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Dublin - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

[Dublin] Protest the Prawer Plan: Stop the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians in the Naqab/Negev (IPSC)

category dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice author Sunday July 28, 2013 13:14author by IPSC - IPSC

At 5.30pm on Thursday 1st August, the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) will hold a demonstration at The Spire on O’Connell Street in Dublin to protest Israel’s biggest act of ethnic cleansing since 1967, as part of an international day of action called for by Palestinians.
prawer.jpg

The so-called Prawer Plan will see the forced removal of some 40,000 Palestinian Bedouin from their ancestral homelands in the Naqab/Negev Desert, in the south of the Israeli state, and relocation in a series of townships. The aim of this act is to remove the Bedouin from the land so it can be utilised for ‘Jewish planning’ – the aim being to minimise the amount of land lived on by Palestinians citizens of Israel.

Under the current, already unfair, regime almost half the Bedouin population of the Naqab (40,000 people) live in 35 villages on ancestral land that constitutes less than 5% of the total area. The majority of these villages pre-date the establishment of the Israeli state, yet Israel refers to them as ‘unrecognised villages’. As the inhabitants are non-Jewish citizens, the state has chosen to treat them as ‘illegal communities’, denying them essential rights and services such as connection to the electric, water and transport networks, and refusing to provide medical, postal and educational services. Israel treats construction within these villages as illegal and regularly demolishes the homes of the residents. The Israelis have demolished the village of Al-Arakib more than fifty times.

Despite these punitive and discriminatory policies, the Prawer Plan will mark a new low in the Israeli regime’s treatment of this Palestinian community – effectively destroying its independent existence, it will dispossess and corral its citizens into townships which constitute less than 1% of the area of the Naqab, thereby ending their traditional way of life.

Despite opposition from Bedouin leaders, along with Israeli and international civil and human rights groups, the Prawer Plan has been endorsed by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and will shortly go forward for legislation in the Knesset. Meanwhile, the state, in conjunction with rightwing Israeli groups, has begun a campaign of intimidation against the Bedouin.

The EU has criticised the plan, but has taken no concrete action to prevent it, even though the plan is a blatant violation of the human rights clause of the Euro-Med privileged trade agreement between the EU and Israel. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has condemned the plan saying it will “legalize the ongoing policy of home demolitions and forced displacement of the indigenous Bedouin communities.”

The Irish government has remained silent and the Irish media has refused to report on any on of this. Therefore, it is up to ordinary people like us to stand up make noise about this incredible act of state outrageous state racism. On August 1st, the Palestinian movement against Prawer has called for an international ‘day of rage’ to protest the plan. The IPSC is therefore holding this action to help highlight this vitally important issue.

Related Link: http://www.ipsc.ie

Comments (9 of 9)

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author by Amigo - Selfpublication date Sun Dec 01, 2013 16:06author address author phone

The only thing new about this is the enormity and brassiness of this vile act.

What is annoying is the absence of the MSM in Europe.The so called guardians of Human Rights and international norms are closed mouthed to their eternal shame.

Imagine the international uproar if these were Jews being kicked out of their homes to make room for Arabs only communities.

author by Fred the firstpublication date Mon Dec 02, 2013 23:31author address author phone

o go to see for yourself - the spread of tin huts over 1000s of acres is something to behold
and the birth rate goes up thanks to Israeli medicine .[ Ben Gurion univ in Beer Shava has special resources to help the women ]

There are Bedouin towns such as Rahat but part of the problem is the tribal antagonisms
which mean the Bedouin move over large areas . They have given up living in tents
so either live now in towns or in townships looking like the S African ones [corrugated iron etc ]

author by Frank Adam - Sharp eyed visitorpublication date Tue Dec 03, 2013 12:22author address author phone

In 1949 there were only 14 000 bedouin in the Negev, otherwise Beer Sheba Sub-District and half the square miles of British Western Palestine. Now there are 140 000 and that cramps whatever is economics for their, "ecosphere." They lived smuggling and rustling as mentioned in Inspector Ed Horne's British police memoirs, "A Job Well Done." The point was personally corroborated to me in 1966 by a cousin who warned me off hiking there as besides the smugglers, the police forces of Egypt, Israel and Jordan, all shot first and asked the questions after.

