Arabs fear eviction as Israel plans new communities in Negev - in pictures

Bedouin Salman Maabda stands near one of the tents in Qatamat which is home to 800 people.

Salameh Gwineh, 64, with his children near his home in the village of Qatamat located in the Negev Desert south of Israeli city of Beersheba. The Israeli government has plans to build a Jewish community called Daya but Gwineh says, ‘I want to stay where I live , this is my place.’

The community lives without being hooked up to the country’s water or electricity systems and depends on solar panels and generators for power and has to transport water in via trucks. The Israeli government plans to build new Jewish neighborhoods in the area and one new planned community, Daya, is slated to be built on Qatamat’s land.

Maabda says his family’s presence in Qatamat dates back to the Ottoman Turkish era that ended in 1917.

Miriam, one of Maabda’s two wives, standing in the kitchen of her home in Qatamat, one of the many Bedouin communities that are not recognised by the Israeli government.

Bedouin communities are seen in the distance located near a highway in Israel’s Negev Desert on December 1, 2015. Israeli rights groups and Beduin leaders fear there could be evictions of Arab residents when the Israeli government carries out its plan to build new Jewish neighbourhoods nad a planned community in Qatamat.

A Bedouin girl playing by her home in Qatamat.

The Israeli government has approved plans for five new communities in the Negev desert. One of the planned communities, Daya, is slated to arise on Qatamat’s land and Israeli rights groups and Bedouin leaders fear there could be evictions of Arab residents if those plans are carried out. All photos by Heidi Levine for The National