Police threaten activists, bus companies as anti-Prawer protest intensifies

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

http://972mag.com/police-threaten-activists-bus-companies-as-anti-prawer-protest-intensifies/82677/

As the third ‘Day of Rage’ against the Prawer Plan to displace the Bedouin of the Negev nears, police have started to harass activists and bus companies involved in the protest planned for Saturday. The past two weeks have seen a rise in anti-Prawer protests.

Bedouin activists in the Negev were urgently summoned local police stations on Thursday, where they were warned that they must be granted a permit to hold the third “Day of Rage” against the Prawer Plan, scheduled to take place in the Negev/Naqab on Saturday. However, under the law, demonstrations of this sort do not require such permits. Furthermore, the bus companies hired for the purpose of transporting demonstrators from all over the country received similar phone calls from police and were told that anyone assisting the “illegal demonstration” in any way would be considered an accomplice to the offense. Activists are currently trying to work out a solution out with the police, but are warning against the dangerous path the police are taking by repressing voices of dissent.

Resistance to the plan has been on the rise ever since the plan, which could lead to the uprooting of between 30 and 70 thousand Bedouin from their homes, was approved by the Knesset in the summer. Last Wednesday, Bedouin and Jewish Israeli activists demonstrated outside the Knesset as it was debating the plan. The activists also protested outside the Supreme Court, which was discussing plans for the demolition of the Bedouin village Umm al-Hiran to make room for a new Jewish settlement by the name of Hiran.

Ad once again, the security-loving Israelis (aka colonists) show how apartheid flourishes in their democracy. Kick out 70 thousand Bedouins to make room for Israeli settlements.

[oberliner]

1. Better 972mag article than the other one

Can we expect a dump of everything they've got over there? I'd be happy to evaluate each one individually.

Interesting comment: "Israelis (aka colonists).." - Does that mean you view Israelis living in Israel itself to be colonists?

Out of curiosity, do you know what would happen to the Bedouin in question if the plan gets implemented?

Answer: They are given new housing very nearby and compensated financially to cover the cost.

Also, it's up to 40,000 Bedouin, not 70.

Check Al Jazeera for some more slightly balanced reporting on the subject.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/11/rage-protests-bedouin-eviction-plan-201311306106771519.html

From the above article, the debate in a nutshell:

"The idea is to ... better integrate Jews and Bedouins; to bring many more Bedouins to our work force; to employ and educate many more women for employment; and to build new communities; and to expand some of the current communities and make them modern," Doron Almog, a retired Israeli army general charged with implementing the government's plan, told Al Jazeera in August.

But critics say the plan fails to recognise Bedouin land claims and ignores the community's needs.

"You cannot uproot an entire population and urbanise it without consultation - and that is precisely what the government is doing," said Fadi El-Obra, a resident of Rahat, the largest government-planned Bedouin town in the Negev.

[Jefferson23]

2. You are in support for the Prawer Plan, is that correct?

[oberliner]

4. No

Last edited Sun Dec 1, 2013, 01:38 PM - Edit history (2)

No government should forcibly relocate people from their homes.

The Bedouin villages should be recognized and provided with government services.

I think it's totally unfair, but typical of the sort of discriminatory policies that Bedouin face from the Israeli government.

[Jefferson23]

5. The Israeli government is not responding positively despite international pressure.

The US government has made no statement that I am aware of.

RHR has done excellent work on the subject..they have been relentless advocates.

[oberliner]

6. Indeed not

I don't think we will see any substantive change until Netanyahu gets booted out of office, which will hopefully be sooner than 2017.

[Jefferson23]

3. 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:

http://rhr.org.il/eng/2013/11/prawer-response-to-right-wing-report/

[oberliner]

7. And the other perspective

The Guardian once again disguises the reality of unrecognized Bedouin “villages”

Had Sherwood and the signatories ever bothered to take a drive down Route 40 from Beersheva, they may have found that they rather approved of the idea of relocating Bedouin from ramshackle tin huts in slum-like groups that have no running water to planned communities which provide the modern conveniences and sanitary conditions that they themselves expect and enjoy.

