Israel to demolish nine Arab homes in Umm Al-Hiran

Israeli occupation authorities announced yesterday that they will demolish nine Arab homes in the village of Umm Al-Hiran in the Negev to prepare for building a Jewish settlement today, Arab48 reported.

Residents of the Arab village did not accept the “deportation order” which stipulates moving them to the nearby village of Horah.

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According to the news website, the owners of the nine homes which have been slated for demolition have no alternatives, noting that a number of barns and trees are also to be razed along with the houses.

The website reported heavy pressure was put on the residents over the past few weeks. Their representatives were investigated and asked to forcefully sign the deportation orders.

On Monday, Hussein Al-Qi’an, one of the residents of the village, filed a petition to the Central Court of Beersheba, requesting the postponement of the demolition, but police called him in for investigation yesterday.

After a long battle in the Israeli courts, the Israeli judiciary recently ruled that the villagers must evacuate their homes between 15-30 April or face forceful eviction.

READ:European delegation investigates Israeli demolitions in Negev

On January 2017, teacher Ya’akub Al-Qi’an was killed by Israeli police while working to block Israel’s expulsion of the indigenous Arab residents of the village.

Umm Al-Hiran is one of 26 “unrecognised” Bedouin villages in the Negev. Israel has been trying to uproot them to build Jewish residential compounds in their place.

About 1,000 Arab residents from the tribe of Al-Qi’an have been living in the village since 1956. They were driven out of their homes in 1952 by Israeli Jewish militias and settled in their current location.