The Prawer Plan Was Approved by the Legislative Ministry Committee on Monday, May 6th
On Monday, May 6th 2013, the Legislative Ministry Committee approved the Prawer Plan. This is a serious step towards institutionalizing the discriminatory and racist policies of the State in the Negev. This law will result in transformation of the Negev into a region composed of impoverished Bedouin enclaves, wherein the Bedouin population will be forced to take on an urban and dense livelihood and abandon their traditional ways of life. In other words, we will see the Arab Bedouin population dispossessed of its land and traditional means of production as well its social structure diminished. Furthermore, Bedouin will be concentrated into impoverished, urban areas where their potential for self-development will be stymied.
The implementation of this decision will cause tens of thousands of civilians to be evicted. A scenario of this sort is contrary to the recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2011), which has called on Israel to refrain from forcibly evicting residents and to stop the demolitions in the unrecognized villages. It also contradicts the recommendations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2012), which had called on the State to withdraw the discriminatory law (proposed in 2012) for regulating Bedouin settlement in the Negev that legalizes the on-going policy of home demolition and forced displacement of the indigenous Bedouin community.
We believe that this law formalizes a process that is destructive to the future of the Negev. It is to our dismay that the State has designated extensive resource towards police enforcement of a violent and oppressive strategy, since these resources could be directed to recognizing existing villages. Such resources could be used to develop infrastructure, improve the welfare of the population and pursue the long-term interests of all residents of the Negev—Jews and Arabs. We have done and continue to do everything we can to oppose the existing legislative process—a process that does not incorporate the Bedouin community when it comes to determining the future of this population in the Negev. The process is unilateral instead.
A demonstration that was held Monday morning in front of the Prime Minister was the first step in a series of protests and resistance tactics. This was followed by a community conference on Wednesday aimed at organizing community members and NGOs to work together in order to stop this problematic bill.
We call on the public to join this fight for civil equality in the Negev.
By The Negev Coexistence Forum
(Source: dukium.org)
