Refugee Protection

The first three months of 2002 witnessed another dramatic deterioration in human security in the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories due to the escalation of Israel’s military campaign to crush Palestinian resistance and silence those calling for a comprehensive and durable solution to the conflict based on international law and UN resolutions. Destruction of lives and property reached an as yet unprecedented level during the past three months. The deterioration in human security in the refugee community, particularly those refugees living in camps, was especially dramatic due to Israel’s massive military assault on the camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in late February and early March.

Deaths and Injuries
Between 1 January and 27 March, 357 Palestinians were killed by Israeli military forces and settlers (PRCS), an increase of 80 percent from the previous three-month period. There was a 100 percent increase in the number of injuries during the same period. Israeli forces continue to increase the use of live ammunition with 40 percent of the injuries due to live ammunition, up from 31 percent in the previous 3-month period.

The massive destruction of refugee shelters and makeshift conditions that refugees have been forced to live in has also affected basic human security. In one incident early in the year five Palestinian children from Khan Younis refugee camp were killed when the tent they were living in accidentally caught on fire. The parents, Mahrous Huneideq and Zinab Ali Abu Sabla, and their eldest son received serious burns. The family was forced to live in the tent after Israeli military forces destroyed their home in the camp.

Unemployment
Due to the deteriorating situation in the occupied territories and the virtual siege of Palestinian cities, towns and refugee camps for a significant period of the first three months of 2002 including most of March, there are few new details about the level of unemployment. Under the present military siege Palestinian institutions that collect and analyze such data are simply unable to operate. It can be assumed, however, that due to the increased restrictions on mobility, including entry to Israel for employment and movement between towns, villages, and refugee camps in the occupied territories, as well as heavy destruction of private and commercial properties between January and March, unemployment levels have likely risen even higher than the rates in the previous three month period.

 As of November 2001 unemployment in West Bank refugee camps stood at 37 percent with the rate in Gaza Strip camps at 50 percent. According to the World Bank, unemployment levels (including persons who have given up hope in finding employment and are no longer searching for work) reached 35 percent at the end of 2001, up from 20 percent in September 2000. Emergency temporary job creation programs are simply not able to cope with the massive increase in unemployment and became defunct during Israeli military raids of refugee camps.

Poverty Level
The total proportion of Palestinian refugees living below the poverty line is also likely to be even higher than in the last three months. Statistics are yet unavailable. Attacks on refugee camps in the Gaza Strip in January and throughout the West Bank in March caused widespread damage, injury and deaths in the refugee community, and have reduced even further what little material capital and savings refugees have to rely on during periods of economic instability and political crisis, while the large number of deaths and injuries leads to reduced and or loss of household income.

Widespread looting by Israeli soldiers (including jewelry, electronics and other moveable property) has further exacerbated the economic hardship experienced by refugees. The impact of the recent Israeli military attacks on the camps will likely result as well in an increased number of refugee families seeking special hardship assistance from UNRWA, which was already unable to meet basic hardship needs prior to the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada over 18 months ago.

The World Bank now estimates that half of the total Palestinian population is living below the poverty line (US$2 per person per day) in the occupied territories. Already by November 2001, the poverty rate among Palestinian refugees was around 46 percent (West Bank) to 65 percent (Gaza Strip). As of March 2002 it is likely that as many as three-quarters of the refugee population is living below the poverty line, despite considerable emergency employment, food, and cash assistance by the UN and other international donors.

Damage to Property

Damage to refugee properties was even more widespread than in previous reporting periods since the beginning of Israel’s military campaign to crush Palestinian resistance to Israel’s illegal military occupation more than a year and a half ago. Military assaults on refugee populated areas, which are illegal under international law, continue to result in mass destruction of refugee shelters and UN infrastructure providing basic services to the refugee community.

During Israel’s aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip in February a missile hit the roof of Gaza Elementary B Coeducational School causing extensive damage. Further damage was caused by falling debris from another strike which hit the nearby police headquarters. UNRWA’s an-Noor Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired was hit and damaged for the 6th time. In March Israeli military assaults caused damage to more than 20 UNRWA schools, several health clinics, and other UN installations in the camps.