In 1966 and when I spent 67 - 68 teaching English in Beer Sheba you hardly saw an encampment as you bussed about to see the Nabatean ruins at Shivta and Avdat or visited Eilat. It was still very much so in the 80's. By the turn of the present century things had changed as from the train you can see Rahat the biggest new town for the Negev bedouin as you approach Beer Sheba. It is an extensive low density development and not the usual Israeli tight blocks of flats. Also several bedouin have arrived in professional positions: consul in the diplomatic service, field ranks in the army, medical doctors, and academics.

Meanwhile if you travel intercity buses to Dimona or elsewhere and the archaeology, you will see a fairly continuous loose patchy family development of bedouin shacks and hutments beyond utility servicing because of the scatter, and messily in defiance of planning regs. I have been told the Six Counties do similarly but with modern big houses because it is too politically fraught to impose planning - so the Ulster countryside is slowly drowning, neither proper town, nor country, nor village.

For the theological- political points it is heads you win and tails you lose as if you can not supply services to scattered settlement you are pasted and you are pasted if you make a rational re-settlement to supply services and utilities. Also why the fuss now if not because of the political ambitions to be disruptive by certain Arab MK's whose careers would otherwise not have a grip on current politics because they have nothing constructive to offer. This is not a matter of discrimination as Israel also has problems with Jewish extremists who also play the benefit system and marriage laws while not over contributing to the economy and expecting privileges by virtue of their direct line to the Almighty.

The bottom line is there is no way you can fit 140 000 people into the fixed acreage with frontier fences, and socio-economic context of 14 000 nomads, without re-arranging the "deckchairs" of housing, jobs and services.

author by fredpublication date Wed Dec 04, 2013 00:51author address author phone

So frank...to summarise:

The Israelis are only building settlements to help the indigenous people.
Jesus! how do people like you and the excreable Mark Regev sleep at night?

author by D MacEoinpublication date Wed Dec 04, 2013 15:57author address author phone

The Guardian reports (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/israel-neg...-rage |) on Openly Racist Avigdor Lieberman’s defiant response to demonstrations against the Prawer Plan– which will forcibly remove more than 40,000 Bedouin from their villages in the Negev.

“We are fighting over the national land of the Jewish people and there are those that intentionally try to steal that land and control it by force. It is impossible to close our eyes and run from this reality.”

So the Bedouin, who have lived in the in that Desert for hundreds if not thousands of years, are according to Racists like Lieberman, stealing "Jewish land"? Lieberman improved on that charge here, saying Palestinians are robbing and seizing Jewish land. From http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4459669,00.html :
Nothing has changed since the Tower and Stockade days [1920s-30s Mandate period of Zionist settlement]. We are fighting for the lands of the Jewish people and there are those who intentionally try to rob and seize them,” [Jewish Supremacist Racist] Lieberman said in a Facebook post.

So once again the Racist Jewish Supremacist accuses Bedouin of trying to "rob and seize" the "the lands of the Jewish people".

How are they doing this? Simply by living exactly where they have been living for hundreds of years.

Only the sick mind of a mad racist like a Lieberman (or a "Frank Adam"?), eh?

author by D MacEoinpublication date Thu Dec 05, 2013 09:50author address author phone

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Restriction of movement

- Israel approves new town in Negev ---- http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=653744
BEERSHEBA (Ma‘an) 3 Dec — The Israeli planning and building committee on Tuesday approved the construction of a new town in the Negev, as the state continues to implement the Prawer plan to displace the Bedouin population. Shizaf will be part of the Ramat Negev Regional Council, and it will include 250 housing units for young couples, the Ministry of Interior announced. Ramat head Shmulik Rifman praised the decision and thanked the minister of interior, “who understood the importance of establishing this town which will house religious and secular Jews.”

Israel to build 3000 new settlement units ---- http://www.imemc.org/article/66496 IMEMC — [Tuesday, December 3, 2013] Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has decided to approve 3,000 new units in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem … The decision came despite a statement made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who alleged that Tel Aviv “will not rush new plans” and “will not issue new bids at the current stage.” Israeli sources said that Yaalon issued several similar decisions, and that most of these decisions were made in July of this year, when he approved the construction of 2,487 units for several settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Peace Now Movement said that Yaalon is waging an extensive campaign to expand various illegal settlements, including Alia Zahav, Shilo, Kedumim, Givat Zeev, and Talmon.

