After 15 years of struggle: the status of the village of Dahmash will be settled and it will be annexed to Ramla

A year after the deaths of two residents from a rocket hit in the absence of a protected space, Shaked accepted the recommendation of the director general of the Ministry of the Interior - despite the opposition of all parties.

In the Ramla municipality protest: a political scent for the decision

Uri Sela

11/05/2022

Wednesday, 11 May 2022, 17:27 Updated: 18:12

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Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked decided today (Wednesday) to annex the village of Dahmash to Ramla - a day after the article in Walla!

It was reported that the status of the village had not changed even a year exactly after Khalil Awad and his daughter Nadin were killed in the yard of their house by a rocket.

This is an attempt to regulate the status of the village for the first time, despite the fact that a special committee was set up by the High Court in June last year and its recommendations were placed on Shaked's table as early as December

.

This is despite the opposition of the Ramla Municipality and the fact that the committee appointed to regulate the status of the village recommended annexation to the city only as a second priority - when the first priority was to annex the village to the Sdot Dan Regional Council.

The residents, who have so far received basic services from the council and wanted to join it, intend to appeal to the High Court against the decision with the help of lawyer Case Nasser.

The name of the village made headlines in Operation The Guardian of the Walls, so a rocket that landed in the village killed two of its residents and drew public attention to the long struggle of the residents.

In the village the shelters and shelters are missing or non-existent, and their residents are forced to choose between two bad options: to hide in a dilapidated house or to go out into an open area.

More on Walla!

Khalil and his daughter Nadine paid with their lives and the government's deadly procrastination continues

To the full article

"Will be annexed to Ramla."

The village of Damascus (Photo: official website, Hiba Dahmash, Wikipedia)

The village, located near Lod and Ramla, is home to about a thousand people.

The first to settle in it after being expelled from their homes during the Independence Day War.

In the absence of recognition of its status, the residents received only basic essential services, education and welfare, from the Sdot Dan Regional Council in whose territory it is located.

Only last year did the council start providing them with sanitation and garbage removal services as well.

The committee examined the annexation of the village to Lod, Ramla and Sdot Dan, and finally recommended its annexation to the Sdot Dan Council so that it could remain a settlement with rural characteristics.

In his reasons for the decision to annex the village to Ramla, Interior Ministry director general Hirsch explained that Ramla is a mixed city and a high percentage of its Arab residents, and therefore the villagers will be able to assimilate there and not be exceptions - compared to Sdot Dan. To the jurisdiction of the Ramle Municipality as well as the development of a new employment area for the city. "

On the possibility of joining the village to Sdot Dan, Hirsch explained that "this is not enough, and the will of the residents is not to leave the current situation as it is, but to recognize them as an independent local committee in the regional council."

According to him, leaving the Dahmash complex in the territory of the council and recognizing it as a new locality in its area will lead to challenges he does not want the council to deal with.

Response of the Ramla Municipality

The Ramla Municipality stated in response that it strongly and firmly opposes the Interior Minister's decision to adopt the Boundaries Committee's report.

"The report seems to have been prepared hastily and arbitrarily, as its conclusions regarding the alternatives of the authorities in Lod Ramla and Sdot Dan are clearly unreasonable. "This is without any factual basis and despite the fact that the cities of Ramla and Lod are similar cities in their characteristics."

Ramla Mayor Michael Vidal also instructed to act against the decision in all legal ways available to the municipality, including an appeal to the High Court.

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