Bedouins in Israel Protest Plan to Regulate Settlement

[Kondor3]

Bedouins in Israel Protest Plan to Regulate Settlement

By ISABEL KERSHNER - Published: November 30, 2013 - the New York Times

JERUSALEM — Thousands of Bedouin demonstrators and their supporters clashed with the police in various locations across Israel on Saturday as they protested a government plan to regulate Bedouin settlement in the Negev desert.

In scenes reminiscent of the Palestinian uprisings in the West Bank, protesters hurled stones at police forces, burned tires and blocked a main road for hours near the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev. The police used water cannons, tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the demonstrators.

Smaller protests were held in the northern cities of Haifa and Taibeh and in East Jerusalem.

...

Activists had called for the protests as part of an international “day of rage” against the plan, known as the Prawer-Begin plan for the Israeli officials who devised its main principles.

A bill that would turn the plan into law is expected to be brought to a final vote during the winter session of Parliament.

Intended to resolve a land dispute between the Bedouins and the authorities that has been simmering since the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, the plan proposes a mechanism to deal with land ownership claims and compensation. It also calls for the evacuation of 35 Bedouin villages that are not recognized by the state and the resettlement of the residents in existing or new towns.

Human rights organizations opposing the plan say it will involve the forcible relocation of 30,000 to 40,000 Bedouins, dispossessing them of their historic land rights. They say that the plan was created without sufficient input by the Bedouins, and that it discriminates between the Bedouin and Jewish residents of the Negev.

A third to half of the 170,000 or so Negev Bedouins live in unrecognized villages that are not connected to the state water or electricity networks.

The Headquarters for Economic and Community Development of the Negev Bedouin, which works under the auspices of the Israeli prime minister’s office, issued a statement on Saturday saying, “The Bedouin of the Negev, being equal citizens, deserve adequate housing, public services and a better future for their children.”

Under the plan, it said, a majority of the Bedouin “will continue to live in their current location, while property rights will be resolved, regularized and recognized.”

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/world/middleeast/bedouins-in-israel-protest-plan-to-regulate-settlement.html?_r=0

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Forcible relocation of 30,000 to 40,000 Bedouins?

The settling of old land-claims?

A warm-up exercise for either the West Bank or Gaza?

 

[Katzndogz]

The bedouins are a nomadic culture. They don't have permanent settlements. They are found from Algeria to Yemen. If they don't like it in Israel they have plenty of places to move.

 

[Billo_Really]

The bedouins are a nomadic culture. They don't have permanent settlements. They are found from Algeria to Yemen. If they don't like it in Israel they have plenty of places to move.

This is the latest example of ethnic cleansing the Israeli's are practicing on all non-Jewish populations in the area.

 

[Lipush]

I could almost feel for them, but they blocked the roads connecting us with nearby towns, throwing stones and burned tires on passersby. This is terrorism that doesn't help their cause.

 

[Lipush]

The bedouins are a nomadic culture. They don't have permanent settlements. They are found from Algeria to Yemen. If they don't like it in Israel they have plenty of places to move.

This is the latest example of ethnic cleansing the Israeli's are practicing on all non-Jewish populations in the area.

How is this ethinc cleasing, exactly?

You throw words in the air with no connection to reality

 

[georgephillip]

"Ethnic cleansing is a the process or policy of eliminating unwanted ethnic or religious groups by deportation, forcible displacement, mass murder, or by threats of such acts, with the intent of creating a territory inhabited by people of a homogeneous or pure ethnicity, religion, culture, and history. Ethnic cleansing usually involves attempts to remove physical and cultural evidence of the targeted group in the territory through the destruction of homes, social centers, farms, and infrastructure, and by the desecration of monuments, cemeteries, and places of worship."

Thousands Protest Forced Urbanization of Israel's Bedouin

"INTERVIEWER (ENGLISH): Why is the government so interested in the Negev?

"HAIA NOACH, FORUM FOR COEXISTENCE IN THE NEGEV DESERT: Well, you know, the Negev is 60 percent of the Israel territory in the Green Line, and only 8 percent of the population in Israel lives here, 30 percent of them Bedouin. The government want to Judaize the Negev by new Jewish newcomers.

"By the way, they are not coming.

"Just in front of us will be the main intelligence base. Another project is a large [incompr.] bahadim army city, which will contain 30,000 soldiers.

"Bedouins are citizens of the state, and they are not under occupation, and we should treat them as citizens."

Possibly this is another reason why Israel found it awkward to create an Israeli nationality in 1948?

 

[Lipush]

The bedouins are a nomadic culture. They don't have permanent settlements. They are found from Algeria to Yemen. If they don't like it in Israel they have plenty of places to move.

This is the latest example of ethnic cleansing the Israeli's are practicing on all non-Jewish populations in the area.

If we were ethnic cleasing them we would have given them 24 hours to live.

Instead we give them cities.

Yeah, what a horrible genocide.

 

[georgephillip]

"While the plan rejects the Bedouins' call to recognize their 35 villages, where they were settled after surviving the mass expulsions of 1948, the Israeli foreign minister, Avidgor Lieberman, said it was the Bedouin who were attempting to grab land and not the government: 'This is a fight over land. We are fighting over the Jewish people's national land. And there are those who intentionally try to steal and take it over by force.'

"The movement against Prawer started in the village of Al-Araqeeb, which saw over 50 demolitions in recent years. Before he was arrested by the Israeli police for rebuilding his home, Sheikh Sayyah spoke to The Real News about why the Bedouin refuse to be relocated into the impoverished shantytowns the government's trying to resettle them in.