- Israel ‘clears West Bank land for settler homes’ ---- http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=653826
RAMALLAH (AFP) 3 Dec — Israel has bulldozed land slated for settler homes in the West Bank, a local official said Tuesday, ahead of a visit by the top US diplomat to boost peace talks. “The occupation (Israeli) authorities informed us, through notifications to landowners, that new settler homes would be built in the village of Al-Mazra‘a al-Qabaliya [Ramallah district],” Abdallah Lawadeh told AFP. The 255 homes are among some 800 slated for construction by Israel since October. Palestinian landowners were given two months to “present objections to the decision,” Lawadeh said, but “the authorities did not wait for those to be filed, already bulldozing the land and setting up temporary housing for Israelis,” he said.

- Haaretz editorial: ‘Judaization’ of the Galilee means racism ---- http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.561201
2 Dec — The government must develop the Negev and the Galilee for all its citizens, Jews and Arabs alike — Living in Israel are the members of two peoples, Jewish and Arab, majority and minority. All are citizens who must be treated equally. This basic truth, the cornerstone of any democratic regime, is being undermined yet again. The World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, part of the executive branch of the government, is formulating a plan to “Judaize the Galilee” and create a “demographic balance” vis-à-vis the Arab population. Zafrir Rinat reported yesterday in http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.561052 - Haaretz ---- that the goal is to attract 100,000 new Jewish residents to the Galilee, with the objective, in the agency’s words, of “giving expression to Israeli sovereignty through settlement activity.” This program must be scrapped immediately. Israeli sovereignty over the Galilee is not being questioned in any way. Whether most of the residents are Jews or Arabs, every resident of the Galilee is a citizen of the state and must be treated as such. A state that encourages members of one people to settle in any region, while at the same time imposing harsh restrictions on the growth of the other, is acting in a racist manner. There is no other way to describe such behavior. Since 1948, Israel has blocked the establishment of new Arab communities in the Galilee, even though the older communities are bursting at the seams for lack of land reserves, while it has expropriated huge tracts of Arab land.

- Jordan Valley demolitions leave 50 Palestinians homeless ---- http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=653294
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 2 Dec — Israeli forces on Monday demolished four houses and eight agricultural structures in the southern Jordan Valley, leaving at least 50 Palestinians homeless, a local official said. Fathi Shqaier, head of a campaign to support communities in the Jordan Valley, told Ma’an that Israeli forces demolished the properties in al-Auja village. The residential and agricultural structures were built on land belonging to the Islamic endowment, or waqf, he added. Local resident Imad Najada said that three bulldozers accompanied by at least 15 Israeli military vehicles arrived in the village and demolished the properties early Monday … Najada added that some residents filed an appeal in Israeli courts and have official documents proving that the land belongs to the Islamic endowment. Guy Inbar, spokesperson for the office of the Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, could not be reached for comment. The Jordan Valley forms roughly a third of the occupied West Bank, with 94 percent of the area off limits to Palestinian use and development. Israel has declared around 56 percent of the total area to be part of closed military areas.

- Israeli forces demolish water wells and tents in the Jordan Valley ---- http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=653548
JENIN (Ma‘an) 2 Dec — Israeli bulldozers demolished water wells and tents belonging to local Palestinian residents in a number of districts across the northern Jordan Valley on early Tuesday morning. Aref Daraghmeh, the mayor of al-Malih and neighboring Bedouin villages in the Jordan Valley, told a Ma‘an reporter that two Israeli bulldozers demolished two water wells in the area of Barza, as well as tents in the areas of al-Bqaia and al-Adasa in al-Malih. Daraghmeh noted that most of the residents whose property was demolished did not receive any advance warning from Israeli forces

