The Israeli cabinet held a special session today to approve the forcible destruction of the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, established back in 1956.
Under the “Prawer plan,” the Israeli government plans to force the Bedouins to resettle in “approved” villages elsewhere, will destroy Umm al-Hiran and build a Jewish-only town called Hiran in its place.
Umm al-Hiran is considered “unapproved” by the Israeli government, but locals argue that since it is next to impossible to get Israeli permission to build homes for Bedouin tribes they simply ignore them and build where they can.
There are around 40 “unapproved” villages across southern Israel, some of them predating the establishment of Israel itself, and all of them set to eventually be destroyed. The Bedouins within are expected to relocate the the dwindling number of remaining villages, which have less and less room to accept refugees.
