JERUSALEM — On Thursday, Israeli officials finished the demolition of a village that has been the focal point of a prolonged dispute involving the Arab Bedouin community in the nation. The government claims that the hundreds of inhabitants were residing on state-owned territory and have offered them alternative plots in a nearby Bedouin township. However, villagers from Umm al-Hiran contend that this action represents an enforced displacement, aimed at repurposing the land for the benefit of Israel’s Jewish population.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister known for his far-right stance, expressed his support for the demolitions through a post on X, indicating that there had been a fourfold increase in similar demolition orders this year alone. He stated, “Proud to lead a strong policy of demolishing illegal houses in the Negev!”
On Thursday, heavy machinery entered the village, home to about 400 residents in the Negev Desert, to bring down the last remaining structure—the mosque. Earlier in the week, inhabitants had taken the initiative to dismantle their temporary homes to avoid incurring costs associated with state-led demolitions.
Activists and police circulated videos capturing the moment an excavator tore down the mosque, with its dome collapsing onto the ground. Or Hanoch, an activist who observed the demolition, reported that drones and helicopters tracked the operation while seven police bulldozers systematically dismantled the remaining structures.
“After the mosque was demolished, the heavy machinery proceeded to destroy what was left of the houses, which had already been taken down,” Hanoch recounted. Early on Thursday, prior to the demolitions, three members of the village council were detained, as confirmed by Nati Yefet, the spokesperson for the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages in the Negev.
The council has accused Israeli authorities of clearing the land to accommodate the establishment of a new Jewish community. They asserted, “The destruction of Umm al-Hiran to make way for the settlement of Dror is part of a systematic population replacement program in the Negev.” This year alone, four other Bedouin villages have faced similar fates, as part of a broader agenda to dismantle unrecognized villages and replace them with Jewish settlements.
According to the council, there are 14 Bedouin villages in the region, encompassing about 9,000 residents, which are presently under threat of demolition. Established in its location in 1956, Umm al-Hiran was rebuilt after its inhabitants were relocated multiple times due to the aftermath of the 1948 war that led to the establishment of Israel.
Among Israel’s more than 200,000 Bedouin, a segment of the Arab minority, they are often regarded as the most impoverished. This Arab demographic also includes urban Christian and Muslim communities. Comprising approximately 20% of Israel’s total population of 10 million, Arabs in the country enjoy voting rights but frequently encounter discrimination and often align themselves with the Palestinian cause in relation to the neighboring occupied territories.