Children playing in the rubble in the unrecognised Bedouin village of Um Matnan, close to BeerSheva, the capital of the Negev, a large deserted area in the south of Israel, on Sunday, Mar. 26, 2006. Their house has been demolished together with other four, a month before the picture was taken. The five families now live where they used to keep their camels. According to the Government's settlements-expansion plan, land seizure programs and wall construction, there is interest in 'convincing'...
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Children playing in the rubble in the unrecognised Bedouin village of Um Matnan, close to BeerSheva, the capital of the Negev, a large deserted area in the south of Israel, on Sunday, Mar. 26, 2006. Their house has been demolished together with other four, a month before the picture was taken. The five families now live where they used to keep their camels. According to the Government's settlements-expansion plan, land seizure programs and wall construction, there is interest in 'convincing' the Bedouins to move to pre-selected cities, such as Segev Shalom and Rahat, a real city counting more than 40.000 people. Numbering around 200.000 in Israel, the Bedouins constitute the native ethnic group of these areas, they farm, grow wheat, olives and live in complete self sufficiency. Many of them were in these lands long before the Israeli State was created and their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle is now threatened by subtle Government policies. **ITALY OUT**
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