The unrecognized village A-Zarnug

The unrecognized village of a-Zarnug is located to the northwest of Dimona, close to the Nevatim Moshav and Airport.

The village has about 6,000 residents, a school up to seventh grade, which serves also other villages in the area. Same as in all the unrecognized villages, there is no connection to electricity, water, traffic services, post office, and transportation.

There is a clinic that receives electricity from a generator but there is no pharmacy and residents are forced to buy medicines outside the village, except for basic things that the nurse has and which most of the time are not available either.

The unemployment rate is quite high despite a relatively high percentage of professionals in the village.

The purpose of the visit was to visit Anwar Abu Qwaidar, who a week ago destroyed his new home with his own hands due to a demolition order as otherwise he would have had to pay the The Settlement Authority for the Bedouin in the Negev to do so (60,000-70,000 NIS!). Anwar told us that his 3-year-old son was born with a chronic disease and has trouble with his breathing and needs special conditions and treatments. He turned to the The Settlement Authority for the Bedouin in the Negev (An extension of the Ministry of Agriculture) in order to obtain a construction permit so as to provide his son with  the necessary conditions but was rejected.

He decided to build after all, and when the demolition order arrived, he decided to demolish it on his own so as to avoid the heavy fine which the administrator places when they destroy a house.

The present house is not in good shape, a tin roof is leaking: very hot in summer, cold in the winter. The conditions are really  not fit for the little patient. Most villagers receive demolition orders because the Authority does not give permits regularly. The residents destroy for the same reason - to prevent the cost of the "official" demolition. Anwar recounted how difficult the decision to destroy was and how it was and how he did not  sleep at night wondering what to do..

The conversation spilled over to elections in September and the fact that in most of the unrecognized villages there are no voting booths and residents do not always get information where to go vote. We talked about ways to work together to try to change this situation and decided to keep in touch. There is already an ongoing relationship with a resident of the village Muhammad Abu Qwaider, through whom we were put in touch with Anwar and will continue to explore ways to cooperate together.

It should be noted that the villagers are under threat of forcible transfer to furnish space for a Jewish settlement that is supposed to be built on part of its territory. The demolitions are clearly part of the policy of the government and its appendices to  "encourage" the residents of the unrecognized villages to leave voluntarily for the towns Rahat, Hura and others, against their will and against the will of the residents of these towns.