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Nori al-Okbi: "I am no trespasser. I was born on this land "
Gush Shalom
Press Release
8 December 2007

http://gush-shalom.org.toibillboard.info/okbi_eng.htm

While he was being medically treated, the police took away the tent, food and water of Bedouin activist al-Okbi. Judicial proceedings stated against al-Okbi for “trespassing”; reacts: “I am no trespasser, here I was born”.

In the beginning of this week, Bedouin rights activist Nori al-Okbi returned to the al-Arakib land north-west of Be’er Sheba, from where his tribe had been expelled. He came directly from the hospital where he had undergone nine days’ treatment and operation, following a police attack in which a tendon was torn in his hand.

On the following day, when he went to a follow-up medical examination, he found on his return that the police once again confiscated his tent with all contents. “They were not ashamed even to small-mindedly steal my pita bread and some bottles of mineral water. This is simple theft, by the people charged with guarding the law, they don’t give any receipt or confirmation of what they took, just load everything and disappear with it. Following this latest police raid, al-Okbi slept one night under the open sky, and on the following day obtained a new tent at the price of about a thousand Shekels. “They had not succeeded in taking the pegs of the previous tent, because I have driven them deep into the soil, so I used them for the new tent”.

Meanwhile, judicial proceedings were started against al-Okbi for “trespassing”, to which he responded: “I am no trespasser. I was born on this land and lived here as a child, and my family lived on for many generations. It is not me who is the trespasser, it is the state which expelled my tribe from this land in 1951 and declared it to be “state land”. If it gets to a court session, I will face the judges as accuser rather than accused` says al-Okbi.

He had also appealed to the Attorney-General against the decision of Machash, the Complaints Against Police Investigation Unit, which ruled that the assault on him was “of no interest to the public`. “This is a Scandalous and manifestly unreasonable decision. A whole group of police attack, with extreme violence, in the middle of the desert, one single citizen who is struggling for basic rights and strictly adheres to non-violence. The police cause the civilian considerable pain and hurt, necessitating medical treatment, hospitalization and an operation. And all this is “of no interest to the general public?” And if so, what is of interest to the public?

Contact: The Association for Bedouin Rights, Nori al-Okbi 0545-465556, 08-9151425

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