"SHEIKH SAYYAH ABU MDEIGHIM, CHIEFTAIN OF AL-ARAQEEB (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): 'What right does the government have to take lands that have been ours since before the Ottoman Empire? I think we must not compromise on the land. Even if we die of hunger, we will not leave this land.'"

Shantytowns in exchange for lands that have belonged to Bedouins since before the Ottoman Empire?

Such a deal.

Thousands Protest Forced Urbanization of Israel's Bedouin

 

[Billo_Really]

The Bedouin's have been there since before Israel became a state.

This is the biggest ethnic cleansing event since the Nakba.

 

[Billo_Really]

If we were ethnic cleasing them we would have given them 24 hours to live.

Instead we give them cities.

Yeah, what a horrible genocide.

The definition of "ethnic cleansing" does not necessarily mean death.

And you give them slums to live in.

The fact that you're bulldozing down the homes of 70,000 people, shows you are just pure evil.

 

[Kondor3]

The Bedouin's have been there since before Israel became a state.

This is the biggest ethnic cleansing event since the Nakba.

The Nakba... a.k.a. The Big Skeddadle...

 

[Billo_Really]

How is this ethinc cleasing, exactly?

You throw words in the air with no connection to reality

Here's the official definition of "ethnic cleansing" ...

The systematic elimination of an ethnic group or groups from a region or society, as by deportation, forced emigration, or genocide.

...I find it strange, you would even ask that question.

 

[Coyote]

It's very reminiscent as to how the Americans treated it's native people's - forced relocations onto less and less desirable "reservations"...the trail of tears...hmmm. I don't blame them for fighting back - what have they to gain from compliance? History is against them.

 

[Lipush]

It's very reminiscent as to how the Americans treated it's native people's - forced relocations onto less and less desirable "reservations"...the trail of tears...hmmm. I don't blame them for fighting back - what have they to gain from compliance? History is against them.

I wonder just how many of you really know and bother to check what this whole thing is really about.

 

[Coyote]

Post it - I'm open to knowing more about the situation from both sides.

 

[toastman]

If we were ethnic cleasing them we would have given them 24 hours to live.

Instead we give them cities.

Yeah, what a horrible genocide.

The definition of "ethnic cleansing" does not necessarily mean death.

And you give them slums to live in.

The fact that you're bulldozing down the homes of 70,000 people, shows you are just pure evil.

Uhh, Ethnic Cleansing would mean that Israel is trying to get rid of all people in Israel who are not Jewish Israelis. However, there are plenty of Arabs and Palestinians living in Israel, as well as Christians . Go look up the definition of it.

 

[georgephillip]

If we were ethnic cleasing them we would have given them 24 hours to live.

Instead we give them cities.

Yeah, what a horrible genocide.

The definition of "ethnic cleansing" does not necessarily mean death.

And you give them slums to live in.

The fact that you're bulldozing down the homes of 70,000 people, shows you are just pure evil.

Uhh, Ethnic Cleansing would mean that Israel is trying to get rid of all people in Israel who are not Jewish Israelis. However, there are plenty of Arabs and Palestinians living in Israel, as well as Christians . Go look up the definition of it.

"ethnic cleansing
n.
"The systematic elimination of an ethnic group or groups from a region or society, as by deportation, forced emigration, or genocide."

It appears to some of us that some Jews in Israel are attempting to deport significant numbers of Bedouins from the Negev and replace them with Jews.

ethnic cleansing - definition of ethnic cleansing by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

 

[Coyote]

So what actually, is the situation between Israel and the Beduoin community?

Many people's were once nomadic and the sad reality is the modern world with it's concepts of hard boundaries, is clashing with that life. Is it good? Bad? Or simply something that must be accepted as inevitable?

It's not always good - in some cases the forced location of nomadic people's has resulted in poverty (typically nomadic lifestyles exist in a response to an environment that is unsuitable to stationary agriculture).

 

[georgephillip]

So what actually, is the situation between Israel and the Beduoin community?

Many people's were once nomadic and the sad reality is the modern world with it's concepts of hard boundaries, is clashing with that life. Is it good? Bad? Or simply something that must be accepted as inevitable?

It's not always good - in some cases the forced location of nomadic people's has resulted in poverty (typically nomadic lifestyles exist in a response to an environment that is unsuitable to stationary agriculture).

That's a good question, Coyote. Bedouins have occupied the lands of the Negev since Ottoman times, at least; however, I'm not clear on their migratory practices.

"The Negev Bedouin (Arabic: بدو النقب*, Badū an-Naqab; Hebrew: הבדואים בנגב* Habeduim Banegev) are traditionally pastoral nomadic Arab tribes living in the Negev region in Israel.

"From the end of the Ottoman rule, a process of sedentarization was imposed on the Negev Bedouin which accelerated after the founding of the State of Israel.[2] In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, most resettled in neighbouring regions.

"Between 1968 and 1989, Israel built seven townships in the northeast of the Negev for the Bedouin population, with about half of them relocating to these areas.

"Others remained in unrecognized villages built without planning which lacked basic services such as electricity and running water. The Israeli government has gradually recognized some of them and taken measures to improve infrastructure and basic services.

"The Bedouin population in the Negev numbers approximately 210,000. Just over half of them live in seven government-built Bedouin-only towns; the remaining 90,000 live in 46 villages – 35 of which are unrecognized and 11 of which were officially recognized 10 years ago.[1]

"The rate of growth of the Negev Bedouin is the highest in the world – the Bedouin population doubles its size every 15 years.[3]"

Negev Bedouin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Billo_Really]

Uhh, Ethnic Cleansing would mean that Israel is trying to get rid of all people in Israel who are not Jewish Israelis. However, there are plenty of Arabs and Palestinians living in Israel, as well as Christians . Go look up the definition of it.

Are you on crack?

I just provided the definition a few posts ago!