Israeli Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit have requested that Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz approve a one-year moratorium of house demolitions of Bedoiun homes in the Negev desert. The proposal intends to use the year-long hiatus to reach a negotiated settlement with the Bedouin villagers, with a Supreme Court justice to head the committee.
The Bedouin claim ownership of some 800 dunam, which constitute roughly six percent of the Negev, saying they owned the land prior to the establishment of the State of Israeli in 1948. In addition, the Bedouin are demanding that the state recognize the 34 villages in question, which are home to some 80,000 people who have no running water or electricity.
Many of the villages' residents were displaced when their land was expropriated for the establishment of Jewish towns in the Negev. Over the years, Israel has transferred the Bedouin, a nomadic people, to seven permanent communities. Bedouin ownership claims on some of these communities' lands has prevented their development and consequently these towns suffer from a severe lack of infrastructure.
This is, among other things, a significant victory for Kossack Yeela Raanan, an Israeli Jew and member of the Council for Unrecognized Villages. While the outcome she seeks, and I agree with, is still far away, I’d like to congratulate her on this significant piece of progress toward her goal.
That a Kossack was a significant participant in bringing about this proposal should be heartening to the entire community. Further, it should help all of us realize that we can make a difference (if any of us had any doubt). And we can also help her in her mission.
The two ministers who have made this proposal are both members of the Kadima party. Already, opposition to the plan has emerged from Omer Council Chairman Pini Badash. Further opposition has come from Avigdor Leiberman’s Yisrael Beitanu party; a Yisrael Beitanu MK, David Rotem, said that the proposal proves that Kadima has lost its way.
You can contact the Kadima party to let them know you support this proposal through their English-language website, or by calling 972-3-9788000 extension 157. Any action taken to help support this moratorium on home demolitions in the Negev will be greatly appreciated.