Israel to tear down village of Bedouin Arab hostage who was freed from Gaza

An Israeli-Arab hostage freed from besieged Gaza returned to a hero's welcome tinged with a bitter reality: Much of the small village he calls home – Khirbet Karkur — is targeted for demolition by Israeli far-right regime.

Qaid Farhad Al Kadi, 52, is one of Israel's roughly 300,000 Bedouin Arabs, a poor and traditionally Muslim nomadic minority that has a complicated relationship with the regime and often faces discrimination.

While they are Israeli citizens, about a third of Bedouins, including Al Kadi, live in villages the regime wants to tear down.

Since November, about 70 percent of Khirbet Karkur residents have been told the regime plans to raze their homes because they were built without permits in a "protected forest" not zoned for housing, according to a lawyer representing them.

Al Kadi's family hasn't received a notice, but the looming mass displacement of this close-knit community has cast a pall on what has otherwise been a joyous 24 hours.

"It's so exciting, we didn't know if he'll come back alive or not," said Muhammad Abu Tailakh, the head of Khirbet Karkur's local council and a public health lecturer at Ben Gurion University in nearby Beersheba.

"But the good news is also a bit complicated because of everything that's going on."

Neighbours and family erected a huge tent in his honour and served tea and coffee from the early morning as they eagerly awaited his arrival.

When the clean-shaven but gaunt Al Kadi arrived – seemingly overwhelmed by the attention after 326 days in captivity, some of it an underground tunnel – he spoke with reporters and pleaded with Israeli leaders to free all the hostages.

"It does not matter if they are Arab or Jewish, all have a family waiting for them," said Al Kadi.

Demolition of Bedouin villages

A spokesperson for the Israel Land Authority said that "in light of the situation", it would not serve a demolition notice to the Al Kadi family.

But it would not comment on the plight of his neighbours or their lawyers' efforts to save their homes.

On Wednesday, most family members and neighbours tried to focus on the good news rather than legal fights that could drag on for years.

"We need that this problem be resolved so that people here ... receive an appropriate solution that fits the needs of the Bedouins," said Nasser Amran, 59, a friend of Al Kadi.

"There is no electricity. For water, they bring a pipe from some community, and it arrives here, but it is still difficult to live in a village without water and electricity the way it should be."

Villages that are not recognised by the Israeli regime are not connected to state water, sewage, or electricity infrastructure, and the roads to many, including Khirbet Karkur, are dusty and potholed.

Khirbet Karkur is nestled in the shadow of a large dump, and the smell of rotting garbage drifts over the short, squat, corrugated metal homes. Piles of construction debris and trash ring the small cluster of dwellings.

Israel's Supreme Court has previously deemed many of the unrecognised Bedouin villages illegal, and the regime has said they are trying to bring order to a lawless area and give a better quality of life to the impoverished minority.

For decades, Israel has been trying to convince scattered, off-the-grid Bedouin villagers that it is in their interest to move into regime-designated Bedouin townships, where the government can provide them with water, electricity and schools.

Bedouin leaders have rejected many proposals, saying they would destroy their lifestyle or send them to less desirable areas.

There have been 1,325 Bedouin homes demolished in the first six months of 2024, a 51 percent increase over the same period in 2022, according to the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, which tracks demolitions in the Bedouin community.

Notorious minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and other members of his far-right party have consistently championed the demolition of Bedouin construction in the Negev desert and Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Last year, Ben-Gvir traveled to witness a demolition himself, expressing "kudos" and calling the destruction "sacred work."

'Disgusting cynicism'

Abu Tailkha says he and his neighbours want to maintain their rural lifestyle, and the Israeli regime should officially recognise their villages.

He said residents of Khirbet Karkur, who were placed there in the 1950s by the government, would be open to moving to another rural area, but not a city.

The government wants to move them north to Rahat, an urban Bedouin settlement of about 70,000, according to Netta Amar Shiff, a lawyer representing families who received demolition notices.

She called it "disgusting cynicism" for the government to say it will not serve Al Kadi's family with lawsuits. "If there's a good reason for one person not to get the notice, there's a good reason for everyone," she said.

Regavim, a right-wing group that studies land issues in Israel and supports the government's relocation plan for Bedouins, said the Bedouins are being offered an excellent deal with free land, and it is in their interest to move in order to receive services that every Israeli citizen is entitled to receive.

"Israel can't provide services to people who just build wherever they want," said Naomi Kahn, the head of Regavim's international division.

Abu Tailkha said that while the country and its leaders were embracing Al Kadi's return, he isn't optimistic real change will occur in their village.

"I think in a bit they will forget about Farhad, and they will send another round of demolition orders," he said.