European Members of Parliament Express Deep Concern About Prawer Plan
(Strasbourg, France) Yesterday, 13 June 2012, senior Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara provided an in-depth briefing to the European Parliament’s (EP) Working Group on the Middle East on the Israeli government-approved Prawer Plan that aims to forcibly displace up to 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel from their ancestral land in the Naqab (Negev). The former President of the European Parliament and the current Chairman of the Working Group, Mr. Hans-Gert Pöttering (Germany) extended an official invitation to Adalah to appear before the Committee earlier this month. Adalah requested that the European Parliament take a series of actions and call on Israel to stop the devastating Prawer Plan.
The Working Group, which is responsible for monitoring developments in the region and ensuring that the European Parliament is responsive to issues arising in the Middle East, expressed deep concern about the Prawer Plan, and voted unanimously to take urgent action against the plan. The Israeli government did not respond to the invitation to participate in the session, and a representative did not appear.
Attorney Bishara led a one hour discussion on the historical and legal framework of the Israeli government’s policy of displacement and dispossession of the Arab Bedouin in the Naqab. Adalah’s requested that the EP Middle East Working Group:
- Issue an urgent resolution calling on the EU and EU member states to take actions to stop the Prawer Plan and/or to suspend it until a proper process of participatory consultation has taken place with the Arab Bedouin community and the Arab political leadership. Further, to call on Israel to recognize the “unrecognized villages” and the rights of the Arab Bedouin to their ancestral land; to halt all home demolitions and forced evictions; and ensure urgent access to basic services including water, electricity, infrastructure, schools and health clinics;
- Conduct a mission to Israel to visit the Arab Bedouin communities in the Naqab/ Negev and civil society organizations, and to meet with the Arab political leadership in Israel;
- Request that HRVP Catherine Ashton issue a public statement urging the Israeli government to protect the right to full equality of all citizens, in particular to protect the rights of the Arab-Palestinian and Arab-Bedouin minority.
Briefing Paper for the EU Parliament | Myths and Misconceptions about the Arab Bedouin | Understanding the Prawer Plan Bill
