20.11.2009, 15:02 For the first time in the century-old history of the Israeli kibbutz, a Bedouin has been accepted as a member of one.
14.03, 21:35 Hundreds of Palestinians will be left without electricity should Israel’s order for the demolition of 8 solar panels in the West Bank go ahead, in what many say is an attempt to drive Palestinians out of the Israeli-controlled part of the territory.
Palestinian statehood
20.03, 17:08 Israeli settlers have taken over dozens of natural water springs in the West Bank, limiting or barring Palestinians from access to much-needed fresh water, according to the UN report. Israelis deny that the access has been banned.
20.08, 14:06 Israel spends money on settlements in the West Bank that it could use for housing for the poor, Talia Sasson said in an interview with RT. The Israeli attorney authored a 2005 report that documented the illegality of Israel’s West Bank settlements.
10.08, 19:01 The Israeli Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the demolition of eight Palestinian villages on the West Bank. The Israeli Defense Ministry says it needs this land for military exercises and will displace some 1,500 Palestinians.
02.08, 00:57 Israeli authorities are set to approve a grant program for building hotels in occupied West Bank territories. This is despite repeated UN warnings that Jewish settlements there are illegal under international law.
Published: 03 September, 2012, 15:22
A Palestinian school girl walks outside her classroom at a Bedouin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Jericho.(AFP Photo / Abbas Momani) TAGS: Scandal, Politics, Human rights, History, Immigration, Israel, Education Israel has threatened to demolish a Bedouin encampment in the West Bank that contains a school, claiming that the community was built without appropriate permits and was hindering the development of new Israeli settlements.
The Khan Al-Ahmar elementary school was built in 2009 with the help of local and international humanitarian groups. The clay-and-tires structure employed 11 teachers, and instructed students belonging to some five neighboring Jahalin Bedouin tribes. Israeli authorities have issued a demolition order, claiming that the encampment containing the school was built illegally.
Demolishing the school would force the children to trek across the desert to Jericho for class, the closest place where education facilities are located. The Israeli military claimed that they will not destroy the school or the encampment until an alternate learning institution for the students is located.
According to UN reports, Tel Aviv has ordered the demolition of around 3,000 structures, including homes, cisterns, solar-power generators and 18 schools, including the Khan al-Ahmar Mixed Elementary School. Only 360 such demolitions have been carried out so far.
Israeli authorities believe that moving the indigenous population to planned communities will lift them out of poverty. Bedouin communities argue that their culture and its centuries-old traditions are being jeopardized by Jewish expansion.
The children of the Jahalin tribe previously attended school in Jericho, about 20 kilometers away, but school bus service was often unreliable. Locals now say that they may have no other choice: "We'll go to school until it's demolished," the Washington Post cited 10-year-old Islam Hussein as saying,
Khan al-Ahmar is one of 20 Bedouin communities that are scheduled for relocation. Bedouin families have lived there since 1951, when refugees fled the Negev region during Israel’s war for independence. The West Bank is currently home to 300,000 Israeli settlers,
In September 2011, the Israeli government approved the ‘Prawer Plan,’ which called for the mass expulsion of the Arab Bedouin community in the Naqab desert. At the beginning of 2012, Tel Aviv announced a plan to establish ten new settlements along the disputed Green Line.
More than 70,000 Bedouins in 35 villages live in territory clamed by Israel. The settlements are considered to be ‘unrecognized’ by the Israelis, and the inhabitants are often referred to as ‘trespassers on state land.’
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad talks to school children during a visit to a school at a Bedouin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Jericho.(AFP Photo / Abbas Momani)
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad talks to school children during a visit to a school at a Bedouin camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank near Jericho.(AFP Photo / Abbas Momani)
Today: 15:00 The crew of the International Space Station was forced to ration electricity after three solar panels malfunctioned last week. The astronauts were forced to deactivate some scientific equipment, and are preparing for a spacewalk to make repairs.
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