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Palestinians struggle to hold onto homes

Arab al-Naeem

In this story:

• Arab al-Naeem is paradise no longer
• 'Human beings of third and fourth degree'
• A school with no lights or heat
• 'I am second class'
• A new sense of identity

April 29, 1998
Web posted at: 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT)

From Reporter Rula Amin

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Muteb Muhamad doesn't know exactly how old he is, but he knows that he has been living in Arab al-Naeem since he was born and the British ruled Palestine.

In 1948, the state of Israel was established and the land Muhamad's family lived on became part of the new nation, and the family became Israeli citizens.

But when Israel's planning and construction law was enacted 17 years later, Arab Al-Naeem and 39 other villages were not on the map.

In other words, they became illegal.

CNN's Rula Amin reports

The government says they are not villages, but localities where family groups have settled.

"Planning requires professionals," said Motti Zaken, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "and professionals decided this is not for habitation. This region is not for construction, and it's mainly an open area to be left open."

Residents were asked to leave, but many have stayed.

"It's all according to what they want," Muhamad says. "I was here first. They came after, and they want me to leave?"

Arab al-Naeem translates into "Arabs of paradise," but it is anything but paradise for more than 600 people still living there.

Hussein uses nylon sheets on her roof to stop the rain

'Human beings of third and fourth degree'

Because the Israeli government doesn't legally recognize it as a village, no services are provided. There is no electricity or running water, and no building permits are granted.

Which means that Nafla Hussein is not allowed to rebuild the roof on her shack. She uses nylon sheets to stop the rain, and stones are placed atop the sheets to keep them from blowing away.

The population of Arab Al-Naeem has grown over the years, but the number of houses has remained the same. And in some cases, they have gotten smaller.

Muhamad Faour and his family --- which includes 10 children -- live in one room and a kitchen. An Israeli court ordered Faour to demolish the other half of his house.

Faour lives in this room with his 10 children

"They look at us, not as human beings," Faour says of the Israelis, "but as human beings of third and fourth degree. They don't want us to expand, to grow, or even to have peace of mind."

In the fields near Faour's house are the remains of other houses that he says the government demolished in 1964.

Faour points to growing Jewish villages and cities and says, "Immigrants come from the outside, and they can build and live here while they want me to leave."

Zaken disagrees.

"There is no other consideration or any other argument except for planning -- professional planning considerations," he says. "The government can't be accused of discriminating against the Arabs."

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A school with no lights or heat

To stay on their land, the people of Arab al-Naeem live outside the law, managing their affairs without the government. They build without permits and get their electricity from private generators or solar electricity in other villages.

A teacher stands in front of the school

One man donated his place to be used as a school for very young children. Twenty-seven youngsters attend school, but the conditions are primitive.

"During the winter it's very hard," says the teacher. "There is no electricity and it's dark, so we keep the door open for some daylight. But then it gets very cold and we don't have a heater."

Because there are no good roads in the area, older children must walk -- or run, if it's raining -- for at least a half-hour before they can get public transportation to their school.

Israel has offered inducements to get the residents of the 40 villages to leave, offering them a chance to move to other villages where utilities exist.

But from the top of his house in En Hod, Muhamad Abu al-Hayja can look upon a beautiful village he says he is proud of and could never leave.

In 1948, his family fled their home in the original En Hod, which Israel then turned into a village for artists.

'I am second class'

Abu al-Hayja's grandfather started another En Hod on land he owned next door to the original.

Abu al-Hayja is a civil engineer at Israel's department of planning and construction, but his own house is illegal. There is a court order for him and his seven children to evacuate it, but he is still living there and he is still building.

"They want to clean the country of Arabs and leave it for the Jews," Abu al-Hayja says. "That is it. That is the policy."

"For more than 20 years I thought I am Israeli, like everyone else here," he says. "I thought I am an equal citizen in Israel. But I began to ask for services in my village of En Hod, and I began to understand that I am Palestinian and I am an Arab and I am second class."

"It worries me," says Zaken, the Israeli official. "I feel very bad to hear some people say it's discrimination, and I can guarantee and I can prove that this is not the case."

A new sense of identity

Through their fight for equal rights and for Israel to recognize their existence, some Arabs have rediscovered their identity and a new sense of belonging.

The fight over the 40 villages took a violent turn last April when the government demolished three houses in another unrecognized village, Um al-Sawahel.

Residents began rebuilding the houses, and again they were demolished. That led to violent clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police, and some protesters were beaten and arrested.

But the houses are being rebuilt again. The government says the houses are illegal, but the owners say they are not, and the battle over the land continues.

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