During the first three months of 2002 Israeli military forces demolished more than 200 refugee shelters in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. In January 54 refugee shelters were demolished in Block ‘O’ of Rafah refugee camp rendering 80 refugee families (450 persons) homeless. In addition, 4 refugee shelters housing 10 refugee families (59 persons) were partially damaged in the operation. The operation also led to the destruction of 4 homes belonging to non-refugees, thus affecting an additional 4 families (47 persons).

In a second assault, this time on Block ‘J’ of the camp 19 shelters were heavily damaged rendering 21 families homeless, and a further 97 shelters were partially damaged needing repairs. The occupancy rate of the refugee shelters that were demolished or otherwise rendered unusable or requiring repairs was 90 percent. In March Israeli military forces destroyed 141 refugee shelters in the West Bank refugee camps and damaged 1,800 other shelters. The total damage to refugee shelters during the first three months of 2002 is equal to more than half of the entire damage resulting from Israeli military assaults since the beginning of the Palestinian uprising.

UNRWA estimates the immediate damage to refugee shelters in the camps in early March at around US $2.8 million with a total of US $ 3.8 million in the camps including Agency schools, clinics and other infrastructure. The World Bank assesses total damage in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as of the end December 2001 at about US $305 million, almost twice the earlier estimate for the October 2000-June 2001 period (US $168 million). According to the report the agricultural sector has suffered the most damage (US $176 million)followed by private buildings (US $47 million) and public buildings and infrastructure (US $40 million each).

The Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation estimated total losses at the end of 2001 at US $7.5 billion with total losses estimated by the Ministry of Finance as of October 2001 at US $6.953 billion. UNSCO estimates that the total income losses to the Palestinian economy during the period 1 October 2000 to 31 December 2001 range between US$ 3.1 and 4.0 billion, which translates into total income losses ranging between US$ 6.8 and 8.8 million per day. The EU estimates Israeli damage to EU-financed Palestinian infrastructure at more than 19 million Euros (US $17 million).

Significant damage resulted from Israeli forces moving through the camp by breaking holes through walls to enter adjoining refugee shelters. The tactic was described to Israeli journalist Amira Hass by one resident of al-Amari refugee camp in Ramallah. “Suddenly [Amal Abu Radwan] heard noises on the other side of the eastern wall of her narrow kitchen. Narrow, but renovated: Only four months ago, after slowly accumulating the needed sum, the renovation was completed – ceramic tiles, a new refrigerator, a new sink, a lighting fixture. Within minutes, the sink and the pipes were destroyed and a huge hole gaped in the wall.

Two of her children fled the house in alarm. Another daughter went into shock and would not speak for two days afterward. The kitchen filled with soldiers. “Silence,” said one of the soldiers in Hebrew. “Ruhi,” (Leave), he said in Arabic and aimed his rifle as if to say, “If not I’ll shoot you.” In any case this was how Amal Abu Radwan interpreted his gestures. She pointed at the new refrigerator and asked them not to harm it. And then she saw that they intended to break through the opposite wall, into the neighbor’s bathroom. “I begged them to make the hole in the corridor, not in the kitchen. But they were holding a map [on which the houses of the camp were indicated], and the soldier told me that was impossible, because according to the map they had to cut through here.” (Amira Hass, Ha’aretz, 18 March 2002)

Source: Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), www.prcs.org; UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), www.unrwa.org; World Bank, "Fifteen Months - Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis" (March 2002), www.worldbank.org.

UN and International Protection
Despite repeated calls by the Palestinian community, the Palestinian leadership, local and international Non-Governmental Organizations, the UN General Assembly and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for the deployment of an international protection force in the occupied territories, the international community remains self-paralyzed. The US, in particular, continues to obstruct international efforts launched by the European Union, the Arab states and other members of the international community.

On 1 March 2002, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson joined UN Secretary General Kofi Annan “in calling for the immediate withdrawal of the IDF from the refugee camps [in Nablus and Jenin], for an end to the attacks in densely populated areas and for ensuring full respect for the immunity of humanitarian facilities.” The UN Secretary General called upon Israel to end its illegal military occupation and termed Israeli military actions as collective punishment and a violation of the Geneva Conventions. These calls by the UN and earlier resolutions such as UNGA ES-10/8 (19 December 2002) calling for the deployment of an international monitoring mechanism remain without follow-up.

