Wednesday, 21 August
7.00 - 8.15pm (Jerusalem), 5.00 - 6.15pm (UK), 12.00 - 1.15pm (ET, USA)
With guest speakers Khalil Alamour & Yeela Raanan
This webinar will provide an overview of the Bedouin community's history in the Naqab (Negev) and the ongoing struggle of residents in unrecognized villages for recognition and equality at a time when demolitions are soaring.
Before the state of Israel was established in 1948, there were around 90,000 Bedouins living in the Naqab but after the war, the state began an ongoing process of evicting the Bedouins from their dwellings. Soon only 11,000 Bedouins remained as most of the communities fled or were expelled. Nowadays, about 250,000 Bedouins reside in the Naqab area in three types of localities: 35 unrecognized villages; seven governmental planned townships; and ten newly recognized villages.
All of the Bedouins face discriminatory practices but for those living in the unrecognized villages, life is harsh and tenuous. Despite the residents being citizens of the state of Israel, the government deems them “illegal” and a menace. They are denied kindergartens, schools and health clinics. There is hardly any infrastructure, including electricity, running water, trash collection, paved roads and sewage disposal systems. These villages have no representation in the different local government bodies.
The central Israeli policy toward the Bedouin indigenous community in the Naqab is the demolition of their homes and infrastructure vital for living. In recent years well over 2000 structures have been demolished annually. A growing phenomenon is that Israeli authorities force the Bedouin to demolish their own home or face huge, unaffordable fines. In 2024, there has been a drastic increase of demolitions with entire villages flattened in one day.
This webinar will provide the latest news about what is happening in the Naqab along with insight on how the Bedouin community, along with support from critical Israeli Jews, is fighting for their right for recognition so they can live in dignity and with equality.
Khalil Alamour, a teacher and lawyer by profession, is from Al-Sira, one of the unrecognized villages in the Naqab. He is an active member of the Al-Sira Community Council and a member of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev (RCUV) and a secretariat member of the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality.
Dr Yeela Raanan has spent her life promoting the rights of the residents of the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages. She is the general manager of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages (RCUV). As an academic, she has taught classes such as “Oppression as Policy” and has taught in the field of Economy and Society.
View this short video taken when participants of ICAHD’s May study tour visited Wadi Al-Khalil in the Naqab three days after all 47 homes were demolished on 8th May 2024