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Arab Bedouin citizens face ruthless discrimination. Israel declared their village "unrecognized." International law recognizes no such legal definition. Nonetheless, persecution, threats, demolitions, and forced displacements follow.
Around 200,000 Bedouins are affected. They represent about 30% of the population. Israel calls them "trespassers on state land."
It's their land. It pre-dates Israel by generations. Parts of it were established by military order in the 1950s. New land was provided to substitute for other areas Israel expropriated. Banishing people from their own land constitutes grand theft.
Discriminatory Negev Water Rights
Israel denies Bedouin families access to clean water. Unrecognized village residents improvise as best they can. Doing so creates hardships and poses health hazards. Poor quality water risks dehydration, intestinal infections, dysentery, and other diseases.
Israel denies water to enforce ethnic cleansing. Israel's High Court ruled Bedouins entitled to "minimal (water) access." It ordered several villages connected to supplies. Israel's Water Board refused to comply.
Denial of Free Expression, Opinion and Association
Israeli Arabs always were marginalized. Netanyahu escalated attacks. Israel's Knesset is more repressive and racist than others preceding it. According to Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression:
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