‘Umm al-Hiran’ trends following deadly demolition raid on Palestinian Bedouin village

Published January 19th, 2017 - 10:18 GMT
A Bedouin woman cries following the destruction of houses on January 18, 2017 in Umm al-Hiran (Menahem Kahana/AFP)
A Bedouin woman cries following the destruction of houses on January 18, 2017 in Umm al-Hiran (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Many have taken to social media in solidarity with a Bedouin village in the Negev desert area of southern Israel, after Israeli forces demolished homes there on Wednesday.

“Umm al-Hiran” was trending on Twitter overnight as activists expressed support for the community which is one of 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev not recognized by the Israeli state. These settlements are vulnerable to demolition at the hands of the Israeli authorities at any time. A local Palestinian man and an Israeli police officer both died during protests against the demolitions yesterday.

Some tweeted images of the demolition crews arriving and demonstrators being restrained.

#Umm_al-Hiran now: confrontations, arrests. Acts of demolition and eviction live. #Negev

@UNarabic Where are you when Israeli terrorism is happening? Villagers of #Umm_al-Hiran resist the dangerous planned displacement which is targeting them.

The Israeli occupier demolishes #Umm_Hiran in the Negev. When will you launch your jihad [against Israel]?

Hundreds of Israeli police officers reportedly arrived in the village at 5.30am to secure the area for the demolitions. The police then began to pull drivers from their vehicles, and to attack others, according to witnesses quoted by 972+ magazine.

At this point a 47-year-old Bedouin man, named as Yaqoub Moussa Abu al-Qian, was shot and an Israeli police officer was hit by his car in disputed circumstances. Some sources claim that al-Qian was attempting to ram the police while others argue that he lost control of his car after having been hit by a bullet. Both later died.

An Israeli radio host was apparently sacked from her job after expressing sympathy for al-Qian, who was a mathematics teacher at a local school

They removed an Israeli presenter from her job after she expressed solidarity with the martyr Yaqoub Abu al-Qin in #Umm_al-Hiran. She said: "I would also run over the police if they chucked me out of my home”

Others expressed anger online that one of several injured as the Israeli forces used rubber-coated bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades on villagers was an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, Ayman Odeh.

A video shared online showed Odeh, the head of the Joint List, the coalition of Arab parties in Israel, on the ground moments after being shot:

Odeh later wrote on his Facebook page that “a crime was committed in Umm al-Hiran as hundreds of police members violently raided the village firing tear-gas bombs, stun grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets. Villagers, women, men, and children stood with their bare hands against the brutality and violence of the police.”

Many later used the hashtag to show the aftermath of the destruction of people’s homes:

Where is my toy? I can’t find it. This is what the children of Umm al-Hiran woke up to on Thursday.

This post is particularly poignant given that in November 2013 the Israeli government gave the green light to the construction of a new Jewish town on the site of Umm al-Hiran. Attempts to legally challenge the destruction of the village have so far been unsuccessful.

RA

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Tags:#UmmAlHiran picTwitterFacebookIsraeli governmentIsraeli KnessetIsraeli policeXavier Abu EidUmm al-HiranDana El KurdAyman OdehSamar Saeedal-QianYaqoub Moussa Abu al-Qian
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