Adalah and Meezan Defend Residents of Al-Bqea’ah in the Naqab in Eviction Lawsuits Filed by the State Against them

In 2022, the government of Israel filed 18 eviction lawsuits against the residents of Al-Bqea’ah, an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Naqab, attempting to present them as “trespassers'' or “intruders” on the land. No alleged public need to displace the villagers has been put forward by the state.

Al-Bqea’ah is a Bedouin village located between the primarily Jewish city of Arad and Masada national park, near the tourist site of Kfar Nokdim. The village includes 530 residents in 19 different family clusters. Historically, this area belonged to the Jahalin tribe, who were expelled by Israel during the 1950s, largely to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and of which, only a few families from the tribe have remained in Al-Bqea’ah. The rest of the residents belong, mainly, to Al Jnabeeb tribe, who, before the establishment of Israel, lived in the area of Kurnub – near the now-Jewish city of Dimona. In the 1950s, the people of Al Jnabeeb were ordered by the military authorities to leave Kurnub and were subsequently displaced.

Since the 1950s, these residents have lived in the area. The authorities have even provided them with a connection to the water pipe leading to Masada, recruited them to a special unit in the Israeli army, and sought their assistance in locating lost people in the area. In addition, since the Kfar Nokdim tourist site was first established in the 1980s nearby to the village, many of the people of Al-Bqea’ah work in Kfar Nokdim, as well as in Masada national park.

The residents of Al-Bqea’ah were born and raised there, built their lives there, and established their homes and families there. Over decades, they have developed their social and economic life in the village, and they maintain a cohesive community, based on mutual aid and family ties. Yet the Israel Land Authority still attempts to present them as “trespassers'' or “intruders” and is trying to forcibly displace them to a government-planned Bedouin township.

Adalah and Meezan Organization for Human Rights submitted defense arguments to the Beer Sheva Magistrates’ Court in the 18 evacuation lawsuits — five on 1 April 2022 and an additional 13 in July 2022 – filed against a total of 254 residents, in an effort to freeze the imminent evictions and attempted displacement.

In the filings, the organizations argued that the main purpose of the lawsuits is to put pressure on the residents to forcibly leave their village and homes; that the state submitted these lawsuits in bad faith and on the basis of irrelevant considerations; and that the state is abusing the legal process. Adalah further argued that the residents hold and use the land legally and with the state’s permission and prior knowledge, and therefore, all allegations regarding their trespass on the land or its illegal possession are untrue. Adalah also contended that the requested evictions violate the residents’ constitutional rights to dignity, property, housing, and equality and discriminate against them on the basis of nationality, in a disproportionate manner and for an improper purpose.

The residents have held this land and lived in the village for decades by virtue of the explicit as well as implied consent of the state, and until now, the state has not made any claims against their holding of the land or against those residing on it. Evicting the residents from the village will leave them homeless, and the state has not offered them any appropriate and immediate available housing. These lawsuits already have, and will continue to, severely impact the marginalized and vulnerable groups among the residents, namely women and children.

In October 2022, the Court rejected Adalah’s request to unify all 18 cases, and only 3 of the 18 lawsuits that were allowed to be unified. This concerning decision shows that the court is already demonstrating preference for the narrative of the state: that the cases are not related, and the family clusters don’t form a social unit or unified village. In addition, this makes the legal representation of all of the residents much more complex and onerous. In January 2023, the court further rejected Adalah’s motion to request to appeal this decision.

The pre-hearings in each of the individual cases began in November 2022 and are scheduled through the end of this year (2023). The first evidentiary hearing is scheduled to be held in January 2024.

In April 2023, Adalah and Mezan submitted evidence for the first of the cases, which included affidavits from the residents and state archival materials regarding the village, as well as the expert opinions of urban planners, Dr. Nava Sheer, which analyzes aerial photos of the area, and Daphna Saporta, on the planning situation and alternative planning solutions (both from Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights).