Nuri El Ockbi is stopped by the Green Patrol as he attempts to approach Jewish National Fund workers who are planting trees on El Ockbi tribal land. Despite no ruling yet by the Beersheva Court on ownership of the land in question, the JNF is going ahead with its plans for a forest. Negev, Israel. 21/02/2010.
Officers from the Green Patrol prevent Nouri El Ockbi from approaching Jewish National Fund workers who have began planting trees on his tribal land in El Arakeeb.
Nouri El Ockbi is an Israeli Bedouin currently fighting for the right of his tribe to live on the land that belonged in the family for generations.
Despite declaring loyalty to the newly established state of Israel in 1948, the El Ockbi were expelled from El Arakeeb in 1951 and forcibly moved to Hura with the excuse that their lands were needed for military exercises and would be handed back within six months.
After various unsuccessful attempts at returning to live in El Arakeeb, in 2006 Nouri El Ockbi erected a tent on his tribe’s land and began living in it. Since then the tent has been demolished many times by the Green Patrol and Nouri has become a well-known figure in the Bedouin's fight against dispossession.
Despite Nouri's presence in El Arakeeb and ongoing legal battles to establish ownership of the land, the Jewish National Fund has given the go ahead to plans for a forest on the El Ockbi and Al Turi’s lands - thus creating one more of those famous ‘facts on the ground’.
16 Feb + 21 Feb 2010
