Khalil Al-Amour of Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel) and the Negev Coexistence Forum, spoke to Caabu about Israel's plans to demolish the Bedouin villages of Umm al-Hiran and Atir in the Negev. After a thirteen year struggle, on 5 May 2015, the Israeli Supreme Court aprroved the State of Israel's plan to demolish the village, and build a new Jewish town on the same site, called Hiran.
Before addressing Members of Parliament on 1 June 2015, Khalil Al-Amour, a Bedouin and Israeli citizen, spoke to Caabu, and called on Britain to play its part to stop the demoltion of Umm al-Hiran.
In response to the May 5 Israeli Supreme Court Ruling, Adalah said:
"The Supreme Court condoned a discriminatory and racist state plan, which gives the state the 'right' to do what it wants with the people and with the land. Despite the fact that the Court found that the residents were not trespassers, it nevertheless upheld their 'uprooting'. The ruling completely ignores the political, social and historical roots of the community, and legitimizes the demolition of an entire Arab village and the displacement of all of its inhabitants in order to build a Jewish one. With this ruling, the Court has set a very dangerous precedent. It shows that the Court is pursuing an approach that defends the state's right to dispossess Arab citizens. The result is that the constitutional rights granted by Israeli law do not protect Arab citizens, simply because of their nationality. Arab citizens are not only identified as an obstacle but also as an enemy to the 'public interest', which encompasses Jewish citizens only."
On June 9 2015, residents of Umm al-Hiran petitioned the Supreme Court for another hearing.
You can read more about the campaign to #Save_UmAlHiran.
