Emptied Lands: A Legal Geography of Bedouin Rights in the Negev

Description

Emptied Landsinvestigates the protracted legal, planning, and territorial conflict between the settler Israeli state and indigenous Bedouin citizens over traditional lands in southern Israel/Palestine. The authors place this dispute in historical, legal, geographical, and international-comparative perspectives, providing the first legal geographic analysis of the "dead Negev doctrine" used by Israel to dispossess and forcefully displace Bedouin inhabitants in order to Judaize the region. The authors reveal that through manipulative use of Ottoman, British and Israeli laws, the state has constructed its own version ofterra nullius. Yet, the indigenous property and settlement system still functions, creating an ongoing resistance to the Jewish state.Emptied Landscritically examines several key land claims, court rulings, planning policies, and development strategies, offering alternative local, regional, and international routes for justice. Copyright Title Page Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Part I. Legal and Geographic Foundations of the Negev Introduction: Terra Nullius in Zion? 1. The Legal Geography of Indigenous Bedouin Dispossession Part II. Critical Legal History of the Dead Negev Doctrine 2. The Land Regime of the Late Ottoman Period 3. The Land Regime of the British Mandate Period 4. Formulating the Dead Negev Doctrine During the Israeli Period Part III. Reexamination of the Legal Geography of the Negev 5. Historical Geography of the Negev: Bedouin Agriculture 6. Bedouin Territory and Settlement Part IV. Bedouin Indigeneity: International, Comparative, and Israeli Perspectives 7. The Bedouins as an Indigenous Community 8. International Law, Indigenous Land Rights, and Israel Part V. Contested Futures 9. State and Bedouin Policies and Plans Conclusion Appendixes Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5 Appendix 6 Appendix 7 Appendix 8 Appendix 9 Appendix 10 Appendix 11 Appendix 12 Appendix 13 Appendix 14 Appendix 15 Appendix 16 Appendix 17 Appendix 18 Appendix 19 Appendix 20 Appendix 21 Appendix 22 Notes Index