UMM AL HEIRAN // Israeli demolitions in a Palestinian village sparked violence on Wednesday, with a policeman killed and the man accused of attacking him shot dead.
Ayman Odeh, a prominent Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament, was also wounded in the confrontation in Umm Al Heiran, where activists have long sought to draw attention to what they call the unjust practice of demolishing Palestinian homes.
Israeli police claimed the killed man, who was named as local resident Yacoub Abu Al Qiyan, 47, had tried to attack officers with a vehicle before being shot dead.
But one of Mr Odeh’s aides denied this.
“They (the police) attacked the MP and other people – demonstrators – with stun grenades, tear gas directly in people’s faces,” said Anan Maalouf.
“There was no car-ramming attack here. There were no clashes here between the demonstrators and police.”
Mr Maaloud said Mr Odeh, who heads the Joint List, a coalition of mainly Palestinian parties and the third-largest bloc in the Israeli parliament, was wounded by police, with photographs that spread online showing him with a bloodied head.
Residents, meanwhile, denied police claims that Yacoub Abu Al Qiyan was active in the Israeli Islamic Movement and may have been influenced by ISIL.
“The Israeli narrative is a lie. He was a revered schoolteacher,” said village activist Raed Abu Al Qiyan. “He has no relations with the Islamic Movement.
“He was in his car and they shot at him from everywhere.”
According to residents, Yacoub Abu Al Qiyan was the father of around a dozen children and owned one of five buildings being demolished on Wednesday.
The incident came about, activist Isaac Kates Rose said, when residents moved their cars to the entrance of the village at around 5am in a bid to block the demolition operation.
Police then forced their way in and fired flares, lighting up the predawn sky.
Shooting could later be heard and the sound of a car crashing, added the activist, who was present at the time.
At some point later, Mr Odeh was caught up in the confrontation and wounded, activists say.
The killed Israeli policeman was named as 34-year-old policeman Erez Levi.
Five excavators were later seen entering the village, with demolitions beginning at around 11.15am.
Security forces took up positions on rooftops and guarded the area around the demolitions, keeping residents away.
Residents gathered around the village’s mosque, with women wailing as the demolitions started.
Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Bedouin homes they deem to have been built illegally.
Building permits are extremely difficult to obtain, however, with residents and activists saying that Jewish citizens are given preferential treatment.
Umm Al Heiran has become particularly symbolic in the fight against demolition orders, with residents having waged a years-long legal fight against demolition orders.
Located in the Negev desert, the village is home to around 1,000 inhabitants who mainly live in small, concrete buildings, relying on solar panels for electricity and raising livestock.
In 2013, Israel’s cabinet approved the establishment of two new Jewish communities in the Negev, Kesif and Hiran.
In order to make way for the two new towns, Umm Al Heiran, which is unrecognised by the authorities, must first be removed.
In 2015, Israel’s supreme court approved the removal, saying that since the residents could theoretically live in the new towns, the move did not constitute discrimination.
The government says Umm Al Heiran’s residents will be moved to the nearby Bedouin village of Hura, which is already home to some 300 families.
“The Israeli supreme court’s decision to allow the state to proceed with its plan to demolish the village, which has existed for 60 years, in order to establish a Jewish town called ‘Hiran’ over its ruins, is one of the most racist judgments that the court has ever issued,” Palestinian-run rights group Adalah, which has represented the villagers in court, said on Wednesday.
* Agence France-Presse
