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‘Day of rage’ over Bedouin displacement plan

Hundreds gather to protest again plan to force up to 40,000 Bedouin into townships.

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Protesters gathered at a main road junction in Israel(***)s Negev desert - to chant and sing in opposition to the "Prawer Plan", which would see thousands of Bedouin residents of the Negev removed from their homes and forced into townships.
By Daniel Tepper and Samuel Gilbert
Published On 2 Aug 20132 Aug 2013
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At least four protesters were arrested on Thurday near East Jerusalem’s Old City at a demonstration against plans to displace tens of thousands of Bedouin from their ancestral lands in Israel’s Negev desert.

Protesters hit the streets across Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as 16 cities worldwide, to voice their rejection of “the Prawer Plan”, which seeks to forcibly relocate about 40,000 Arab Bedouins, effectively ending their semi-nomadic existence in favour of being herded into townships with few municipal facilities.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli security forces shot stun grenades into groups of demonstrators, while mounted police charged into the crowd to arrest Palestinian youths. 

At Lehavim Junction, in the heart of the Bedouin area in the Negev, hundreds of Israeli, Palestinian and international activists gathered for a “day of rage”, in opposition to what has been dubbed “the Second Nakba”. The protest remained peaceful, but tense, as demonstrators broke down barricades and confronted mounted police. 

Several protesters were reportedly arrested at demonstrations in Israel’s north.

The Prawer Plan, which passed a first reading in the Israeli Knesset last month, will result in the destruction of at least 35 “unrecognised villages”. 

Today some 200,000 Bedouin live in the Negev, their presence in the region dating back to the 7th century. Nearly 100,000 of these live in villages deemed illegal by the Israeli state, their homes subject to demolition and denied basic services such as healthcare, water, sanitation and education by the Israeli government. The remaining Bedouin live in government townships with some of the highest rates of poverty, violence and crime in all of Israel.

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Some 2,200 homes and more than 14,000 Bedouins were displaced between 2008 and 2011, said Amir, from the Negev Coalition for Civil Equality. A further 140 Bedouin homes have been destroyed already this year, he said. 

“This process, the demolitions, evictions and displacement is about land,” he said. “The very Zionist idea about land – to dominate and control people in a space.”

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The demonstration was held at the Lehavim Junction, in the Negev, Israel.
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The protest quickly drew the attention of Israeli security forces, arriving on horseback.
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Young and old gathered at the Lehavim Junction, in the heart of the Bedouin homeland.
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The Prawer plan seeks to end the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Bedouin, forcing the pastoralists to live in townships far from grazing land for their herds.
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The protest on the road leading to Beer Sheba, remained peaceful, though tense - as mounted police attempted to disperse demonstrators.
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Palestinians were joined in the protest by Israeli and international activists.
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It was not just in the Negev that protests took place. Demonstrators also gathered here in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as Gaza, Ramallah, and in several cities around the world.
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Israeli security forces gathered near Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem to confront protesters there.
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At least four protesters, including this Palestinian boy, were detained by Israeli security forces during the demonstration in East Jerusalem.
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The Red Crescent ambulances and medics near Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem have become a familiar sight at Palestinian protests across the occupied territories.
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Further protests are likely in the future, as the plan must yet pass two more readings in the Israeli Knesset.


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