“Green Patrol” Inspector Assaults Elderly Arab Bedouin Woman from the Naqab and Destroys her Tent

On 10 August 2009, Adalah sent an urgent letter to the Director of the “Green Patrol” and the legal advisor to the Israel Land Administration (ILA) demanding that they immediately refrain from approaching Ms. Salha Sueilim al-Kallab from the Naqab (Negev), destroying her tent and evicting her from her place of residence pending a final decision by the court.

In the letter , Adalah Attorney Morad el-Sana stated that a Green Patrol inspector named Mr. Oren Tsion went to the tent of Ms. al-Kallab on 26 July 2009 and severely beat her. He then cut the tent’s ropes, causing it to collapse and damaging many of her belongings. Attorney el-Sana emphasized that the inspector was not in possession of any court order for the demolition of the house, and that Ms. al-Kallab had been living in the same place for over 15 years, with the knowledge and approval of the Green Patrol.

Ms. al-Kallab told Adalah that she knew the inspector in question well, since he had visited her tent several times. However, he never informed her that her presence in the area was illegal and never asked her to vacate the area. Approximately two months before the incident, the inspector asked her to relocate her tent to a nearby area. He promised her that she would not be asked do so again. It later became clear that the inspector made these statements in order to later claim that Ms. Kallab had recently “invaded” the area and settled on it illegally, and that therefore he was entitled to destroy the tent without a court order.

Adalah argued that destroying the tent without a court order constitutes a gross violation of the Planning and Building Law – 1965 and that assaulting an elderly woman is a criminal offense. Adalah added that trying to persuade Ms. Kallab to change the location of her tent to enable the inspector to claim that she had “invaded the area” and that it was his right to destroy her tent without first obtaining a court order represented exploitation of her lack of knowledge of the law.