Bedouin Families Face Further Expulsions

Wednesday June 30, 2010 19:55 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The al-Quds Center for Legal Aid and Human Rights reported that some 40 Bedouin families in the al-Farsiyya area, in the northern plains of the Jordan Valley, received official notices from Israel ordering them to leave their areas.

The families have been living in the area for several decades having been previously forced out of another area, due to Israel’s illegal policies and the construction of settlements.

The Center said that the orders did not give the families more than 24-hour notice; an issue that would make it practically impossible for them to present the needed ownership documents or to appeal the decision.

The issue is similar to that which happened in al-Hadidiyya area, near the central West Bank district of Tubas ten days ago, with the Israeli army handing orders to 13 families forcing them to leave. The 13 families were the last of original 50 families that once lived in the area.

The Center described the orders as an act of ethnic cleansing, as Israel wants to replace them with Jewish settlers and to force them to live in isolated areas, similar to the actions of the white National Party during apartheid in South Africa.

It also said that it is trying to appeal against the decision, and appealed to other human rights and legal organizations to intervene immediately in order to prevent the expulsion of the families.

The center also called on the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, to act on the regional and international levels in order to expose the illegal Israeli measures and to save the families.

In a previous report, the center said that 21 residents living in Majdal Bani Fadel village, 9 in Yitma near Nablus, 5 in Jinsafut near Qalqilia, 9 in Kafr Ed Deek, and two from Hares village near Salfit, received similar orders this month as the army intends to demolish their homes, hothouses and barns.

The center is currently representing the families in an attempt to void the illegal Israeli decisions that target the very existence of the Palestinians in their homeland.

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