EU funded project for Bedouins under threat

Imminent Displacement Risk for Eight Homes funded by ECHO 

We sit in a Bedouin tent on top of a hill, listening to the story of Abu Fares and Abu Daoud about their homes. We are there because their new homes, funded by ECHO (European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid & Civil Protection), are under the risk of immediate demolition. Abu Fares, son of Abu Daoud says:

“I have one boy and one girl. I do not think my children will live here forever, but only God knows. I would prefer if I could live here and build. We are born here, we have grown up here, it is all we know. We want to stay because it is all we know, but also because the Israeli they come here, and they want to kick us out…The military come here every day, it is normal. Sometimes they make it difficult for us. The settlers they also come on tours, to see if we have built anything new, to take pictures and report. But they do not do anything, they do not harm us.”

Forced ethnic displacement is a growing threat for the Palestinian Bedouins. The families living in Kurshan, in the Khan al-Ahmar Arab al-Jahalin Bedouin community, to the East of Jerusalem, are one of many examples. The struggle to remain on their land is what makes the Bedouins such a vulnerable group in society, but it is a struggle shared by many. As settlements, outposts, and military zones expand, the Bedouins are pushed further away, and forced to live in more enclosed areas, often unable to keep their cattle.

The families living in Kurshan have used this location seasonally since the 1960s, and settled down permanently in 1992. Their houses were already demolished in November 2011, and ECHO deemed the case eligible for aid. The new homes were handed over to the families on Monday the 7^th of May, the very same day the Israeli military came to deliver a demolition order. That the homes were built by international money, and the project supervised by the EU was of little significance.

As we sat listening to Abu Fares, representatives from ECHO and UNRWA came to the site. However they had little knowledge of the case, so we informed them of what we knew. Abu Daoud had left, after receiving a phone call from his lawyer saying that they had been granted a seven day injunction against the eviction. In theory this means that the Civil Administration has seven days to present their case to court, and then it can take weeks before the case is settled.

As the other internationals leave, we from EAPPI decide to stay on the scene. Because in practice it happens every so often that despite the court giving the families more time, it has failed to inform the Israeli military in time. Hence the demolition may still take place, which render the court case insignificant. So we are not only the first on the scene for this incident, we also remain just in case.

When I publish this, the homes are still standing. Yet the relevance remains as urgent and significant as a couple of days before, because I cannot promise that this will be the case tomorrow. The attention, and presence of the international community, is not in itself a guarantee against a demolition.