\r\n\tThousands of Palestinians have protested in Naqab ('Negev') , Haifa, Tayibe and 'Jerusalem' (occupied al-Quds) on Saturday as part of a day of rage against the Israeli Prawer Bill that would make 70 thousand of aboriginal ('Bedouin') Palestinians homeless by destroying their historical villages.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tThe protest came as part of larger protest in 24 locations across the world against the Apartheid plan. Under the Prawer bill, Israel would forcibly remove up to 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their historic desert land. Many have condemned the act as ethnic cleansing.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tPalestinian protesters hurled stones and blocked roads and met with tear gas and shock grenades from the Zionist regime's police. Twenty-eight people were arrested and 15 were lightly injured.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\tBritish public figures protest<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n\tMore than 50 public figures in Britain, including high-profile artists, musicians and writers, have put their names to a letter opposing the plan.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe letter, published in the Guardian, is part of the day of protest against the Israeli parliamentary bill that is expected to get final approval by the end of this year.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe eviction and destruction of about 35 "unrecognized" villages in the Negev desert will, the letter says, "mean the forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes and land, and systematic discrimination and separation".<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe signatories – who include the artist Antony Gormley, the actor Julie Christie, the film director Mike Leigh and the musician Brian Eno – are demanding that the British government holds Israel to account over its human rights record and obligations under international law.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tIsrael alleges that the aims of the Prawer Plan – named after the head of a government commission, Ehud Prawer – are economic development of the Negev desert and the regulation of Palestinian aboriginals living in villages not recognized by the state.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe population of these villages will be removed to designated towns, while plans for new Jewish settlements in the area are enacted.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tBut Adalah, a human rights and legal centre for Arabs in Israel, says: "The real purpose of the legislation [is] the complete and final severance of the Bedouin's historical ties to their land."<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe "unrecognized" villages in the Negev have populations ranging from a few hundred to 2,000. Israel has already denied them basic services such as running water, electricity, landline telephones, roads, high schools and health clinics.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe aboriginals comprise about 30% of the Negev's population but their villages take up only 2.5% of the land. Before Israel was faked in 1948 they moved widely across the desert; now, two-thirds of the region has been designated as military training grounds and firing ranges.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tUnder the Plan, between 40,000 and 70,000 of the remaining aboriginals, who became Israeli citizens in the 1950s will be moved into seven over-crowded, impoverished, crime-ridden state-planned towns.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tMiranda Pennell, a film-maker and one of the letter's signatories, said: "Citizenship counts for nothing in Israel if you happen to be an Arab. Tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin are being forcibly displaced from their homes and lands. At the same time, there are Israeli government advertisements on the web that promise you funding as a British immigrant to come and live in 'vibrant communities' in the Negev – if you are Jewish. This is ethnic cleansing."<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe actor David Calder said: "The Israeli state not only practices apartheid against the Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories, but it seems they have no hesitation in practicing apartheid on their own citizens – in this instance, the Bedouins. When is the west going to find these actions intolerable?"<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tZionists repeating history<\/strong><\/p>\r\n \r\n\tIn September 1948, a Zionist army truck forcibly rounded up 14 Palestinian Bedouin farmers near al-Araqib in the Naqab (Negev), drove them to an abandoned home, and then shot them at point blank range.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tSince 15 July this year, Israeli border and riot police have arrested more than forty Palestinians, mostly youth, in Bir al-Saba (Beersheba), Sakhnin, Kfar Kanna and Wadi Ara during protests against the so-called Prawer Plan that will forcibly displace up to 40,000 Bedouin.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tAlthough 65 years separate both events, what motivated them remains the same. This is why the Prawer Plan has been called a “second” Nakba, as its intentions are similar to the Palestinian catastrophe of 1947-49 that saw the expulsion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tHowever, to call it a “second” Nakba is inaccurate. Since the State of Israel was founded, its government has constantly focused on displacing and dispossessing Palestinians in order to free the land for continued Zionist settlement and expansion. The Prawer Plan is not a renewal of an old catastrophe: it is characteristic of ongoing colonialism. This means that the Nakba is a continuing phenomenon rather than limited to a certain time period.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tLocal residents say the al-Araqib massacre of 1948 was motivated by the desire to instill fear and prompt their flight. The expulsion of Palestinians was a planned policy, as documented by the Israeli historian Ilan Pappé in his book The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\tThe ethnic cleansing operations in the Naqab began in July 1948 and resulted in 90 percent of the original population remaining outside what became Israel.<\/p>","content_source":null,"content_url":null,"content_columns":"0","content_date_start":"2013-12-02 19:29:39","content_date_finish":"2013-12-02 19:29:39","content_date_register":"2013-12-02 19:29:39","content_date_last_edit":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","content_show_img":"1","content_show_details":"1","content_show_related_img":"1","content_show_slider":"1","content_show_title_slider":"1","content_comment":"0","content_score":"0","content_recorded":"0","content_confirmed":"1","content_status":"1","content_kind":"0","old_id":"121265","tag_id":null,"tag_word":null,"tag_service":null,"tag_total":null,"tag_soundex":null,"attach_token":"3496868148","attach_date_register":"2013-12-02 19:29:48","attach_id":"115561","attach_file_ext":"jpg","attach_file_header":"image\/jpeg","attach_img_type":"2","attach_img_width":"320","attach_img_height":"120","attach_file_media":"1","attach_show_watermark":"0","score_average":null,"score_count":null,"score_date_last":null,"visit_count":"228","visit_date_last":"2025-05-10 19:52:32","attach_title":"All against the Prawer plan","node_title":"Commentaries","ot_node_left_right":"[{\"node_id\":134, \"left\":25, \"right\":26}]"}]]