DEMONSTRATION IN NEGEV TO PROTEST PRAWER PLAN

Negev, 9 Rabi’ul Awwal 1435/11 January 2014 (MINA) – The Supreme Steering Committee of the Negev Arabs appealed to the people of Negev and the pre-1948 Palestinians to participate in the demonstration to be held on Thursday near the Bedouin Development Authority western Soroka hospital in Beersheba.

The demonstration which is titled “Decisive March” will start at 10:00 to protest the Prawer-Begin Plan and the house demolition policy.

The committee said in a statement, “we took the necessary steps of the demonstration to ensure broad popular participation to accomplish its goals.” ALRAY Palestinian Media Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

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The statement also said, “ the committee considered the important role of the Arab authorities in the south in fighting the fierce campaign against Negev which included the displacement of Arab citizens in Negev and the attempts to prove racist prawer law.”

Tens of thousands of Arab Bedouins in Negev live in “unrecognized” villages. Because the Israeli occupation does not recognize their claims to the lands they live on, they do not receive basic services such as connections to water lines and the power grid.

According to the plan, which the government did not widely consult the Bedouin community on when drafting, nearly all residents in the unrecognized villages will be evicted and forcibly relocated to planned communities.

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The Bedouin, Palestinian civic groups and the Israeli Right oppose the plan. Community leaders are vowing to resist its implementation, which would be the largest displacement of a Palestinian population by Israel in decades. (T/P012/E1).

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)