A public campaign to stop Israel's plan to demolish an Arab Bedouin village in order to build a Jewish town over its ruins.

On 5 May 2015, after 13 years of litigation, the Israeli Supreme Court issued its final decision in the case of the Arab Bedouin vilage of Umm al-Hiran, located in the Naqab (Negev) desert. The decision allows Israel to carry out its racist plan to demolish the vilage and forcibly displace its residents, for the sole purpose of establishing a new Jewish town called ‘Hiran’ over its ruins.

The Court recognized that the residents were not illegal trespassers – as initially claimed by the state – but were moved there in 1956 by Israeli military order, after being displaced from their original vilage of Khirbet Zubaleh. Nonetheless, the Court ruled that, because they were on ‘state land’, the state could retake it and do with it as they wished. The Court did not ask why the new town had to replace the Arab village, when there were vast and empty lands in the surrounding area. The Court also ignored the Bedouin residents’ political, social and historical roots to the land.

With the support of the Bedouin citizens of Umm al-Hiran, and our partners in Israel and abroad, Adalah is launching a public campaign to raise awareness of the village’s struggle and demand the cancellation of the demolition and eviction orders against the residents.

Adalah invites all people to explore and share our resources and information about Umm al-Hiran; engage in social media with the hashtag #Save_UmAlHiran; contact Adalah for tours and visits to the village; make a donation to the campaign; and to mobilize public calls and actions to pressure the Israeli government to end its discriminatory plan.

Stay tuned to our page and our Facebook/Twitter pages in the coming weeks and months as we share news and updates, invitations to public events, and new campaign materials. Join us as we fight to #Save_UmAlHiran.

Fundraising Update:

We've succeeded in raising $13,386 for our #Save_UmAlHiran campaign thanks to dozens of big-hearted individual donors! Help us reach our goal of raising $25,000 by donating online at http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/save-umm-al-hiran/

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