Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality
פורום דו-קיום בנגב לשוויון אזרחי
منتدى التعايش السلمي في النقب من أجل المساواة المدنية

Photos: Bloody Wednesday in Umm al-Hiran

25.01.2017

“It was the first time that the police had acted so violently towards us. We knew the night before that there would be home demolitions, but we didn’t know that such a large number of security forces would arrive so early in the morning. I left the house and saw the whole village filled with armed police officers. We all stood in the mosque and all the police were armed, they didn’t let us leave. They came ready for violence, and violence is what they wanted. I felt as if I was in a war and worried for my children who were standing beside me, because of all the weapons around us. I was in shock”.

A resident of Umm al-Hiran, who is a member of the Yuṣawiruna Project, recounts what she saw when hundreds of Israeli police officers accompanied the bulldozers that showed up early Wednesday morning to carry out demolitions. The woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, took the photographs from her home, documenting the morning’s violent events through the window of her house or from the roof.

The photographs were taken as part of the Yuṣawiruna Project, which the Negev Coexistence Forum has been running in unrecognized Bedouin villages for the last few years. The project involves groups of women in each village documenting their daily lives, including human rights violations. The women study together, learning about human rights and photography.

This story was first published on +972 Magazine.