SIX ARAB-ISRAELI towns in Israel’s Negev region have ground to a halt in protest at government plans to confiscate swathes of land from the Bedouin community.
If the proposal passes unopposed through the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, 30,000 people could be forced from their homes within 60 days.
Schools, shops and municipal offices across the region closed, allowing more than 8,000 people to rally in Beersheba and reject the plan. This was the largest civil protest in the city’s history.
Arab-Israeli MP Jamal Zahalka said the towns were united against the proposal.“We want to send a very clear message to the Israeli government – we are saying No. This demonstration proves that Israel’s plans will be thwarted. Nobody here today will co-operate with them.”
The Israeli ministerial committee approved a plan to settle the long-standing land dispute between the Bedouin communities in the Negev and Israel on September 11th. Based on a report produced for the prime minister’s office, it suggests more than 30,000 Bedouin living on land claimed by Israel should be resettled in six towns created and recognised by the state in 1973.
Around half of the Negev’s Bedouin residents live in unrecognised villages, without running water, electricity or public services of any kind. They are the poorest minority group in Israel.
Mark Regev, spokesman for Israel’s prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, said the aim of the government was to assist the Bedouin minority by assimilating them into wider Israeli society.
Bedouin leader Amal Elsana-Alh’jooj said the report failed to recognise Bedouin claims to the land prior to the creation of Israel. –(Guardian service)