Legal Analysis Similar to the case of al-Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa, the case of al-Araqib, has significant discriminatory elements and is particularly important as the Israeli denial of use and land confiscation policies in the village have resulted in an abundance of human rights violations. The forcible displacement of Palestinian Bedouins in al-Araqib has happened multiple times over the last decades through the premeditated creation of a coercive environment effecting numerous generations of its residents. This deliberately oppressive environment put in place by Israel is mainly based on discriminatory policies against Palestinian Bedouins: primarily because the village was ‘unrecognized’ by Israel, while the nearby Kibbutz Mishmar Hanegev, for example, was recognized and supported by Israel. Furthermore, Israel has created 59 individual farms in the Naqab from 1998 – 2008 allocating vast land tracts almost exclusively to Jewish-Israelis.139 Israel continues to refuse to recognize the Touri tribe ownership of the land of alAraqib, despite the fact that there exists valid proof of ownership documents from both the Ottoman and British era administrations. This discriminatory policy favoring Jewish-Israeli settlement in the Naqab, while grabbing Palestinian Bedouin land and forcibly relocating them in townships, is a clear violation of Article 5 of the ICERD, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national or ethnic origin. The subsequent decision declaring al-Araqib land as ‘state land’, and therefore designating it for public purposes, does not meet the requirements of legality, public purposes nor proportionality as stipulated by IHRL. Israel is required to balance its decisions regarding protection of the right to property, as well as other rights associated with the ability to exercise the right to property, of the people of al-Araqib, and the general public interest. The decision of non-recognition of the village is unlawful. Considering the size of the Naqab, it is highly probable that different uninhabited lands could have been selected for military training in the 1950s, for forestation or for agriculture in more recent years. Also, despite the initial confiscation being based on public purposes, the stated aim was never realized, making the confiscation unnecessary. While forestation is an important and necessary policy, it does not justify the serious and widespread human right violations that accompany it. Additionally, there are dozens of unrecognized villages in the Naqab that are in the same predicament; therefore, the case of al-Araqib 139 Human Rights Watch, “Off the Map: Land and Housing Rights Violations in Israel’s Unrecognized Bedouin Villages,” 20, no. 5 (E), March 2008, 2, available at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/ reports/iopt0308webwcover.pdf [accessed 22 September 2017]. 49