Plans to remove up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouin forcibly from their homeland in Israel’s Negev desert, where they have resided for hundreds of years, have been met with international outcry.
Demonstrations were held across the globe, including in several European nations as well as Egypt and the USA, in what has been coined by the media as an international “day of rage”.
The Israeli government’s policy, known as the Prawer Plan, will forcibly relocate between 40,000 and 70,000 Arab Bedouin from villages ‘unrecognised’ by the Israeli state into seven townships, with new Jewish settlements planned for the region currently occupied by Bedouin.
The plan has been slammed on humanitarian grounds, with critics claiming that such a move would be akin to ethnic cleansing. In the UK, more than 50 high profile public figures have signed a letter published by The Guardian opposing the plan as part of a day of protest which saw participation in 15 countries.
In Israel, hundreds of Arab Bedouin and their supporters joined together in protest. A demonstration of 1,000 campaigners in Hura led to clashes with the police, who used stun grenades, tear gas and water cannons.
A statement by the body responsible for Israeli government policy on the Bedouin stated that the plan would provide a better future for the Bedouin population, by integrating them into the modern state and giving them access to suitable housing and public services.
