Israel to relocate 30,000 Bedouins from unrecognized villages

JERUSALEM (BNO NEWS) — The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to relocate some 30,000 Bedouins who are living in unrecognized villages in the Negev region to recognized settlements.

As part of the plan, for which the state will allocate 1.2 billion shekel ($334 million), those relocated will receive financial compensation and alternate plots of land, the government said.

“Given the situation that has been created in the Negev, the time has come to act. This started with the previous government and is being decided upon by us,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “A decision must be made for the country and for the development of the Negev and its residents, Jews and Bedouin alike.”

The issue of Bedouin communities in Negev has been present since the establishment of Israel. The Bedouins have complained that the lands where their ‘illegal’ villages are belong to them before the inception of Israel.

“Ownership claims over land will be dealt with in a unified and transparent method to be provided for by law and according to which compensation will be provided for in significant amounts of land and funds”, a statement from the Israeli government said. “Thus, for example, every land ownership claim by a claimant who holds land, the status of which will be fully provided for, will receive 50% of the claim, as opposed to the 20% being currently offered.”

Some 150 members of the Bedouin community gathered outside the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem on Sunday to protest the decision. A Bedouin representative called the decision “a declaration of war,” according to Haaretz newspaper.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, slammed the government’s approval, saying it would result in the uprooting of tens of thousands of people and the demolition of many Bedouin villages. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also condemned the decision, arguing that the conditions the government sets for recognizing Bedouin villages are prejudicial.

Sunday, September 11th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/wires/20035/israel-to-relocate-30000-bedouins-from-unrecognized-villages/.