Residents of Molada may remain on their lands
For five years, Bimkom has worked to help the Hawashle family obtain the right to legally remain on their lands near to the recognized village Molada. The outline plan which recognized Molada left some 350 members of the Hawashle extended family outside of the plan’s boundary. Following objections to the planning committee and petitions to the court, Bimkom and the Administration for the Coordination of Bedouin Affairs (ACBA) agreed to find a solution and in fact ACBA hired the same planner who prepared Malada’s outline plan to examine the situation. His report, the Dunski Survey, recommends that the Hawashle family remain on their lands, for two main reasons: 1. Socio-cultural issues should take precedence over technical planning issues in the preparation of a plan; and 2. When it is necessary to move a Bedouin community from one place to another, the wants and desires of both the population to be transferred, and those expected to absorb them, should be taken into consideration. In other words, ACBA has now accepted our position, not only concerning the Hawashle family, but in general. We immediately told the courts that the family accepts ACBA’s “solution”.