IN-DEPTH REPORT: Israel to establish refugee displacement camps for tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin citizens
Israel is taking the first steps towards establishing refugee displacement camps to house tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin citizens of Israel whom it plans to "urgently" evict from their homes in unrecognized villages across the Naqab (Negev) region without even offering them any permanent or just housing solutions.
Adalah's new position paper, released today, 10 December 2019 – International Human Rights Day – takes a detailed look at and explains the ramifications of the plans and the ways in which they violate the human rights of the Bedouin community.
CLICK HERE to read Adalah's new position paper
A general view of a Bedouin community in the Naqab region. (Photo by Mati Milstein)
The basic aim of Israel's plan is to transfer the residents of unrecognized Palestinian Bedouin villages – villages in which they have lived for decades, and some of which have existed since before the state's establishment in 1948 – to temporary structures for a period of up to six years.
The plans constitute another step by Israel to forcibly remove the Palestinian Bedouin population of the unrecognized villages from their homes and lands in the quickest possible fashion.
Israel's plans to establish refugee displacement camps for Palestinian Bedouin citizens must be understood in the context of a January 2019 announcement by Israel's Bedouin Authority that it intends evict 36,000 Bedouin citizens for the needs of "economic development projects" and the expansion of military training areas.
These plans – expected to affect thousands of families, children, and the elderly – will have devastating consequences for the entire Palestinian Bedouin population of the Naqab, both in the unrecognized villages and in the recognized townships where the refugee displacement camps are to be constructed.
CLICK HERE to read Adalah's new position paper
