Report from Al Naqab.Net: A New Catastrophe: Evacuation Notices Issued for Village of Wadi al-Nam, Home to Around 10,000 People

13/12/2011

The news agency [Al-Naqab Net] has discovered that demolition warnings that were posted on the outskirts of the village of Wadi al-Nam, or "south of the village of Shegheb al-Salam [Segev Shalom]", on Sunday [11 December 2011], were not issued according to standard practice. They were not affixed to the buildings. Rather they are posted on signs erected by employees of the Israel Land Administration [ILA], which state that the land belongs to the ILA. The evacuation notices were affixed to these signs, which were put up on the outskirts of the village, identified as "south of the village of Shegheb al-Salam". The notices state that the villagers must evacuate the village and destroy all buildings, barns, and any other buildings within it, or else proceedings will be initiated against them.

11 December 2011
Article published in Arabic by Al-Naqab Net: http://www.alnqb.net/article.php?ID=273

The news agency [Al-Naqab Net] has discovered that demolition warnings that were posted on the outskirts of the village of Wadi al-Nam, or "south of the village of Shegheb al-Salam [Segev Shalom]", on Sunday [11 December 2011], were not issued according to standard practice. They were not affixed to the buildings. Rather they are posted on signs erected by employees of the Israel Land Administration [ILA], which state that the land belongs to the ILA. The evacuation notices were affixed to these signs, which were put up on the outskirts of the village, identified as "south of the village of Shegheb al-Salam". The notices state that the villagers must evacuate the village and destroy all buildings, barns, and any other buildings within it, or else proceedings will be initiated against them.

The notices were affixed to signs which state that the land belongs to the ILA, and that the people must leave the land. They also accuse the people of entering state land.

The notices give the people 48 hours to evacuate the land. This is the first time that warnings of this kind have been issued [against Wadi al-Nam], to approximately 10,000 people [Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel]. Furthermore, the notices were distributed while Palestinian citizens of Israel were demonstrating in Jerusalem "in support of the Naqab" and against the Prawer Plan, which provides for the expulsion of around 30,000 people from their villages. The Plan also specifies the confiscation of 800,000 dunams of Arab land, leaving around 90,000 dunams for about 20,000 Arabs in the Naqab, from a total of approximately a million dunams of Arab-owned land.

In a conversation with Labad Abu Affash, chairman of the local committee in Wadi al-Nam, he stated, "This is a disaster, a declaration of war against the Arabs. It's as if they are punishing us for taking part in today's strike and demonstration. These notices, with their strange form, text and the way they were distributed, say that we must leave the village within 48 hours, which is unreasonable and unacceptable. We are on our land, and we have been here since the 1950s. Some of us have been here since before Israel was even established. These threats will not deter us. The state has been pursuing us since its establishment. We appeal to international institutions and human rights organizations to stand with us in the face of this new Israeli transfer.

"The displacement of 10,000 citizens is a catastrophe. The demolition of an entire village is a tragedy. The way that they warn and threaten us without offering any solutions indicates that this is a dangerous shift in the treatment of the Arabs. We call on all to stand with us and help us. We kindly urge the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens in Israel to play its role, and we must continue our struggle against the government's wretched plans."