On 15 July 2013, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Palestinian communities across Israel and the Arab world to protest against the Prawer Plan, which threatens to forcibly displace tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin citizens in the Naqab (Negev). Adalah’s Media Director, Salah Mohsen, called the demonstrations “ an extraordinary show of solidarity†with the Bedouin in the Naqab. |
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However, in an attack on basic civil rights, the Israeli police and security forces used excessive force and tear gas in some of the demonstrations, injuring dozens of protestors, at least four of whom were hospitalized. The police arrested 14 protesters in Beer el-Sabe (Be’er Sheva), and 14 in the north near Sakhnin. Lawyers from Adalah, Mossawa and Mezan (Nazareth) as well as volunteer private lawyers represented the detainees. A complaint to Mahash detailing the police brutality will also be filed. |
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“I walked up to one of the injured detainees, who was lying on the ground next to a police car. When I began to inquire about his situation, a policeman shouted in my face that if I didn’t walk away, he’d beat me and send me to the hospital with the detainee." Jalal Dakwar, Adalah Attorney
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THE PRAWER PLAN: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
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The Prawer-Begin Law passed a first reading in the Knesset on 24 June 2013, with a vote of 43 to 40. The law is the legislative arm of the Prawer Plan, which, if fully implemented, will destroy dozens of ‘unrecognized’ Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab, forcibly displace up to 70,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel, and confiscate over 800,000 dunams of their ancestral Bedouin land. |
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Despite objections to the plan, the government has refused to seriously consider Arab Bedouin input on the bill, and a post-facto ‘listening process’ led by former minister Benny Begin abjectly failed to integrate the Bedouin’s grievances into the final plan.
On Monday, 15 July, the Knesset announced that the Interior Committee would be charged with preparing the bill for its second and third readings, a move that Adalah’s Knesset lawyer Nadeem Shehadeh called “a troubling development, indicative of the government’s determination to pass the legislation quickly in its current discriminatory form.â€
Learn more about the Prawer Plan here. |
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ARE YOU A JOURNALIST? Join Adalah and the Negev Coexistence Forum on Wednesday 24 July 2013 for a field visit to communities targeted by the Prawer Plan. RSVP by Monday 22 July to nadia@adalah.org
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Faced with the potentially catastrophic consequences of the Prawer Plan for their community, Bedouin citizens of Israel have positively engaged the state, presenting it with an alternative vision for the future of the Naqab. The Alternative Plan, an initiative of the Bedouin community, working alongside professional planners and civil society, is based on the principles of equality, dignity and justice for all citizens in the Naqab. |
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Adalah joins the Bedouin community in rejecting the Prawer Plan and in supporting the Alternative Plan, which provides for recognition of the unrecognized Bedouin villages, and resources to develop the basic services and infrastructure. The Alternative Plan is a just and workable foundation for future planning in the Naqab.
Join our campaign, and take action now to Stop Prawer! |
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ACADEMICS AGAINST PRAWER: 114 Jewish and Arab academics have voiced their opposition to the Prawer Plan, which stands to “deepen the conflict between Bedouin citizens and the state, rather than move towards a solution.â€
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