Israeli demolition plan for Bedouin village sparks outcry

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Israeli demolition plan for Bedouin village sparks outcry
By DANIEL ESTRIN, Associated Press | May 14, 2015 | Updated: May 14, 2015 3:35pm

UMM AL-HIRAN, Israel (AP) — Israelis are once again locked in a bitter settlement dispute with their Arab neighbors, but this time the conflict is not unfolding in the West Bank, but in Israel's southern desert.

After years of legal battles, Israel's Supreme Court last week cleared the way for the government to uproot the nearly 60-year-old Bedouin Arab village of Umm al-Hiran, a dusty hill of ramshackle dwellings without proper electricity or water hookups, and in its place build "Hiran," a new community seemingly catering to Jews that is expected to feature a hotel and country club.

The project has reignited a simmering conflict between Israel's Bedouin community, which says it is a victim of discrimination, and the government, which says it is trying to bring order to a lawless area and give a better quality of life to the impoverished minority.

Israel says the hundreds of villagers are sitting on state-owned land slated for development and is offering them free plots in a Bedouin township just down the road. But villagers say the plan is cut-and-dry Israeli discrimination — part of a broader demographic battle over the land.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Israeli-demolition-plan-for-Bedouin-village-6264135.php

[guillaumeb]

1. sounds a lot like life in South Africa when the Afrikaners were in charge.

Whites had the nice areas, non-whites and blacks had the areas with no electricity or water.

Someone remind me again that Israel is a democracy and not just another apartheid type state.

[former9thward]

2. Maybe you should go to Israel and find out yourself.

Instead of relying on the non-stop anti-Israeli propaganda. You will see Arabs live in nice areas also. They have electricity and water. Go up to the West Bank and see the main city Ramallah. Very beautiful and prosperous. As far as democracy goes why don't you try to go to any of the Arab states that surround Israel -- if they will let you in. All are dictatorships of one degree or another. Israel is the only democracy in the region -- and yes Arab citizens can and do vote.

[guillaumeb]

3. A "democracy" like the US was a "democracy" prior to the Civil War.

A democracy with classes of citizens. Speaking the truth about what Israel actually is and does is not propaganda. The reality is that Israel is an apartheid type state where non-Jews are treated as second class citizens.

[former9thward]

4. Untrue.

All citizens are treated equally. There are Arabs in the Knesset. There is a Arab who serves on the Israeli Supreme Court. Arabs serve in the Army up to and including the rank of General. But keep posting the propaganda. The Arab dictatorships approve...

[okaawhatever]

8. Well we have an AA President and AA Generals does that mean everyone here in the US is treated

equally?

[former9thward]

9. Are you suggesting the U.S. is an South African apartheid ?

Which you have claimed Israel is....

[jtuck004]

5. Nothing new...

"The village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi occupied France was destroyed on 10 June 1944, when 642 of its inhabitants, including women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company. A new village was built after the war on a nearby site, but on the orders of the then French president, Charles de Gaulle, the original has been maintained as a permanent memorial and museum."

wiki

Just a difference in flags.


But at least they thought enough of them to erect a museum, not a country club.

[Mosby]

6. relocating the bedoin to towns with electricity and sewer systems

Is the same as Nazis murdering Jews?

Jews are the new nazis?

Your post is disgusting.

[jtuck004]

7. So if you are nice to the slaves the plantation is ok? Now THAT's disgusting.

The clowns are practicing apartheid. The people don't want to go. If it is like past operations, the scumbags will kill or terrorize people until they leave, and then they will be forced to live jack-booted heels of these people with guns, who will proclaim how they are allowed to do this by a power higher than mere human morals.

I have nothing but disgust for them. Ymmv.