UMM-AL _HIRAN (ISRAEL)
Israelis are once against ocked in a better settlement
disputed with their Arab neighbours,but this time the
confliect is not unfoding in the West Bank but in Israel's
southern desert
After year of legal battes Israel's Supreme Court last week
cleared the way for the government to up root the nearly
60-year old Bedouin Arab village of Umm al Hiran a dusty
hill of ramshackle dwellings without proper electricity or
water hookups,and in its place build "Hiran" a new community
seemingly catering to Jews that is expected to feature a hotel
and country club
The project has reignited a simmering conflict between
Israel's Bedouin community ,which says it is a victim
of discrimination and the government ,which says it is
trying to bring order to a lawless area and give a better
quality of life to the improverished minority
Israel says hundred of villages are sitting on state
owned land slated for development and is offering
them free pots in a Bedouin township just down the
road ,but the villagers say the plan is cut and dry Israel
discrimination-part of a broader demographic battle
over the land
TO BE CONTINUED,
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