Thousands protest Israel's 'Prawer Plan'

Thousands of 'Palestinians of 48' members and Arab citizens in Negev went on a massive demonstration on Thursday in front of government offices in Beersheba to reiterate their refusal of the Prawer plan.  The plan, known in Israel as the 'Prawer report', aims to evacuate more than 30,000 Bedouins from Negev. Arab Members of the Knesset Hanin Zoubi, Talab Al-Sanee, Mohammed Baraka, Ibrahim Sarsour, and Ahmed Tibi also joined the protest, underlining their disagreement with Israel. Israel's government is currently trying to put in place the recommendations of the the 'Goldberg Commission', the one that took care of clearing Naqab from the Bedouin community. The plan would “relocate” thousands of Bedouins who managed to stay on their land after more than two thirds of all Bedouins were uprooted during the establishment of Israel. Since the establishment of Israel, military rule was imposed on Bedouins in Beersheba for more than 18 years. Despite the end of military rule in 1967, the Bedouin history of dispossession continued. Almost all their land was seized by the state through a series of legal manoeuvres, like the absentee property law and the land acquisition laws of 1953. Despite the expulsions, the Arab Bedouin population is today estimated to be more than 200,000 and it makes up one-third of Naqab’s population. Today, half of Bedouin citizens of Israel live in 46 villages that are not legally recognised by Israel. These villages are deprived of basic services like housing, water, electricity, education and health care. The remaining part of Bedouin citizens lives in townships that the state provided for them in the 1970s in an aggressive policy of forced sedentarisation. Having implemented various policies to Judaize the Naqab since 1948, the Israeli parliament is now considering the possibility of a final push to modify the demography of the region once for all, and hence tighten Israel’s control over it. Goldberg Commission recommendations of “relocating” 30,000 Bedouin from their native land were approved in September by the Israeli government.