Prawer: Response to Right Wing
21 November 2013
Get the Facts: A Distorted Report Provides Backing to the Government’s Denial of Bedouin Rights
A map of current Bedouin communities, shown on top of a map of British tents. Courtesy of Professor Yiftachel.
The government’s plan to remove 35 Bedouin villages (the Prawer Plan) has recently gained backing from extreme right-wing organizations such as Regavim and the report that they published. These organizations serve the government’s expulsion program in the public arena – they express a more extreme position than the government, thus making the government’s position seem reasonable, moderate and balanced. This essentially serves as a branding trick – if even the right is attacking the government, the plan must be all right.
The government and the extreme right share the same basic principles regarding non-recognition of Bedouin rights; what differs is their willingness to “compromise” about what they both consider the justification of their position.
Factual analysis of the Regavim movement’s distorted report:
The report published by Regavim serves as a kind of justification for the government’s expulsion program and was submitted to ministers and members of Knesset during the discussions on the law in the Knesset. The report’s claims are manipulative and distorted, and yet are nevertheless likely to convince those who are unaware of the details. So here we will try to make sense of it, in brief:
1. Are the Bedouin taking over the Negev? First of all, there is an attempt to frighten the public. Both the government and the extreme right are painting the picture that the Bedouin are “taking over the Negev,” – taking over land that is not theirs. They even argue with the fact that the Bedouin claim a total of 5.4% of the Negev.
remainder: http://rhr.org.il/eng/2013/11/prawer-response-to-right-wing-report/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Monday November 25, 2013 02:11author by IMEMC Staff Report post
A visit by several Israeli legislators to the Negev desert in southern Israel Sunday was met by protests organized by local residents opposed to the Israeli plan to forcibly remove them from their ancestral land. That plan has been dubbed the 'Prawer Plan', and would involve the forced displacement of thousands of Palestinian Bedouins who have lived for hundreds of years in the Negev desert, in the southern part of what is now Israel.
The protest on Sunday followed outbursts last week in the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) by several Arab Members of the Knesset. MK Ahmed Tibi said, “"You’ve gone too far. This law is a mark of Cain on the forehead of the Knesset, and the shame is on the forehead of every one of you who supports this bill. What would you do if there was a plan to drive you out of your homes? Any reasonable person cries out, protests, expresses outrage, he is angry. He responds to the aggression.”
During Sunday's protest, four protesters were wounded by Israeli police forces who attacked the non-violent demonstration, and two were abducted. The abductees were identified as an employee of the al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, who was on the scene as a human rights observer, and a resident of the Bedouin village of Rafat, identified as Yunis Moussa Abu Abed.
The Knesset Committee whose visit prompted the protest was formed to implement the Prawer Plan for mass displacement of the Palestinian Bedouins from their ancestral homes. While Israeli lawmakers argued that the forced displacement was necessary, and that the Bedouins would be moved into reservations created by the Israeli government, the Bedouin's representatives pointed out that similar reservations set up by the Israeli government in the past have been neglected and lacking in infrastructure and government support.
http://www.imemc.org/article/66450
