Following Adalah's Petition, Attorney General Agrees Not to Order Dismantling and Evacuation of Demonstration Tent in al-Araqib

On 1 February 2005, following a petition submitted by Adalah, the Attorney General's (AG) Office sent a letter to the Supreme Court of Israel agreeing not to order the police to evacuate and tear down a demonstration tent set up in the unrecognized Arab Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Naqab (Negev).

The demonstration tent was erected on 27 January 2005, in protest against the Israel Lands Administration's (ILA) policy of destroying land cultivated by Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel in al-Araqib and elsewhere in the Naqab through digging up the ground. Adalah submitted the petition to the Supreme Court of Israel on 30 January 2005, following attempts by the police to have the tent dismantled and evacuated on the basis of ILA claims that the protesters were trespassing on state lands. In the petition, Adalah Attorney Morad el-Sana argued that permission for the tent's erection was not required, and that the police have no right to dismantle it as the residents of al-Araqib enjoy a basic right to demonstrate. It is especially important that this right be protected when the residents are attempting to prevent their cultivated land from being destroyed, Adalah argued.

The petition was submitted on behalf of Hussein al-Rafaya, the chairman of the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab (RCUV); Atwa Abu Freh, the co-ordinator of the Together Forum (a coalition of non-governmental organizations working for social change and the rights of the Arab Bedouin in the Naqab); and in Adalah's own name, against the Police Commander of the southern region of Israel; the Commander of the Rahat police station; and the ILA.

Members of Knesset and representatives of Arab and Jewish non-governmental organizations were invited to the demonstration tent to register their solidarity with the residents of al-Araqib. Upon the tent's erection, local police contacted Mr. al-Rafaya to inform him that, despite their earlier assurances to the contrary, police permission for the tent was required. Mr. al-Rafaya duly applied for police permission but was then informed that his application had been denied as the ILA had submitted a complaint claiming that the protesters were trespassing on state lands.

On 28 January 2005, after being approached by the protestors, Adalah contacted the police and attempted to gain permission for the tent. The police responded by denying permission for the tent and ordering its evacuation and dismantling by the evening of 29 January 2005. Their position was supported by the AG's Office.

Adalah then requested and gained an extension on the deadline for the tent's evacuation and dismantling until the morning of 30 January 2005 from the AG's Office, before submitting the petition to the Supreme Court that morning.

In its letter to the Supreme Court of 1 February 2005, the AG's Office agreed to grant permission for the tent and not to order its evacuation and dismantling, providing that: i) a contact person is designated for the demonstration tent; ii) there is no incitement against the state at the demonstration tent; and iii) the demonstrators do not blockade Road 40, the route between Tel Aviv and Beer el-Sabe (Beer Sheva), with vehicles or park cars near it.

On 2 February 2005, Adalah submitted a motion to the Supreme Court to withdraw the petition and gain reimbursement for its expenses.

H.C. 971/05, Hussein al-Rafaya etc. v. The Southern Chief Commander of the Police etc.