The United States continues to ignore, at grave cost to Palestinians and Israelis, human rights and humanitarian law as a central pillar of any political process. While the US supported and even sponsored UN Security Council resolutions adopted in March, the language of these resolutions (UNSC 1397, 12 March 2002 and UNSC 1402, 30 March 2002) is sufficiently vague as to allow considerable flexibility for interpretation which Israel used to avoid immediate implementation of the call for withdrawal of its military forces from Palestinian towns, cities and refugee camps. Moreover, the UN Security Council has failed to back up the resolutions with the necessary pressure and other mechanisms for implementation.

There continues to be a severe gap in protection mechanisms, in particular, for the Palestinian refugee population. No effective measures have been taken to address the protection problems associated with the collapse of the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine (UNCCP) in the 1950s, the limited intervention of UNHCR, and the lack of an explicit protection mandate for UNRWA. This means that unlike other refugee crises where a specific UN body (i.e., UNHCR) provides for the protection needs of refugees, there is no UN body looking after the protection needs of Palestinian refugees. While some UN human rights bodies have addressed the Palestinian refugee issue in their reports, many continue to exclude the refugee issue based on the argument that it does not fall within their mandate. International protection thus continues to be at best minimal and glaringly insufficient, especially in the occupied Palestinian territories, in the context of Israel’s ongoing military campaign.

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories: In March the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, John Dugard, submitted his report (E/CN.4/2002/32, 6 March 2002) to the Commission on Human rights detailing the status of human rights in the context of the al-Aqsa intifada. The report addresses Israel’s critique of the mandate of the special rapporteur, the issue of occupation and terrorism, violence and the loss of life, settlements, buffer zones, demolition of homes and destruction of property, restrictions on freedom of movement, economic and social distress, and children. The report does not directly deal with the core-foundational rights of Palestinian refugees (i.e., return, real property restitution and compensation), however, it does address the specific vulnerability of Palestinian refugees and implicitly raises the question about the need for international protection.

The Special Rapporteur adds to the growing chorus of international voices (opposed by the United States and Israel) of those calling for immediate deployment of international forces/monitors in the occupied Palestinian territories. “In this situation, initiatives for a ceasefire or a cessation of violence as a precondition for the resumption of talks between Israelis and Palestinians seem doomed to fail. Only an effective international presence in the region with the power to monitor and reduce the use of violence can achieve this goal. The Special Rapporteur therefore believes that there is a need for an international peacekeeping mission, structured and composed to meet the circumstances of the region.”

The report also addresses the relationship between terrorism post-September 11 and Israel’s military occupation. “Since 11 September, international support for the belief that terrorism is the main problem to be confronted in the region has inevitably grown. That terrorism is a threat to the present world order cannot, and should not, be denied.

That terrorism is a scourge that threatens Israelis and Palestinians alike cannot and should not be denied. Every effort should be made to end violence intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or the general public, whether it is perpetrated by instruments of the State, by organized non-State groups or by individuals.At the same time, it is important not to ignore the main explanation for the acts of terrorism committed by Palestinians against Israelis - the military occupation. It is the occupation of the Palestinian Territory that gives rise to savage acts of violence, highlighted by suicide bombings.”

The Special Rapporteur recommended the deployment of an international presence, either in the form of monitors or peacekeepers, as imperative to reduce violence, restore respect for human rights and create conditions in which negotiations can be resumed; the cessation of Israel’s targeted killings of selected Palestinians by guided missiles, terrorist bombings in Israel, the demolition of homes in the Palestinian Territory and the indiscriminate killing of civilians by both sides; an end to the collective punishment engendered by Israeli checkpoints; the dismantlement of Israeli settlements (i.e., colonies); and, special protection for Palestinian children.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC): During the past three months the ICRC continued to provide assistance to refugees and non-refugee Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories. At the beginning of 2002 the ICRC had provided emergency humanitarian assistance to some 6,000 Palestinians made homeless by Israel’s military assault since the beginning of the al-Aqsa intifada. Assistance includes blankets, a hygiene kit, a jerrycan and other household goods, including a gas lamp that can also be used for cooking. The ICRC also continues to provide basic food assistance to families confined to their homes with no opportunity to obtain basic necessities.

