Visit in the unrecognised village Wadi Al Khalil

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Observers: 
Rafi Davidson (video attached) Smadar Becker, Mohammad Dabasan, Dafna Jung, Yehudit Keshet (oral report), Zeev Pik, Michal Tzadik; Translator: Tal H.
Jan-15-2020
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Morning

We were invited by Nasser Abu Assa: this hamlet (numbering about 200 inhabitants) is located north of the recognized village of Umm Batin. Widening Road 6 is expected to do away with the entire village, as well as with a long list of other villages in the region. All the homes here have received notices of being "illegal construction" – namely demolition orders, expulsion and exorbitant fines. The hamlet's inhabitants make their living working outside as well as from some farming – olives, wheat, sheep and goats, and even a small herd of camels. The children attend school at Umm Batin from kindergarten until high school. There is no clinic and their health services are rendered in Beer Sheva. Electricity is produced by solar panels, but they do have a connection to the water supply grid with their two wells belonging to the village and legal water gages. It is unclear where the authorities wish to transfer the villagers to when the hamlet is demolished. Umn Batin is not willing to absorb them and has no room for them. Adalah – the legal center for rights of the Arab minority in Israel – is in the picture but the kind of organization planned against these intentions is unclear as yet. As for the route of the planned road – whoever remembers the struggle against the route of the Separation Barrier knows how hard the resistance can prove to be.

The attached video tells the story of the village with the words of Nasser Abu Assa – a fluent, determined man!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFC-7KwXA5Rr3-_fc-C6Zf0btJ5wQam00

Note: in spite of repeated requests not to submit recommendations of lawyers, physicians and other professionals on visit to the villages (at least not without first checking whether they are willing and able to help), some of the tour participants did suggest appealing to Attorney Michael Sfard – I understand from him that he is unfamiliar with the problem of Road 6, and most of his activity is in the Occupied West Bank. Once more the villagers' hope has been thwarted!