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The Bedouin village al-Hadidiyya in the Jordan Valley is almost empty.

There used to be 130 people living there. The Israel Supreme Court accepted the State's request to evacuate the inhabitants from their village. Most saved themselves the trauma of having their homes and animal sheds demolished and left by themselves.

It's the third time these people have been evacuated. In the 1970s, they were evacuated from their original habitation, east of Road 90, for security reasons. The second time, in the 1990s, the Supreme Court accepted the State’s request to evacuate them. Now the High Court has concurred with another request. The pretext now has been zoning and construction laws, according to which land earmarked for agriculture, cannot be used for residence. The second pretext was the security needs of the settlers of Roi. The inhabitants of al-Hadidiyya were offered a move to Khirbet 'Atuf, more than 7 km north of their land, beyond the settlement Roi and Road 80; but in order to get to their grazing lands they have to cross Road 80 and pass the settlement Roi. Furthermore, the IDF has dug two deep ditches east of Khirbet 'Atuf to make the way to the Jordan valley even more difficult.

The Roi settlers were not bothered by the State for building their settlement in an agricultural zone, unlike the Bedouin al-Hadidiyya residents.

In this way, "security needs" and zoning and construction laws are used to expel Bedouins and settle Jews. And who will take care of the security of the inhabitants of al-Hadidiyya?