At the beginning of the year the Red Cross began regular distribution of food parcels to some 3,000 Palestinian families in Hebron and outlying villages. The ICRC continues to face restrictions on its right to humanitarian access. During a visit to the al-Mawasi area in the Gaza Strip, for example, ICRC staff had to pass 11 checkpoints during which vehicles and contents and personal possessions were checked by Israeli soldiers. The journey from Gaza City to al-Mawasi took 9 hours. The ICRC continues to ship truckloads of need medicines into West Bank towns.

UNRWA: UNRWA does not have an explicit protection mandate for Palestinian refugees, however, it does provide a limited degree of protection through interventions with the relevant authorities and in the context of the al-Aqsa intifada has deployed special operational support officers (OSOs) to facilitate the Agency’s emergency activities. UNRWA continued to issue strong letters of protest to Israel concerning Israel’s military actions and severe curtailment of UNRWA’s humanitarian responsibilities. Neither the interventions by the Agency’s Commissioner General nor the fieldwork done by the OSOs, however, were able to remove the numerous obstacles put in place by Israel that severely curtail the Agency’s work.

EU Releases ‘Non-Paper’ on the Last Round of Final Status Talks (Taba, January 2001): Early in the year local newspapers published a paper prepared by the EU Special Representative to the Middle East Peace Process, Miguel Moratinos, that outlined the content and general positions of the PLO and Israel during the last round of final status talks at Taba, Egypt in January 2001. The paper is the only systematic account by a third party present at the Taba negotiations, covering all permanent status issues including territory, Jerusalem, refugees and security. The paper is objective in the sense that neither narrow propagandistic interests of the parties nor journalistic interpretation, which have so far dominated the public debate about what exactly happened at Taba, guide its content. The EU paper has been acknowledged by both Israeli and Palestinian negotiators as being a relatively fair description of the outcome of the negotiations. It will serve as the basis of any serious Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations to be launched in the future.

The Palestinian refugee question, the core issue of the over fifty-year old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was on the agenda of the Taba negotiations. Since then Israeli politicians and media, assisted by some Palestinian officials (See, Campaign for Palestinian Refugee Rights, above), have launched a campaign of misinformation about the status of Palestinian refugee rights and claims, thereby misleading the Israeli, Palestinian and international public about the actual requirements for a durable peace in the region. The EU description of the permanent status talks at Taba confirm the basic approaches by Israel and the PLO as set forth in previously published proposals for a solution to the refugee issue.

The starting point for Israel’s solution to the refugee issue is the demographic character of Israel as a ‘Jewish state.’ In other words, the refugee issue must be resolved in a manner that preserves a solid Jewish demographic majority and Jewish control of confiscated refugee properties. By comparison, the starting point for the PLO in crafting a durable solution to the refugee issue is international law and the principle of refugee choice, the basis for crafting durable solutions in all other refuge cases. (For more on the principle of refugee choice, see BADIL Occasional Bulletin No. 4).

While both Israel and the PLO suggested “that a just settlement of the refugee problem… must lead to the implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 194,” Israel’s position at Taba – as described in the EU ‘non-paper and in Israel’s non-paper presented during the final status negotiations in January 2001 – is not consistent with the intent and meaning of UN Resolution 194.

The EU ‘non-paper’ provides several additional details not included in the previously published working papers presented by Israel and the PLO in Taba. These include:
Israeli officials suggested a “15 year absorption program” to facilitate limited return of Palestinian refugees to Israel. According to the EU non-paper, ‘absorption’ numbers suggested by Israel ranged from 25,000 over three years to 40,000 over five years. These numbers represent less than one percent of the total Palestinian refugee population. Moreover, the quota system violates the right of the remaining 99 percent of the refugee population to exercise their individual right of return.
Israeli officials rejected the right of Palestinian refugees to be restituted of their properties, an individual right applied to other refugee cases. However, the EU ‘non-paper’ appears to suggest that Israeli officials accepted to discuss Palestinian property claims in western Jerusalem: “The Palestinian side understood that the Israeli side accepted to discuss Palestinian property claims in West Jerusalem.”

