Policemen on horses at a demolition that took place in Umm al-Hiran, 18th January 2017. Picture by Maya Avis. Some rights reserved. I stood beside three journalists on a small mound and gazed helplessly across at the demolition of the Palestinian-Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran, a village located in the Negev-Naqab region of Southern Israel. It’s Wednesday, 18th January, 2017. The village is undergoing demolition to make way for the new, Jewish town of Hiran, which will inherit the name, as well as the location of the village, to which this group of Palestinian-Bedouins were relocated by the Israeli State in 1956. Along with a group of other activists, I arrived at 5.15am, a mere 15 minutes before nearly a thousand heavily-armed, gun-wielding policemen stormed into the village. It was before dawn.
Israeli police raid the unrecognized Arab/Palestinian Bedouin village of Umm Al-Hiran before an expected house demolition in the village, Negev desert, Israel, January 18, 2017. Picture by Keren Manor/ Activestills.
“Every story has two sides” goes the truism. “It’s important that the truth be heard” responds the legal mind. But what does all this mean in the era of post-truth?
