Some 2000 people from Bir Hadaj demonstrated in Beer Sheba om 18 October against house demolitions.
Israeli police stormed a school in a Bedouin village in the southern
Negev desert on Monday, firing tear gas and bullets and causing 29
children to be taken to hospital. The incident occurred early in the morning at the village of Bir Hadaj, village council head
Salman Abu Hamid told AFP.
"Forces from the interior ministry accompanied by police... entered the
village to distribute demolition orders for homes, which led to clashes
and stonethrowing," said Abu Hamid.
"The police used live and rubber bullets, and tear gas and stormed the
school, injuring 29 students between the ages of eight and 12, who were
taken to Soroka hospital."
A spokeswoman for Soroka medical centre in the southern city of
Beersheva confirmed to AFP that "29 students suspected of tear gas
inhalation were admitted to the hospital, treated and discharged."
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri confirmed there were clashes in the
village, with youths throwing stones and burning tyres, but denied
police had entered the school. "The police activity was about 300 metres from the school grounds," she said.
It is not the first time Bir Hadaj is in the news. Some 2.000 people form the village held a demonstration on 18 October in front of government offices in Beer Sheba. That was in protest against a raid a week earlier, when representatives of the Jewish National Fund
and a special police unit known as Yassam, Israeli interior ministry
officials, raided Bir Hadaj at 9.30am on Thursday
11 October. The
officials then handed out demolition orders against four houses,
according to eyewitnesses.
A Palestinian Bedouin village located in the north-western Naqab (Negev) desert, Bir Hadaj was “recognized” by the Israeli government in 2004 after a daunting legal and popular struggle.
Under the jurisdiction of the Abu Basma Regional Council, Bir Hadaj
is the largest village in the Abu Basma district, with a population of
over 5,000. Despite formal recognition, Bir Haddaj hasn’t been spared
the home demolition woes which haunt hundreds of
“unrecognized” Bedouin villages in the Naqab.