The full text and analysis of the two Israeli and Palestinian non-papers presented at Taba can be found in BADIL Occasional Bulletin No. 10 and Annex. The full text of the EU ‘non-paper’ concerning refugees (as published in Ha’aretz) is reprinted in al-Majdal, ‘Documents’, below.

Right of Return

US State Department Human Rights Report Ignores Palestinian Refugees Right of Return: Despite the availability of adequate information, including major policy statements by leading human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the 2001 US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights on Israel, released in February, failed to include information on the fundamental human right of return of Palestinian refugees displaced in 1948 and 1967.

The report did note that the Israeli government continues to prevent the return of internally displaced Palestinians from the villages of Iqrit and Kafr Bir’am in the Galilee but failed to mention the remaining approximately 250,000 internally displaced Palestinians inside Israel who are still denied the right to return to their villages of origin. The Report states that Israeli law provides for “freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration and repatriation.” The report also acknowledges that Israel’s 1950 Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship and residence to Jews, does not apply to non-Jews. The report fails, however, to mention that Israel’s citizenship and nationality law includes provisions that intentionally deprive Palestinian refugees of their right to repatriation due to their national and religious origin.

Update on Return of Internally Displaced from Iqrit and Kafr Bir’am: Following a Supreme Ruling in November 2001 granting the Israeli government three months to submit a detailed plan for financial or in-kind (land) compensation for the displaced residents of Iqrit and Kafr Bir’am, the government suggested a compensation plan in early March. According to the offer, internally displaced Palestinians from the two villages who had building land would receive 560,000 NIS per dunum, 36,000 NIS per dunum for agricultural land and 16,000 NIS per dunum for planted land. Representatives of the villages have rejected the offer.

According to Ihassan Tuamee, member of the Committee of the Uprooted Residents of Iqrit, “We reject compensation and we are not even interested in discussing it with the government. Our only solution for our case is not material, we are looking to return the people to their fathers’ lands.” (Al-Sinnara, 8 March 2002, Fasl al-Maqal, 8 March 2002. Translations by Arab Human Rights Association, see, www.arabhra.org)

Real Property Restitution
Israel Updates Property Claims Process for Jews originating from Arab countries: In early March the Israeli cabinet decided to expand previous restitution procedures set in place in 1969 regarding registration of property claims by Arab Jews and collection of relevant laws and orders from Arab countries. The expanded process will facilitate documentation and registration of claims of Jews from all Arab countries and Iran. Previous procedures only applied to Jews from Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Yemen. The claims process includes printing and distribution of claims forms, advertisements in the media, computerization of data and development of internet sites in multiple languages. All work is being handled by the Israeli Justice Ministry. The cabinet decision emphasized that the proprietary and legal rights of Jews originating from Arab countries are not affected by the fact that they left their places of origin. (Fofogonet Digest, 3 March 2002, #2002-47)

Israel Demands More Progress on Jewish Restitution in France: Israel has demanded that the French government provide the public with more information on real property restitution for Jews in France, including the names of account and policy holders, stolen art owned by Jews, and the distribution of holocaust funds. Senior Israeli government officials presented the demands to a special French government commission that visited Israel in late February. (Ha’aretz, 26 February 2002)

Israel Rejects Palestinian Request for Release of Information on the Status of Moveable Property Expropriated from Palestinian Refugees: In January Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein rejected a request to compel the Custodian of Absentees’ Property to release information on the moveable property of Palestinian refugees. The request was rejected on grounds that it might damage Israel’s foreign relations and that it would require an exorbitant amount of time and resources to comply with the request. At the same time Israel has recently expanded restitution claims procedures for Arab Jews and has instructed the Ministry of Justice to search and locate Jewish owners and heirs of absentee property in Israel (See al-Majdal, Issue No. 12 and above). Since 1998 Adalah – the Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has approached the Attorney General’s office 15 times with the request. (Adalah Press Release, 28 January 2002, see: www.adalah.org)

US State Department Human Rights Report Ignores Palestinian Refugee Property Claims: Despite the availability of information and policy statements by leading human rights organizations, the US Department of State continues to ignore the basic human right of Palestinian refugees to real property restitution.The 2001 Country Report on Israel states that “privacy of the individual and home generally are protected by law” and that “individuals are free … to own property.”

