The Arab Lawyers Union in Israel said Monday that it would attempt to file a court order to stop the demolition of newly donated mobile homes, which were delivered to the village of Umm al-Hiran on Sunday.
The union said in a statement that it would attempt to gain a court order, while members of the Joint List, which represents parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, would head to Israeli Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon to demand that he freeze the demolition orders.
Locals also reported that a sit-in tent would be set up in Umm al-Hiran for protesters and “supporters from all over the country.”
Israeli police forces had raided the unrecognized Bedouin community in the Negev region of southern Israel on Sunday, surrounding mobile homes that were donated the previous day to provide housing for families that were left homeless two weeks ago after Israeli authorities razed their homes to the ground.
Locals in the village said Israeli forces were preparing to dismantle the newly donated homes.
Residents of the village called upon Palestinians citizens of Israel and their leadership to head to the village to prevent Israeli authorities from carrying out the demolition.
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said at the time he was not aware of the incident. A representative from the local Israeli municipality could not immediately be reached for comment on the impending demolition.
On Saturday, two mobile homes were delivered to Umm al-Hiran, ten days after Israeli authorities demolished more than a dozen structures in the community belonging to Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Eight homes and seven agricultural structures were razed to the ground in Umm al-Hiran on Jan. 18, hours after locals, activists, and Palestinian members of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, gathered to resist the evacuation, sparking clashes with Israeli police that left two people killed under widely contested circumstances.
Leadership from Palestinian-majority villages in the Wadi Ara region in northern Israel donated one mobile home, while the other was donated by the Arab Lawyers Union after representatives of the union visited Umm al-Hiran and initiated a campaign on social media platform WhatsApp, raising 25,000 shekels (approximately $6,625), according to local sources.
A third mobile home donated by residents of the city of Jaffa in central Israel was also expected to arrive on Sunday.
