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31 December 2008
There were two principal groups of long-term IDPs within Israel in 2008: Arab villagers displaced during and after the conflict which accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948, and their descendants dispersed across the country; and Bedouin communities concentrated in the southern Negev region, who had been displaced in several waves. In addition, residents of towns near the borders with Lebanon and Gaza have in recent years experienced shorter-term displacement due to rocket attacks during periods of conflict with Hezbollah and Hamas.
The main concern of those displaced since 1948 has been to assert their right to the property they lost when they were displaced. Their situation effectively depends on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; in 2003 the Israeli Supreme Court accepted the government’s argument that the current security situation and the persistent assertion by Palestinian refugees of their right of return could not justify allowing the claims of the internally displaced petitioners. Meanwhile, the majority of the land from which they were displaced has been nationalised.
The displaced Bedouin in the Negev, and indeed all the Bedouin communities there, face numerous protection concerns, including very limited access to livelihoods, education and other services. The government’s programme to demolish villages it views as illegal means some communities have been recently displaced and others remain at risk of displacement.
The government has not mandated any office to address internal displacement; nor has it enacted or implemented any law or policy to protect IDPs. A number of NGOs including BADIL and ADALAH have advocated for the rights of IDPs, while the Regional Council of Unrecognized Arab Bedouin Villages in the Negev has helped to persuade relevant ministries to halt planned demolitions of villages.
Since the establishment of the State of Israel, various waves of people have been displaced. Arab villagers were displaced during and after the conflict which accompanied the creation of Israel in 1948, and their descendants are dispersed across the country, while Bedouin communities were displaced in the southern Negev region. In addition, residents of towns near the borders with Lebanon and Gaza have in recent years experienced shorter-term displacement due to rocket attacks during periods of conflict with Hezbollah and Hamas.
The main concern of those displaced in the context of the creation of the state of Israel, both in the north and in the south, has been to assert their right to the property they lost when they were displaced. In 2003 the Israeli Supreme Court accepted the government’s argument that the current security situation and the persistent assertion by Palestinian refugees of their right of return could not justify allowing the claims of the internally displaced petitioners. Meanwhile, the majority of the land from which they were displaced has been nationalised.
In addition, Bedouin communities in the Negev face numerous protection concerns, including very limited access to livelihoods, education and other services. The government’s programme to demolish villages it views as illegal means that communities have very precarious existence, and are at risk of displacement. NGOs like the Regional Council of Unrecognized Arab Bedouin Villages have helped to persuade relevant ministries to halt planned demolitions of villages.
The UN does not consider that there are any IDPs in Israel, nor does the Israeli government. Some academics, Palestinian and Arab Israeli NGOs claim that some 150,000 to 300,000 people should be called IDPs today in Israel. These estimates are based on multiplying the original number of IDPs by the natural growth rate of the Arab population in Israel. As displacement occurred over 60 years ago, most of those included in these estimates are in fact the children and grandchildren of people who were displaced.
Note: The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre is no longer actively following the situation in Israel. For information on the remaining challenging for those displaced in the context of the establishment of the state of Israel and its aftermath, and for their descendants, please see the November 2009 profile.