The report fails to mention, however, that Israeli destroyed and/or expropriated some 150,000 Palestinian refugee homes in 1948 along with their contents, including furniture, jewelry, clothes, books, and paintings for exclusive Jewish use. It also fails to mention that the majority of the land ‘owned’ and managed by the government and the Jewish National Fund (JNF) (comprising 93 percent of the land in Israel) was expropriated from Palestinian refugees and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The report stands in marked contrast to other country reports – i.e., Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor – which include extensive reporting on the right to real property restitution. The report also stands in contrast to the US position regarding other refugee cases. US State Department lawyers, for example, drafted the Dayton Peace Agreement in Bosnia, including Annex 7 on refugees, which clearly affirms the right of refugees and displaced persons to real property restitution. The US has also aggressively supported claims for real property restitution in Europe, particularly in the case of displaced European Jews.

Property Protection
Confiscation of Lands Inside Israel: During the past three months new plans came to light concerning the expropriation of some 13,000 dunums of Palestinian land in the Galilee. The Israel Nature Reserve and National Park Authority submitted plans to the District Planning and Building Committee in the Northern District to establish a nature reserve and park in al-Malak valley near the Palestinian town of Shafr Amr. The planned park is to be located between several Palestinian villages, including al-Kabiah, al-Hamerah, Ras-Ali, Tabash and al-Hajajera. The agricultural land is the primary resource for Palestinian farmers in the area. Natural forests located nearly Jewish towns in the area are excluded from the plan. The area itself does not have any natural forests. (Adalah Press Release, 18 March 2002).

Meanwhile, Palestinian property owners who were offered land in equal value and size as compensation for land expropriated for the Trans-Israel Highway (See al-Majdal, Issue No. 12) have begun to complain about government and company procrastination. According to the agreement, villagers were to be offered compensation in kind within 18 months of the agreement. More than five months after villagers agreed to the compromise, however, little progress has been made. (al-Ittihad, 22 January 2002. Translation by Arab Human Rights Association, see, www.arabhra.org)

Israel Lands Administration Continues Attack on Indigenous Bedouin Land Rights: Over the past three months the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) continued its attack on indigenous Bedouin land rights in the Naqab (Negev). On 14 February the ILA, which controls most of the land inside Israel (land expropriated from refugees), destroyed approximately 12 square kilometers of grain crops planted by Bedouin residents of the Naqab (Negev). During the operation, toxic chemicals were sprayed on the crops, including lands inside Bedouin villages where farmers were working in their fields and over the village of Khirbet al-Watan where several hundred students were attending classes. The ILA claims that the crops were planted ‘illegally’ on ‘state land.’

For more than five decades the indigenous Bedouin inhabitants of historic Mandate Palestine have been subjected to expulsion, internal transfer and a policy of forced sedentarization. Of the 95 Bedouin tribes living in the Naqab before 1948 only 11 remained following a systematic policy of expulsion during and after the war. Bedouin who remained in the Naqab were transferred to the northern part of the Bir Saba’ (Beersheba) Sub-District and forced to settle in an area one-tenth the size of the former area in which they lived. Land in this area is of poorer quality.

In 1948, the indigenous Bedouin population held customary land rights to more than 12 million dunums (12,000 sq. km) of land, located mostly in the Bir Saba’ Sub-District. According to British Mandate statistics, approximately 2 million dunums was considered to be Arab-owned ‘cultivable’ land (60,000 dunums of which were located outside the borders of Israel in the Gaza Strip and Jordan after the 1948 war). Approximately half of one-percent of the Bir Saba’ Sub-District was classified as Jewish-owned land and less than one-quarter of a percent classified as state land. The remaining area of the Sub-District was used by the Bedouin for grazing.

