Can We Come to a Solution on the Umm al-Hiran Case? IDI and TAFI Round Table Discussion

On December 16th, the Israeli Democracy Institute (IDI) and the Abraham Fund Initiative (TAFI) convened a roundtable to discuss the status of the unrecognized Bedouin village Umm Al-Hiran, and address the question of whether an agreeable solution can be found. Earlier this year, the Israeli Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by residents of Umm Al-Hiran — a Bedouin community of 1,400 located northeast of Beersheba — against the State’s decision to demolish the village and replace it with a Jewish community named Hiran, as part of a master plan by the National Planning and Building Council.

In its rejection of the petition by a 2:1 majority, the court ruled that though Bedouin residents of Umm Al-Hiran were moved to the area by the state decades ago and were not trespassers as the State argued, they have no legal rights to the land. At the same time, the ruling allowed some leeway for dialogue between the State and the residents. This round table discussion is meant to “build a path toward open dialogue, to draft sketches of possibly successful plans, and to find any possible means through which a solution could be reached.”

Dr. Thabet Abu Ras, co-director of TAFI and an expert on land issues, voiced his opinion that the state should cooperate with the residents of Um E Hiran, who are choosing to work within the legal and democratic framework of the state of Israel. Prof. Mordechai Kremnizer, Deputy President of IDI stated that an agreed-upon solution is of vital interest to the state and its residents. Raed Abu Alkriyan, a Member of Um El Hiran Local Council and a representative of its residents, said that residents want to resolve this issue “in a peaceful and pleasant way”, and that as far as they are concerned there are four acceptable solutions: (1) the existing community could be recognized by the state and developed in its current location, or (2) the community could become a neighborhood in the planned Jewish community – living side by side with the new Jewish residents, or (3) the community could be defined as a new “agricultural neighborhood” of the nearby Bedouin town of Hura,  (4) residents could be resettled back in their original location from which they were removed in the 1950s.” Prof. Oren Yftahel, a geographer and Bedouin lands expert from Ben Gurion University, said that it is important for residents to stay united and prepare a detailed alternative plan that would challenge the government’s plan.

To date, negotiations between the government and residents didn’t bear fruit, and no agreed solution was reached as to where to move the residents. Civil society organizations including IDI, TAFI, ACRI and BIMKOM are making efforts into reaching solution.