Alexandre Kedar, Ahmad Amara, and Oren Yiftachel
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781503603585
- eISBN:
- 9781503604582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9781503603585.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law
Formulating the Dead Negev Doctrine During the Israeli Period
Chapter abstract: This chapter focuses on the history and impact of the Dead Negev Doctrine—the legal doctrine utilized by the Israeli ...
More
Formulating the Dead Negev Doctrine During the Israeli Period
Chapter abstract: This chapter focuses on the history and impact of the Dead Negev Doctrine—the legal doctrine utilized by the Israeli government and judiciary to dispossess Bedouin Arab communities of their lands. The chapter begins with the land claims lodged by the Bedouins in the early 1970’s and the special governmental committee established in response in 1975 (headed by Pliah Albeck of the State Attorney Office, the mastermind behind the DND). The chapter shows how the DND manipulated Ottoman and British law to determine that all Bedouin lands in the Negev should be classified as mewat and thus “state land,” and how it defined the Bedouin claimants as trespassers on their own lands. First adopted by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1984 in the al-Hawashlah precedent, and applied to hundreds of cases since, the doctrine has led to major evictions, crops’ demolitions, and house demolitions by the Israeli state.Less
Formulating the Dead Negev Doctrine During the Israeli Period
Chapter abstract: This chapter focuses on the history and impact of the Dead Negev Doctrine—the legal doctrine utilized by the Israeli government and judiciary to dispossess Bedouin Arab communities of their lands. The chapter begins with the land claims lodged by the Bedouins in the early 1970’s and the special governmental committee established in response in 1975 (headed by Pliah Albeck of the State Attorney Office, the mastermind behind the DND). The chapter shows how the DND manipulated Ottoman and British law to determine that all Bedouin lands in the Negev should be classified as mewat and thus “state land,” and how it defined the Bedouin claimants as trespassers on their own lands. First adopted by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1984 in the al-Hawashlah precedent, and applied to hundreds of cases since, the doctrine has led to major evictions, crops’ demolitions, and house demolitions by the Israeli state.
Alexandre Kedar, Ahmad Amara, and Oren Yiftachel
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781503603585
- eISBN:
- 9781503604582
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9781503603585.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Comparative Law
It is commonly claimed by Israeli authorities that Bedouins are trespassers who never acquired property or settlement rights in southern Israel/Palestine. This led to massive dispossession of ...
More
It is commonly claimed by Israeli authorities that Bedouins are trespassers who never acquired property or settlement rights in southern Israel/Palestine. This led to massive dispossession of Bedouins. This book sets to examine state claims by providing, for the first time, a thorough analysis of the legal geography of the Negev. It adopts critical scholarly perspectives, drawing on multidisciplinary sources from geography, law, history and the social sciences. The study defines the “Dead Negev Doctrine (DND)”—a set of legal arguments and practices founded on a manipulative use of Ottoman and British laws through which Israel constructed its own version of “'terra nullius”—the now repealed colonial doctrine denying indigenous land and political rights. The book systematically tests the doctrine, using systematic archival and geographic research, and focusing on key land cases, most notably the al-‘Uqbi claim in ‘Araqib. The analysis reveals that the DND is based on shaky, often distorted, historical and legal grounds, thereby wrongly denying land rights from the majority of the Negev Bedouins. The book then discusses the indigeneity of the Bedouins in the face of persistent state denial. It argues that international law and norms protecting indigenous peoples are highly applicable to the case of Negev Bedouins. The book then offers an overview of state and Bedouin proposals to resolve the dispute. It shows how alternative plans advanced by the Bedouins, based on the concepts of recognition and equality, provide the most promising path to resolve the protracted conflict.Less
It is commonly claimed by Israeli authorities that Bedouins are trespassers who never acquired property or settlement rights in southern Israel/Palestine. This led to massive dispossession of Bedouins. This book sets to examine state claims by providing, for the first time, a thorough analysis of the legal geography of the Negev. It adopts critical scholarly perspectives, drawing on multidisciplinary sources from geography, law, history and the social sciences. The study defines the “Dead Negev Doctrine (DND)”—a set of legal arguments and practices founded on a manipulative use of Ottoman and British laws through which Israel constructed its own version of “'terra nullius”—the now repealed colonial doctrine denying indigenous land and political rights. The book systematically tests the doctrine, using systematic archival and geographic research, and focusing on key land cases, most notably the al-‘Uqbi claim in ‘Araqib. The analysis reveals that the DND is based on shaky, often distorted, historical and legal grounds, thereby wrongly denying land rights from the majority of the Negev Bedouins. The book then discusses the indigeneity of the Bedouins in the face of persistent state denial. It argues that international law and norms protecting indigenous peoples are highly applicable to the case of Negev Bedouins. The book then offers an overview of state and Bedouin proposals to resolve the dispute. It shows how alternative plans advanced by the Bedouins, based on the concepts of recognition and equality, provide the most promising path to resolve the protracted conflict.