As with other Palestinian refugees, Bedouin refugee land was expropriated and transferred to the state of Israel for exclusive Jewish use, including Jews not holding citizenship or residency in Israel. The indigenous Bedouin community has been particularly vulnerable to land expropriation due to the traditional or customary system of land rights prevalent in the community similar to that of other indigenous peoples. As of 1948 the British administration in Palestine had not yet begun a land survey in the Bir Saba’ Sub-District. Only 64,000 dunums of Arab-owned land in the Sub-District were registered in the official Register of Deeds. (This land is included in registration records of the UN Conciliation Commission for Palestine). In other words, most Bedouin do not possess land documents that identify ownership by cadastral survey. Maps of the Sub-District from the period, however, clearly identify tribal lands according to the name of the tribe.

Israel has expropriated most of the land traditionally used by the Bedouin for grazing as well as rain-fed agriculture by declaring it ‘state land.’ Israel considers the land ‘empty’, not privately owned, and not in use. Bedouin land has also been expropriated under laws used to expropriate the property of other Palestinian refugees including the 1950 Absentees’ Property Law. Today the indigenous Bedouin in the Naqab are struggling to retain the 240,000 dunums of land remaining with them. During the 1970s the Israeli government initiated a land settlement process for the Naqab. Claimants, however, were required to present documents in order to lodge a land claim. In 1976 Israel’s Land Settlement Department offered to settle Bedouin land claims out of court according to the following criteria: Israel would recognized 20 percent of the total claim (with documented proof), offer compensation for 30 percent of the total claim (at 65 percent of its value), and expropriate 50 percent of the total claim.

Recent press reports indicate that Israel is considering restarting the legal process for land claims, suspended in 1976, in order to completely extinguish all Bedouin land claims and thereby ensure the full transfer of all Bedouin land to the state of Israel for exclusive and inalienable Jewish use. For the Bedouin community, the legal process appears to be a no-win situation; no Bedouin has ever won a land claim to any of the more than 3,000 lawsuits filed over the past several decades.

Discrimination in Housing Rights for Palestinians inside Israel: During the past three months Israel has continued to demolish Palestinian homes inside Israel. In January Israeli authorities demolished homes in the towns of Ibillin and Lydda in January while demolition orders were issued for Bedouin homes in the Naqab (Negev). According to one resident of the neighborhood of Lydda where Israeli authorities demolished a Palestinian home, officials have targeted some 7,000 Palestinian homes because they are located outside the planning framework of the municipality. (Sawt al-Haqq Wal Hurriya, 18 January 2002. Translation by Arab Human Rights Association, see, www.arabhra.org)

More than two years after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the state may not allocate land on the basis of nationality and religion, including allocation of so-called state land (land expropriated from Palestinian refugees and Palestinian citizens of Israel) to the Jewish Agency knowing that only Jews will use the land, the settlement of Katzir continues to prevent Adel and Iman Qadan, a Palestinian family from nearby Baka al-Gharbiyya, from moving into their new home. The family has submitted two follow-up petitions to the Supreme Court concerning the non-implementation of the 8 March 2000 legal ruling in their favor. The settlement committee is opposed to having the Qadan family take up residence in Katzir because they are not Jewish. The settlement was built in 1982 as a ‘lookout settlement’ to prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian area in the Galilee. For more on the case, see al-Majdal, Issue No. 5 (March 2000).

Destruction of Palestinian Holy Sites: For the third time the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) destroyed the protest tent set up by internally displaced Palestinians from the destroyed village of Sarafand located south of Haifa. The tent was set up following Israel’s demolition of the village mosque in 2000. The ILA has claimed ownership over the site and refuses to allow villagers to rebuild the mosque and tend the cemetery. The Israeli police arrested 19 Palestinians who had come to the tent to pray and confiscated copies of the Koran from the tent. The tent was demolished and the road to the Mosque was entirely destroyed. Palestinian residents of the village hold land claims to some 5,409 dunums of land. Today there are about more than 2000 refugees from the village of whom around 800 are registered for assistance with UNRWA.