- "My wife was tending the sheep, and suddenly the
planes began to spray the area where she was. I tried to run toward her,
and I was also hit by the spray. I felt dizzy, nauseous, I fell to the
ground and passed out," recalls Salim Abu Madigam, a resident of the
unrecognized village of Al-Arkib in the Negev, relating to an incident
when his land was sprayed about a month-and-a-half ago.
-
- Abu Madigam is one of the signatories on a petition to
be submitted today to the High Court of Justice against the Israel Lands
Authority's (ILA) policy of spraying Bedouin crops in the Negev in order
to destroy them. The petition was submitted by Marwan Dalal, a lawyer from
Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel on behalf
of several organizations, including Physicians for Human Rights, the Negev
Coexistence Forum, and four residents of the unrecognized villages.
-
- The petitioners argue that spraying the fields presents
a health danger to residents and is illegal and criminal.
-
- According to the ILA, spraying is meant to enforce the
state's rights to the land. If they do not spray, ILA officials contend,
and allow the growing of crops on state lands, the Bedouin will be able
to claim ownership in a few years.
-
- The petitioners argue that the Bedouin have been working
the land for years and that there is a legal dispute over it.
-
- According to statistics collated by the unrecognized
villages and Physicians for Human Rights, over 28,000 dunams of crops
across
the Negev have been sprayed by the ILA since it began its crop-spraying
policy in February 2002. The spraying policy replaced the policy of
destroying
crops with the use of tractors, which in some cases led to clashes between
local residents and police.
-
- The first spraying sorties were preceded by forces on
the ground, who demarcated the target area and then prevented local
residents
from getting near. But lately, the ground forces have not been used and
crop-dusting planes have suddenly appeared, sprayed and then left. Local
residents say this latest policy increases the danger to both themselves
and to animals in the area.
-
- The substance used by the ILA is called Roundup, a
well-known
and popular weed-killer, which turns crops - mainly wheat, but also corn
and watermelons in the case of the Bedouin - yellow. The warning label
on the spray tells those using it to wear gloves, not breathe in any vapors
being emitted, and wear clothes that cover the entire body.
-
- Dr. Elihu Richter, from the school of public health at
Hebrew University and an expert for the petitioners, says the spraying
policy is dangerous and must be stopped. Spraying weed killer from the
air, he says, "is an immoral act of human
experimentation."
-
- In addition to being hazardous to their health, the
petitioners
also argue that the crop-dusting policy is illegal. Attorney Dalal argues
it cannot be used "in order to assert claims to ownership of the
land."
-
- Dalal also argues the policy is criminal because the
ILA is using a poisonous substance in violation of safety rules prescribed
on the warning label.
-
- Ortal Zabar, the ILA spokeswoman, said the organization
had yet to receive the petition and that it would "respond to the
specific claims in court."
-
- In the event of the illegal takeover of land, she added,
the ILA used aerial spraying, which was also meant to minimize friction
with residents. "The authority uses materials that are not hazardous
to human beings or animals and tries to keep a distance from populated
areas," she said. What's more, she added, the ILA leases 130,000
dunams
of land for Bedouin every year in the Negev on which they could grow their
crops.
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