24 injured in police-Bedouin scuffle

Scuffle starts after men join women, children in resisting efforts by Interior Ministry to serve demolition decrees for illegal buildings in unrecognized village
Anat Bershkovsky

(VIDEO) Twelve Israeli Bedouin Arabs and as many policemen were lightly injured Tuesday in a scuffle when officials from the Interior Ministry accompanied by police entered an unrecognized Bedouin village to issue demolition decrees for 25 illegal buildings.

Five women and a man from the 2500-strong al-Assam tribe of the unrecognized village were evacuated to the Soroka Hospital in Beer Sheva after sustaining head injuries. Witnesses also reported that an Israeli journalist was injured.

Video courtesy of HOT News

The scuffle started when men from the village joined women and children in resisting efforts by the Interior Ministry to serve demolition decrees for 25 illegal buildings.

Chairman of the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages Hassin al-Rafia arrived in the village, in a bid to mediate between the tribe’s leaders and police.

“I approached the police commander to ask for his cooperation in calming the villagers down and solve the problem in a nonviolent manner, yet they did not listen to me,” al-Rafia told Ynet, adding “they decided to use force against the residents.”

Al-Rafia reported that policemen fired bursts in the air in order to intimidate the villagers and disperse the crowds.

MK deplores use of live fire

Witnesses said police fire prompted villagers to throw stones at the forces, leading to an inevitable physical confrontation between the sides.

Knesset member Jamal Zahalka of the National Democratic Assembly (Balad) who arrived in the village as news of riots reached his office deplored the use of live bullets against women and children.

The Association for civil rights in Israel (ACRI) estimates there are some 50,000 Bedouins living in unrecognized villages in the Negev. Most of these villages are not supplied with basic infrastructure, including water and electricity, as the government refuses to include them in the Interior Ministry Zoning Plan.