The Israeli government is determined to escalate the dispossession of the Negev Bedouin Arabs of their lands and concentrate them in towns – a process that has been ongoing for 63 years now.
The decision to accept the Prawer-Amidror plan is the culmination of a proposal to evacuate about 30,000 to 45,000 Bedouins from their homes and demolish their villages. This proposal, which is racist and discriminatory in nature, is contrary to international human rights laws and in particular, the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The bill will be discussed by the present Knesset in session and likely to pass into law, leaving the civil society with no response.
Protest against the demolitions in the Arab-Bedouin town Al Arakib, Jerusalem, August 2010 (Photo: Activestills)
The Communist Party of Israel demand that the Israeli government cancel the proposed law and not present it to the Knesset; cease the persecution of its Arab-Bedouin citizens; and allow the Arab-Bedouin to live as any other citizen in the style they choose and according to their culture in rural spaces and not solely in urban communities. The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality and the Recognition Forum urges to sign an international petition
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