The Government of Israel is putting me on trial next week (Monday, April 19th, 11:00am in Beer Sheva): for expressing my displeasure at the brutal home demolitions in the Unrecognized Bedouin Villages. The government and its acting bodies do not want any resistance to the implementation of their racist policies, and therefore wish to scare and intimidate those who speak out. For 60 years the Government of Israel is denying the right of the indigenous people of our desert: the access to resources, to their livelihood, their sources of dignity – and to a roof over their heads. It has been denying access to building permits from 80,000 of its citizens. Without access to building permits, each home built is deemed illegal, and hundreds are demolished every year. At times entire villages are razed to the ground. All demolition orders written are using the excuse of the law, a law that is written and implemented to give privileges to the Jewish majority – almost all of whom, including myself, are survivors of victims of such laws in other far-away countries.

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