30,000 Bedouin Arabs in Negev desert to face 'forceful evacuation' by Israel

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- The Israeli government on Sunday gave the go-ahead to a plan it said would improve the lot of Bedouin Arabs in the Negev desert, but rights groups complained it would uproot thousands forcefully.

A statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said that the 1.2 billion shekel [$324 million] programme was meant to help Bedouins integrate with other Israelis.

"The plan is also designed to significantly reduce the economic and social gaps between the Bedouin population in the Negev and Israeli society as a whole," it said.

Around 160,000 Bedouins live in Israel, more than half of whom live in unrecognized villages in the Negev without municipal services like water and electricity. Many of the remainder also live in extreme poverty...

...The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Binkom, which advocates fair planning policies, said the Bedouins had not been consulted by the government.

A joint statement said that Sunday's cabinet ruling "authorizes the uprooting of 30,000 Bedouin from their homes and allows for the continued discrimination and neglect of the Bedouin communities of the Negev."

The Israel office of Britain-based Amnesty International said the plan "includes the forceful evacuation of thousands of Bedouins from their homes," and called it "a significant blow to the Bedouins' right to adequate accommodation." more

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