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Israel-Palestine
'Collaborators' Villagers Seek Refuge
2005-06-20
Palestinian residents of a Gaza Strip enclave that has been branded a haven for collaborators asked the Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday to grant them refuge inside Israel after the Gaza evacuation this summer. Although the residents of the village of Dahaniya insist they are not collaborators — and Israeli officials agree — their lawyer says they will be killed by fellow Palestinians if they are forced to remain after the Israeli soldiers who now protect them withdraw from Gaza.
They're not militant enough, y'see...
Israeli officials say they plan to raze the village in the southern Gaza, compensate the residents and send most of them into the rest of Gaza to build new lives. "The Palestinians see them as collaborators, and if they fall into their hands, it's a death sentence," their attorney, Chaim Mandelbaum, said. The residents, many of them Bedouin, say Israel is responsible for their reputation. In the petition filed with Israel's top court on Sunday, they asked to be relocated as a community to the southern Negev desert in Israel, and to receive compensation similar to that being given to Israeli settlers who are to be evacuated from Gaza settlements during the withdrawal, Mandelbaum said.
Posted by:Fred

#6  LH the IDF sold the SLA to the Chinee.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-06-20 14:12  

#5  its not just beduin BTW. IIUC there are persistent rumors among the Pals, that regular Pal Arab colloborators fled to the Beduin village at various points during the second intifada - rumors that are denied by the Beduin, IIUC. OTOH its not clear that all, or even many Beduin would actually be subject to persecution - as opposed to the ordinary problems of life under the PA, which is just as alien a regime to the beduin as Israel is. So why not try to get into the richer society?

Note that some Israelis have suggested that an even exchange of territory could be achieved by annexing lands in the West Bank where major Jewish settlements exist, and compensating the PA with land from pre-1967 Israel, that has major concentrations of Israeli Arabs (thus further easing the "demographic dilemma") Not surprisingly the Israeli Arabs in question reject this out of hand.
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-06-20 13:50  

#4  the israelis took in the South Lebanese Army, and their families. What did you expect, that they would take the entire Christian population of South Lebanon? Most of whom had no affiliation with Israel?
Posted by: liberalhawk   2005-06-20 13:45  

#3  If the Israelis don't compensate these guys, who is going to work for them against the Palestinians in the future? That's my other gripe against these guys. After the Vietnam War, we accepted millions of Indochinese refugess. The Israelis hung the Lebanese Christians out to dry after they abandoned their positions in the south of Lebanon.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2005-06-20 10:11  

#2  Probably a lot. Some Bedouin do work with the Israelis and many dislike town life. They are not related to the clans who get the bribes and wield power in the PLA so staying is a losing proposition.

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I'm not sure Israel has the finances to reimburse them easily.
Posted by: too true   2005-06-20 09:32  

#1  I wonder how much of this is due to their apparent tribal identity as Bedouin?
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-06-20 02:08  

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