IATF Conference Call: Home Demolitions and State Minority Relations: The Events in Qalansawe and Umm Al Hiran

In mid-January, two highly publicized demolitions of homes took place in the Arab localities of Qalansawe and Umm Al Hiran in Israel resulting in the tragic deaths of one police officer and one Bedouin, and igniting Arab protests and two general strikes. Beyond the immediate confrontations and heightened tensions, the incidents have raised questions and concerns about existing government frameworks for solving land and housing issues for Arab citizens.

What led to each of these demolitions now, and what tensions did they trigger in the broader context of land and housing for Arab citizens? What efforts have been made to address these issues and what are the biggest challenges obstructing them? How might these two incidents impact state-minority relations in the future?

On Tuesday, January 24th, the Task Force hosted a conference call with Dr. Thabet Abu Rass, expert on land and housing in Israel’s Arab society and co-executive director of The Abraham Fund Initiatives, who spoke about the recent events in Qalansawe and Umm Al Hiran and discussed possible implications for land and planning for Israel’s Arab citizens.

Click below to view and download a Task Force Update on the events:
Home Demolitions and State-Minority Relations: The Events in Qalansawe and Umm Al Hiran 

About the Speaker

Dr. Thabet Abu Rass, Co-Executive Director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives, is a political geographer and a lecturer at Sapir College. Previously, he served as Negev branch director of Adallah – the Legal Center for the Rights of the Arab Minority in Israel. In that capacity he dealt with advancing the rights of the Arab-Bedouins of the Negev. Over the past few years, Abu Ras has also served as Co-Chairman of the board of Hand in Hand, an NGO for Jewish-Arab education in Israel. In his previous positions Abu Ras was Director of Shatil’s Negev Branch and Director of the “Abu Basma Project,” a joint project by the New Israel Fund and JDC-Israel for the advancement of the newly recognized Bedouin villages in the Negev.