles, like the struggle for the right to a respectable place to live.”

Noah also pointed out that since the demolitions are carried out by units having an annual state budget, “there’s no real reason to claim payment.”

“Instead of pushing the residents to the wall, the state must provide shelter for the villagers and stop the campaign of demolitions and harassment,” Noah said.

Meanwhile, Ayman Odeh, member of the Joint list -- a political bloc of parties in the Israeli Knesset led by Palestinian citizens of Israel -- reportedly said that the ruling “brings the state’s cruelty toward Arab citizens of the Negev to new heights,” according to Haaretz.

“The state, which is trying to plant trees in an effort to uproot people from their land, refuses to recognize the villages, most of which exist where they are from before the state’s founding. Now it is also choosing to financially ruin anyone who dares to raise his head and fight the decrees by civil and democratic means,” Odeh reportedly said in response to the court ruling.

Right groups say that the demolition of unrecognized Bedouin villages is a central Israeli policy aimed at removing the indigenous Palestinian population from the Negev and transferring them to government-zoned townships to make room for the expansion of Jewish Israeli communities.
____

>b>Israeli Court Orders Bedouin to Reimburse State for Cost of Demolishing Their Homes

Israel has bulldozed Negev village of Al-Araqib over 100 times since 2010; six residents must now pay for eight of those rounds

by Almog Ben Zikri for Haaretz Aug 22, 2017 9:23 PM

Six residents of an unrecognized Bedouin village near the southern city of Be'er Sheva will have to pay the state to cover the costs of demolishing their homes, an Israeli court ruled last week.

The residents of Al-Araqib, which has been demolished over 100 times since 2010, must pay 262,000 shekels (over $72,000) for the demolition costs and an additional 100,000 shekels for the expenses of the state’s lawyer.

In August 2011, the state prosecution filed a civil suit in Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court against 34 residents of the village, demanding reimbursement for the expenses involved in eight rounds of demolitions that took place between July and December 2010. The state wanted to be repaid the estimated 1.8-million-shekel outlay for the police forces, the inspectors from the Green Patrol and the contractors who carried out the work.

Two of the defendants died during the trial but 26 others came to a compromise agreement. Six residents chose to see out the legal proceedings to the end. Last Wednesday Judge Iddo Rusin ruled that the six have to pay 262,000 shekels and the 100,000 shekels in legal fees. Rusin also said the defendants would have to pay back the prosecution for recordings and minutes, which are likely to be a few thousand shekels more.

Attorney Khaled Sawalhi, who represented the residents, said they are considering an appeal. “The behavior of the prosecution was abusive toward the defendants,” he said. “The state demolished the village, in my opinion in violation of the law, and went one better and demanded compensation for an act that wasn’t legal in the first place. I believe that the verdict ignored the substantive arguments we raised, including the fact that the issue of ownership that is the object of the suit is still pending before the district court.”

“There’s no real reason to claim payment for a unit that is budgeted annually by the state," said Haya Noah, director of the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality. "This is another of the tricks used by the state to wear down and break up worthy civic struggles, like the struggle for the right to a respectable place to live. Instead of pushing the residents to the wall, the state must provide shelter for the villagers and stop the campaign of demolitions and harassment.”

Joint List chairman lawmaker Ayman Odeh said, “The court’s ruling brings the state’s cruelty toward Arab citizens of the Negev to new heights. The state, which is trying to plant trees in an effort to uproot people from their land, refuses to recognize the villages, most of which exist where they are from before the state’s founding. Now it is also choosing to financially ruin anyone who dares to raise his head and fight the decrees by civil and democratic means.”