Fatal end to Israeli demolitions
Two killed and Arab MP hurt as village homes are razed
UMM AL HEIRAN // Israeli demolitions in an Arab village sparked violence yesterday, resulting in the death of a policeman and the man accused of attacking him shot dead. Arab MP Ayman Odeh was also wounded in the confrontation in Umm Al Heiran, where activists have long sought to draw attention to what they call the unjust Israeli practice of demolishing Palestinian homes.
Israeli police claimed the man killed, who was named as resident Yacoub Abu Al Qiyan, 47, had tried to attack officers with a vehicle before being shot.
But one of Mr Odeh’s aides denied this.
“They [the police] attacked the MP and other people – demonstrators – with stun grenades, tear gas directly in people’s faces,” said Anan Maalouf. “There was no car- ramming attack here.
“There were no clashes here between the demonstrators and police.” Mr Maaloud said Mr Odeh, who heads the Joint List, a coalition of mainly Arab parties and the third- largest bloc in the Israeli parliament, was wounded by police.
Photos uploaded to the internet show him with his head bloodied. Residents, meanwhile, denied police claims that Al Qiyan was active in the Israeli Islamic Movement and may have been influenced by ISIL.
“The Israeli narrative is a lie,” said village activist Raed Abu Al Qiyan. “He was a revered schoolteacher. He has no relations with the Islamic Movement.
“He was in his car and they shot at him from everywhere.”
According to residents, the dead man was the father of about a dozen children and owned one of five buildings that were being demolished yesterday. The incident came about, activist Isaac Kates Rose said, when residents moved their cars to the entrance of the village at about 5am in an attempt to block the demolition operation.
Police then forced their way in and fired flares, lighting up the predawn sky.
Shooting could later be heard, as could the sound of a car crashing, said the activist who was there.
At some point later, Mr Odeh was caught up in the confrontation and wounded, activists said. The Israeli who died was named as 34- year- old policeman Erez Levi.
Five excavators were later seen entering the village, with demolitions beginning at about 11.15am. Security forces took up positions on rooftops and guarded the area around the demolition sites, keeping residents away.
Residents gathered around the village’s mosque, with women wailing as the demolitions started.
Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Bedouin homes they deem to have been built illegally.
Building permits are extremely difficult to obtain, however, and residents and activists said Jewish citizens are given preferential treatment. Umm Al Heiran has become symbolic in the fight against demolition orders, with residents having waged a legal fight against them for years.
Located in the Negev desert, the village is home to about 1,000 people who raise livestock and mainly live in small, concrete buildings, relying on solar panels for electricity.
In 2013, Israel’s cabinet approved the establishment of two Jewish communities in the Negev, Kesif and Hiran.
To make way for the two towns, Umm Al Heiran, which is not recognised by the authorities, must first be removed.
In 2015, Israel’s supreme court approved the removal, saying that since the residents could theoretically live in the new towns, the move did not constitute discrimination. The government said Umm Al Heiran’s residents would be moved to the nearby Bedouin village of Hura, which is home to about 300 families.
“The Israeli supreme court’s decision to allow the state to proceed with its plan to demolish the village, which has existed for 60 years, to establish a Jewish town called ‘ Hiran’ over its ruins, is one of the most racist judgments that the court has ever issued,” said Palestinian-run rights group Adalah, which has represented the villagers in court.
‘ He was in the car and they shot at him from everywhere Raed Abu Al Qiyan activist