Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality
פורום דו-קיום בנגב לשוויון אזרחי
منتدى التعايش السلمي في النقب من أجل المساواة المدنية

Join us in a solidarity visit to the village of Awajan Where KKL-JNF has begun invasive forestry activity

15.05.2014

Negev Coexistence Forum | Adalah | The Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages | Recognition Forum-For the Recognition of the Bedouin Villages | Tarabut-Hithabrut

Join us in a solidarity visit to the village of Awajan Where KKL-JNF has begun invasive forestry activity

On Saturday 15.07.14 at 11:00

We will make a solidarity visit, take a tour of the village and environs and carry out additional activities

Location, info and photos of the village of Awajan: http://goo.gl/WXuZB7

Facebook event: http://goo.gl/2GFXTt

Transportation

From Tel-Aviv: Arlosorov train Station, the Sickset parking lot at 9:00 am. For registration and details:  Ya’acov Manor: 050-5733276 manor@12@zahav.net.il  or Michal: michalwa@gmail.com 052-6886867

In the Negev: Lahavim Intersection, east side, at 10.30. For transportation and  details: Ratb 050-7701118

Background Information

As of Monday last, 12/05/2014 KKL personnel arrived at the village of Awajan, south of Lakiya, accompanied by a large contingent of police and bulldozers, and started preparatory work for forestation. The land chosen for this lies only metres away from the village dwellings and at this stage extends for some 700 metres. In response, the residents erected a tent on the site, in protest against the objective of the project: the takeover of the village lands and the expulsion of the residents.

On Tuesday morning (13/05) a police contingent, not identified by name tags as required by law, arrived at the village to dismantle the protest tent. A conflict developed during which the police used gas and shock grenades. A 12 year old boy was beaten and five children aged 8 to 14 and two adults, among them, Atia Alasam, Chairman of the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Negev (RCUV). Alasam had attempted to explain to the police that the KKL project was illegal. The children and youth were taken to the police station and interrogated without their parents being present, contrary to the law requiring that minors be accompanied in interrogation by a responsible adult. The youngsters were released in the evening and Atia al Alasam is banned from the village for 14 days.

The village of Awajan, so called for the river that passes through it, was established before 1948 and lies south-west of the recognized town of Lakiya. It has 3,600 residents living on their ancestral lands, most of them members of the Al-Asad clan. After 1948, some of the residents were moved (by the Israeli authorities) to the Arad region but returned to their village lands in 1974. Awajan is considered an unrecognized village; it has no school, no health services, electricity or infrastructure. Water reaches the village from a connection point belonging to the Neve Midbar water company, and families connect up to this at their own expense. It is 6 kilometers from the farthest house in the village to the connection point.

According to the Metropolitan Plan for Be’er-Sheva, (partial regional plan 23/14/4), which ignores the rights of the Bedouin and their development needs, the village is located in a ‘important  metropolitan lands’ region, part of which is reserved for the expansion of the Givot Goral Forest. KKL-JNF has presented a plan for doubling the area of the forest, part of which has been approved by the authorities.

The jurisdiction area of Lakiya reaches the furthest houses, and some of them lie outside it. With the future establishment of the Military Intelligence base nearby and the expansion of the Givot Goral Forest, all the possibilities for the expansion and development of the township are closed off.  A public committee of the Lakiya township has entered negotiations with KKL-JNF, the Bnei Shimon Regional Council and the Ministry of Defence in order to reach agreement about the expansion of the township’s area of jurisdiction.  Such expansion would mean that the village of Awajan would become part of Lakiya. Despite the fact that a memorandum of agreement has been signed and an architect has been nominated to present the Plan to the Boundaries Committee which is reviewing the expansion of Lakiya, KKL-JNF has this week invaded the village lands and begun unilaterally to lay the infrastructure for forestation.