Hundreds of people have staged a protest rally in Israelâ„¢s southern desert of Negev to voice their anger at the regimeâ„¢s plans to relocate up to 40,000 Bedouins and demolish 40 villages in the region.
On Thursday, Arabs and Jews staged a gathering amid high security presence at a highway junction near the southern town of Beersheba, calling on the Israeli regime to annul the plan.
Etedal Suleiman, one of the demonstrators, described the so-called Prawer-Begin Bill as Å“another Nakba,” referring to the forcible eviction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland by Israelis and the creation of the regime in 1948. Å“Theyâ„¢re taking our Arab land,” she said.
The controversial plan urges the displacement of 30,000-40,000 Bedouins, the demolition of about 40 villages and the confiscation of more than 700,000 dunams (70,000 hectares) of land in the Negev.
The bill was approved by the Israeli cabinet and later endorsed by the Knesset in June. It needs two more votes to be signed into law.
On July 25, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay sharply criticized the Tel Aviv regime for the plan.
Å“I am alarmed that this bill, which seeks to legitimize forcible displacement and dispossession of indigenous Bedouin communities in the Negev, is being pushed through the Knesset (Israeli parliament),” Pillay said.
Amnesty International also called on the Israeli regime on July 18 to halt plans to demolish Bedouin homes, saying the plans are Å“discriminatory” and Å“cannot be accepted in any circumstances.”
Some 260,000 Bedouins reside in and around Negev. More than half of them live in unrecognized villages without facilities and many of them live in extreme poverty.
MKA/HMV
Republished from: Press TV