By Rina Rosenberg | Director of International Advocacy
"In Alsira, the citizens must fend for themselves without the same services as most citizens in Israel. The ingenuity that the residents of Alsira have shown in providing these services for themselves and their community is impressive and commendable. It is frusturating that, as citizens, they do not receive equal access and rights to government resources." - Participant in Law Students’ Tour
Between May and July 2014, Adalah, along with NGO partner the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality (NCF), organized several tours for diplomats, journalists and students to Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab (Negev). The tours sought to raise awareness about the challenges facing the Bedouin community, particularly those living under heightened threat of displacement due to discriminatory Israeli government plans. Through the study tours and field visits, Adalah works to educate and achieve effective engagement at all levels of influence, whether with community members, opinion-shapers or decision-makers.
Latin American Diplomats: In May 2014, Adalah and NCF hosted a delegation of 10 diplomatic representatives from Latin American embassies in Israel on a tour of the Naqab. The delegation took place in advance of a regional Latin American meeting with the Israeli government, and the group was able to raise concerns about the human rights challenges facing the indigenous Bedouin community. The group visited the construction site of “Intelligence City” a military complex that is located in an area populated by over 9,000 Beoduin citizzens of Israel living in several unrecognized villages. The delegation also visited the recently-recognized Bedouin villages, such as Umm-Batin and Abu Tlul, which continue to be denied access to basic infrastructure and regularly experience the demolition of new buildings. The diplomats also witnessed first-hand the problems of forced urbanization on the Arab Bedouin community in the government-planned township of Hura, one of seven such townships that suffer from poverty, overcrowding and lack of services. The participants expressed enthusiasm for the visit and commented that such tours were important in raising awareness of the issues facing the Bedouin community.
International Law Students:In June 2014, Adalah and NCF also hosted a delegation of law students from Australia, Canada and the USA to the Naqab, as part of the Palestine Works and Al Haq Fellows Conference. About 20 law students attended the tour, where they learned the history of the Bedouin community and were able to contextualize the current legal and human rights reality in the Naqab. The students were able to meet with representatives and residents of unrecognized villages as well as recently-recognized villages and government-planned Bedouin townships. The comprehensive tour for young human rights practitioners highlighted the entrenched system of discrimination that excludes the Bedouin community and denies them their basic human rights and civil rights as citizens of Israel.
These tours are made possible through your contributions via Global Giving – thank you! As we continue our work in 2014, we hope that you will help us reach our goal of raising $20,000 so that Adalah can offer more in-depth study tours to key stakeholders, provide practical human rights workshops to Bedouin citizens, and support the community through legal representation. Together we can halt the ongoing forced displacement of the Bedouin community, and ensure that they remain in their homes and on their ancestral land with dignity.
Please join us, and thank you for calling on your friends to stand with Adalah, and stand for Justice!
By Rina Rosenberg | Director of International Advocacy
By Rina Rosenberg | Director of International Advocacy
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