Feature: Palestinian Bedouins mark "Nakba Day" with fear of new displacement

Palestinians are marking the 68th anniversary of Israeli occupation, known as "Nakba Day," or "catastrophe day," when the state of Israel was created and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their lands.

For Bedouin tribes living in Areas C that make up over 60 percent of the West Bank, it is an ongoing catastrophe amid the continual displacement since 1948.

Abu Omar Al-Rashayda, 73, is chieftain of Al-Rashayda Bedouin tribe, a community of indigenous Palestinians. In the tribe, three extended and interrelated families live together in the village of Fasayel for nearly two decades, after a series of evictions by the Israeli forces.

The Bedouin chieftain in his seventies said he was around seven years old when the Israeli army arrived at their mud plastered homes and sackcloth tents in Ein Gedi Springs, near the Dead Sea, and expelled them to meet their destiny elsewhere. That happened in 1949, shortly after the state of Israel was born.

But this was not the only time the entire tribe was displaced. The same terrifying story happened four times since then as they were forced to evict their homes along with their cattle, their main source of living.

"From Ein Gedi to Nabi Musa, to Alkhan Al-Ahmar to the wilderness of Deir Debwan and to Al-Oja water spring and finally we moved to Fasayel where we thought we would see happiness, but we found misery waiting for us," said Al-Rashayda, explaining his family's prolonged encounters with eviction.

Since the tribe was settled in Fasayel, people were harassed by Israel for numerous times. The Israeli government not only stopped them from having electricity and running water, but issued eviction orders demanding them to leave. The families had no choice but to move a few hundred meters away again and again as they had nowhere else to live.

As refugees, Al-Rashayda tribe receives basic aid and education from services offered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), but they say much more is needed to face numerous Israeli orders of demolitions and evictions.

According to Jerusalem Legal Aid Center, the tribes' legal advisers, the demolitions come as part of the arbitrary policies of the Israeli authorities through the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA), where the families are handed immediate eviction orders under the pretext that the place they reside is "an archeological site" or "a military zone," and their land is registered as "state land."

Under Israeli law, lands that are classified as "state lands" are under Israeli military rule. Many Jewish settlements are built on such lands in the West Bank.

Their situation worsened since the ICA presented a relocation plan for Al-Rashayda and other Bedouin tribes in 2013.

According to the plan, land slots are allocated to the Bedouins who have no control over the new lands. Since then, around 1,500 Bedouins are facing the risk to be displaced at any moment.

According to the Jerusalem Legal Aid Center, the plan is underway and "the evictions and demolitions aim at creating an atmosphere to force Bedouins to leave voluntarily in order to evade forced eviction."

The Bedouin tribes, in general, reject the plan and describe the new allocated town as a prison. They say it will disrupt their indigenous life style, their social fabric and economic status.

Bedouins in the West Bank live the desert across the West Bank. They provide some 30 percent of red meats and dairy into the Palestinian market. Living in new towns means they have to abandon their cattle.

To demonstrate their refusal, they convened a conference in which they decided to stand against the Israeli plan to expel them again.

The Bedouin chieftain accused Israel of discrimination especially when it comes to military operations in the area. He is afraid that his tribe will be pushed in the truck again like before.

"At the end of the day, I am a human being just like them," said the old man, adding "I don't have water, electricity or emotional stability in my life. They humiliate us and humiliate our children. When they come to destroy a sackcloth tent they would surround the area with six or seven military vehicles." Endit