Removing Bedouins from Jerusalem’s Outskirts, Jeopardising the Two-State Solution

More than 80 % of the Bedouins in the Ma'ale Adummim area are refugees from the Negev in southern Israel. This is the third relocation of Bedouins living in the West Bank planned by the Israeli authorities. The Bedouin communities have highly limited access to basic services and live under constant threat of demolition orders and settler violence. The Bedouin communities face grave socio-economic problems. Israel considers that Area C in the West Bank is intended exclusively for Israeli settlements and military use. A recent court ruling backs the state's efforts to find a 'solution'. Israel plans to expand settlements, thereby ignoring the position of the international community. An expansion of Israeli settlements, with a separation barrier constructed around the entire area, will de facto annex a sizable part of the West Bank into Jerusalem. The E-1 plan would lead to geographic division of the West Bank Palestinian territory. The Israeli authorities have only offered one option to the Bedouin communities: transfer to a new location in the West Bank. The Bedouins' wishes have not been taken into account.