Israeli authorities have basically ignored a court order in June 2011 to provide Bedouin communities with water, just as Jewish Israelis are.

Between 80,000 and 90,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel live in unrecognized villages in the southern Negev, according to a report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. As a result of their unrecognized status, nearly every structure in these communities can be demolished at any time, and residents do not receive basic services from the state, including electricity, paved roads, healthcare facilities, schools and water.

These are the same groups that Israel recently sued for over $500,000, the claimed costs of demolishing their village each time the Bedouin rebuilt it. Israeli authorities had destroyed, and the Bedouin had rebuilt, the homes in al-Araqib more than 20 times.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian youth carries olive plants and national flags to mark the anniversary of Land Day in the village of Kafr al-Dik in the Nablus region of the West Bank.

Source: Agencies