The photo below (which I took myself last year) depicts one “unrecognized village” a few miles south of Beersheva seen from Route 40.

It is “unrecognized” because it is simply an ad hoc assembly of tin and cardboard huts. The bales of hay are to feed the camels you can see in the foreground, the only reminder of this family’s nomadic past. There are dozens of these encampments strung out along the highway, and the issues of pollution, environmental destruction and sheer unsightliness are immediately evident.

http://cifwatch.com/2013/12/01/the-guardian-once-again-disguises-the-reality-of-unrecognized-bedouin-villages/

Note: This source is affiliated with CAMERA.

My personal POV: Let's look at the reality, without obfuscation, and discuss what is really going on and why the plan should be opposed.

I also think we ought to look at how this speaks to larger issues inside of Israel and beyond.

[Jefferson23]

8. RHR offered an analysis and it is comprehensive..speaks to the history etc of the Boudoin.

Since it appears that Israel plans to go forward, I am not at all convinced they
will put an end to it..there was also a proposal they rejected too. So to suggest the
living conditions, which are deplorable, is going to sway/justify a land grab..I don't
see that being accepted by the people, not at all.

Obama has said nothing I am aware of since this past March..where he made clear when he
was in Ramallah and asked about E1:

You mentioned E1, in particular. I think that is an example of at least a public statement by the Israeli government that would be very difficult to square with a two-state solution. And I’ve said that to Prime Minister Netanyahu. I don’t think that’s a secret. ( end)
http://translations.state.gov/st/english/texttrans/2013/03/20130321144547.html#axzz2fizArXsB


There’s an alternative to Prawer, and the government is ignoring it.

The professional plan created by Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights and RCUV- The Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages, offers an alternative for the arrangement of Bedouin villages in the Negev. With this plan, all of the following is possible:

No Bedouin displacement
No 6-8 billion expenditure
No creation of a rift between Bedouin and Jewish society
No quadrupling of unemployment
Adherence to the standards of the national and regional outline plans (within a number of years of condensed building the pan will be consistent with National Outline Plan 35)

This plan achieves all this while also recognizing the villages and settlement arrangement of the Bedouin – 30% of the population in the Negev, a predominantly agrarian population that should require a lot of land – on just 5.4% of the Negev land. Even according to the statistics of the far right organization Regavim, that amounts to only 21% of the Negev land designated for residential use. The plan will serve both the residential and agricultural needs of the Bedouin who make up 30% of the Negev’s population. This is a very modest portion of the Negev, is it not?

What response or criticism has this alternative arrangement plan received from the government?

None! Zilch. Zero. No response.

http://rhr.org.il/eng/2013/11/alternative-to-prawer-ignored/

[oberliner]

10. Indeed

A very detailed analysis and reasonable suggestion.

[Violet_Crumble]

9. Uh, that perspective is from a bunch of internet trolls...

They created a site to sit and whine about The Guardian. They're also prone to Islamophobia at cifwatch. One example is where they whined about a display at the British Museum about the history of Islam because they were pissed off it was somehow whitewashing Muslims.

Basically the perspective you posted isn't worth printing out and wiping one's arse on. I'm sure there's other perspectives that come from sources that aren't just a bunch of wankers on a blog like that one is...

btw, when it comes to yr POV on it, I think that would be an interesting discussion to have. from what I've read of it, it really does remind me of the way my country used to treat the indigenous people when it came to land

[oberliner]

11. Yes, it's pretty vacuous

Would that there was a way to get an unbiased assessment of the totality of the situation. There used to be this great site called Bitter Lemons that would do something like that.

[Violet_Crumble]

12. I remember Bitter Lemons. It was a great site...

I didn't realise it wasn't round anymore. I used to enjoy how they published the different perspectives side by side...