![\"Demolitions1\"](\"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Demolitions1-300x169.jpg\")
AFP, UMM AL-HEIRAN, Israel: Demolitions in an Arab Israeli village activists say has been targeted by racist policies sparked violence on Wednesday, with a policeman killed and the man accused of attacking him shot dead.<\/p>\nAFP, UMM AL-HEIRAN, Israel: Demolitions in an Arab Israeli village activists say has been targeted by racist policies sparked violence on Wednesday, with a policeman killed and the man accused of attacking him shot dead.<\/p>\n
A prominent Arab Israeli lawmaker was also wounded in the confrontation in Umm al-Heiran in southern Israel, where activists have long sought to draw attention to what they call the unjust practice of demolishing Arab homes.<\/p>\n
Police said the man killed, a local resident, was active in the Israeli Islamic Movement and may have been influenced by the Islamic State organisation\u2014a claim residents strongly denied, calling him a respected teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cA vehicle driven by a terrorist from the Islamic Movement intended to strike a number officers and carry out an attack,\u201d police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe officers responded and the terrorist was neutralised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later statements confirmed that the alleged attacker was dead and that a 34-year-old policeman, Erez Levi, was also killed.<\/p>\n
Village activist Raed Abu al-Qiyan named the driver as Yacoub Abu al-Qiyan, a member of his Bedouin clan.<\/p>\n
Residents said he was 47, the father of around a dozen children and owned one of five buildings being demolished on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli narrative is a lie. He was a revered school teacher,\u201d he told AFP. \u201cHe has no relations with the Islamic Movement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was in his car and they shot at him from everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Injured lawmaker Ayman Odeh heads the Joint List, a coalition of mainly Arab parties and the third-largest bloc in parliament.<\/p>\n
One of his aides said he was wounded by police, with photographs that spread online showing him with a bloodied head.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey attacked the MP and other people\u2014demonstrators\u2014with stun grenades, tear gas directly in people\u2019s faces,\u201d Odeh\u2019s aide, Anan Maalouf, told Israeli army radio.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no car-ramming attack here. There were no clashes here between the demonstrators and police.\u201d<\/p>\n
One activist said residents had moved their cars to the entrance of the village at around 5:00 am (0300 GMT) in a bid to block the demolition operation.<\/p>\n
Police then forced their way in and fired flares, lighting up the pre-dawn sky, according to the activist, Isaac Kates Rose, who was there at the time.<\/p>\n
Shooting could later be heard and the sound of a car crashing, he said.<\/p>\n
At some point later, Odeh was caught up in the confrontation and wounded, activists say.
\nFive excavators were later seen entering the village, with demolitions beginning at around 11:15 am (0915 GMT).<\/p>\n
Security forces took up positions on rooftops and guarded the area around the demolitions, keeping residents away.<\/p>\n
Residents gathered around the village\u2019s mosque, with women wailing as the demolitions started. Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Bedouin homes they deem to have been built illegally.<\/p>\n
However, building permits are extremely difficult to obtain, according to residents and activists, who say Jewish Israelis are given preferential treatment.<\/p>\n
Umm al-Heiran has become particularly symbolic, with residents having waged a years-long legal fight against demolition orders.<\/p>\n
Located in the Negev desert, the village is home to around 1,000 inhabitants who mainly live in small, concrete buildings, relying on solar panels for electricity and raising livestock.<\/p>\n
In 2013, Israel\u2019s cabinet approved the establishment of two new Jewish communities in the Negev, Kesif and Hiran.<\/p>\n
In order to make way for the two new towns, the Bedouin village, which is unrecognised by the authorities, must first be removed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AFP, UMM AL-HEIRAN, Israel: Demolitions in an Arab Israeli village activists say has been targeted by racist policies sparked violence on Wednesday, with a policeman killed and the man accused of attacking him shot dead. A prominent Arab Israeli lawmaker was also wounded in the confrontation in Umm al-Heiran in southern Israel, where activists have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n