Israeli Court rejects 6 Beduin Negev land lawsuits

Israeli Court rejects 6 Beduin Negev land lawsuits

17 members of the Beduin al-Uqbi family filed claim that land was
in their family for generations since Ottoman times.

They offered proof, but ....

The court says no.

They apparently never filed the claim by the year 1921 per British Mandate.

The IDF evacuated the people and confiscated the land in 1951.


03/19/2012 19:07 -- JPost, Israel

In a precedent-setting ruling on Sunday, the Beersheba District Court rejected six lawsuits brought by Beduin regarding private ownership of around 1,000 dunams of land in the Negev.

Seventeen Beduin, members of the al-Uqbi family, filed the six land claims. The complex and often bitter legal proceedings went on for over six years, and discussed in detail the history of the Negev Beduin and land laws dating back to the mid-nineteenth century.

The Beduin claim the land had belonged to their families since before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and that it had come into their possession by means of purchase and inheritance over generations.

Who jumped who's claim ?

The British Mandate authorities stipulated that the last date by which Beduin could register land classified as Mawat as privately owned was 1921, however the al-Uqbis - like most Beduin - had not done so.

I wonder if anyone there even knew about the Mandate requirements in 1921 ?

What if somebody "forgot" to tell them ?

Or, what if the paperwork was filed, and got "lost" or "misplaced" ?

I think I read somewhere that most of the people in the area act passively towards it, not taking it too seriously. Not sure if I believe it.