Skip to main content

Israeli Bedouin on strike against relocation bill

Israeli Bedouin reject the Prawer Plan, aimed at regularizing their illegally constructed localities in the south of Israel by tearing down homes and relocating them in crowded ''Bedouin towns.''
Abu Aziz stands outside his tent in the village of al-Arakib, one of the dozens of ramshackle Bedouin Arab communities in the Negev desert which are not recognised by the Israeli state, in southern Israel August 18, 2013. For decades Arab Bedouins have eked out a meagre existence in the Negev desert, largely under the Israeli government's radar, but now many will have to make way for new developments. Israel has already invested around $5.6 billion to build military bases in the Negev desert and plans to bu
Read in 

Tension is growing between the Israel and the Bedouin population as implementation of the Prawer Plan for the regulation of Bedouin settlement in the southern region of the Negev draws near. The proposed bill, promoted by former Minister Benny Begin already in the previous Knesset, will soon be approved by the legislature and become law. It is based on the plan prepared by a team headed by Ehud Prawer, the former deputy director of the Israeli National Security Council.

Prawer’s team was tasked with implementing the findings of a committee headed by retired Judge Eliezer Goldberg, which examined the state of the Bedouin settlement in the Negev. The Prawer Plan, approved by the government in September 2011, is intended to resolve the land ownership claims by Bedouin living outside recognized localities and to provide a solution to the 35 Bedouin villages scattered throughout the Negev which the Israel refuses to recognize as permanent habitations.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.