Rakhma - the unrecognized village in the Negev

Report of new  project: Meetings with unrecognized villages in the Negev  (pending final approval by MW)

The village of Rakhma near the development town of Yeruham

We participated in an event organized jointly by residents of Rakhma and Yeruham (Lea S and Yael A of MachsomWatch are leading activists in the partnership) and I bring here in full the report by Dvir, another notable activist, which explains the event and the background to it:  

"for years residents of Rakhma and Yeruham have battled together on behalf of the rights of the children of Rakhma to education and, surprisingly, their efforts have borne fruit: the establishment of a school has been authorised by the Ministry of Education, temporary buildings are ready and a budget has been approved. However, although the area designated for the school has been empty for years, the security services have declared it a firing zone, needed for training and as such not to be used!  As a result the opening of the school has been endlessly delayed despite the efforts of the Yeruham Regional Council and local activists.  Another problem is that the village of Rakhma falls under the jurisdiction of no less than three different regional councils, one of which, Neve Midbar, provides educational and social services, so that  any decision regarding the school involves negotiating between the different Regional Councils. In other words, the project falls between the stools which is a sure recipe for endless delay!

On 19/06 a well publicized ceremony took place in the presence of all the political parties represented on the Yeruham Regional Council and 200 residents of Rahma and Yeruham as well as guests from Beersheva, Lahavim and elsewhere in the region with the intention of raising awareness of the issue and, hopefully, moving things forward.  Two olive trees were planted symbolically on the site of the future school and we hope that this will enable its speedy establishment."