- An unending settler pogrom ---- http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.561419
Haaretz 3 Dec by Michael Sfard — It’s time we listened to the sounds emanating from the Palestinian shtetl of Burin. We might recognize familiar sounds from our own collective past — It is night time and the children are sleeping. The tranquility is broken by a group of masked men rampaging through the village, yelling obscenities. Stones are thrown, breaking windows. The children wake up in terror. A Molotov cocktail is thrown into the house, engulfing the curtains in flames. South of Nablus, between the settlements of Yitzhar and Har Bracha, the village of Burin is groaning. How many of you have heard of Burin, or know that it’s been assaulted 2-3 times a week in the last month, some of the attacks occurring at night? The perpetrators are groups of Israeli youths whose aim is to make the villagers leave. Of course you haven’t heard of Burin. Why would you? Burin was once a magnificent village, with thousands of acres of tilled and productive land, with thousands of residents living peacefully as they made their living off the land … Every settlement is surrounded by a cordon of land, often including Palestinian farming land, in which travel is restricted or completely prohibited. Some of the extreme settlements serve as bases from which assailants emerge to harass their neighbors, destroying their property or defiling their places of worship, preventing them from leading their traditional way of life. Israeli settlements also suck up all natural resources in the area for the benefit of Israel’s economy, leaving Palestinians with the only option of performing manual labor in the service of this robbery, all for a pittance in wages.

- Settlers take over building near Hebron mosque ---- http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=653708
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 3 Dec — Israeli settlers moved chairs and furniture into a building in Hebron’s Old City on Tuesday in an attempt to take over the property, official news agency Wafa reported Tuesday. Hijazi Abu Sneineh, an official at the Ibrahimi Mosque, said that settlers brought hundreds of chairs into the building, indicating that they intend to turn the Budairi building into a Jewish prayer area. The settler presence in the area could cause tension with local Palestinians as the building is located on a road leading to the mosque. Hebron is a frequent site of clashes due to the presence of 500 Israeli settlers in the Old City, many of whom have illegally occupied Palestinian houses and forcibly removed the original inhabitants. They are protected by thousands of Israeli soldiers. In 1994, an Israeli settler opened fire on Muslim worshipers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, killing 29 and injuring more than 100 Palestinians.

- Hundreds of settlers escorted to Joseph’s Tomb near Nablus ---- http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=653517
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 3 Dec — Hundreds of Israeli settlers escorted by Israeli troops arrived at Joseph’s Tomb near Balata refugee camp east of Nablus early Tuesday morning. Local sources told a Ma‘an reporter that ten Israeli military vehicles escorted dozens of settlers’ buses to visit the site at dawn in northern West Bank. Settlers performed religious rites throughout the early morning hours. While the settlers visited the site, a number of Palestinian young men gathered in the area hurling stones and empty bottles at Israeli soldiers. No casualties were reported.
Israeli settlers frequently visit Joseph’s Tomb under the protection of Israeli forces, who regularly raid local Palestinian villages and fire tear gas into the neighboring Balata refugee camp during these visits. Despite lying in an area under Palestinian authority deep in the West Bank, Israeli forces maintain control at the site and prohibit Muslims from praying there. Palestinians believe that Joseph’s Tomb is the funerary monument to Sheikh Yusef Dweikat, a local religious figure. Others believe that the tomb belongs to the Biblical patriarch Joseph.

- Israeli settlers invade yards of Al-Aqsa Mosque ---- http://www.imemc.org/article/66491
IMEMC — Tuesday morning [December 3, 2013] Head of the Media Unit of the Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage, Mohammad Abu Al-Ata, stated that more than a 140 settlers broke into the yards of the mosque and conducted a provocative tour. He added that Israeli soldiers kidnapped two Palestinians in the mosque, including Husam Seder, an employee of the Al-Aqsa Reconstruction Committee. Abu Al-Ata further stated that hundreds of Palestinian worshipers are currently in the yards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially amidst calls by extremist Israeli groups to invade the mosque. He said that the police have surrounded the area, preventing dozens of Palestinians from entering the mosque, and that resident Abdullah Abu Bakr has been served with an order preventing him from entering the mosque for six months.

Prawer Plan protests
- Beaten, arrested, threatened: A personal account from the anti-Prawer protest ---- http://972mag.com/beaten-arrested-threatened-a-personal...2936/
972blog 4 Dec by Alma Biblash (translated by Dimi Reider) – She was clubbed and dragged while her friends were beaten and arrested during a demonstration against the planned expulsion of thousands of Bedouin in the Negev — On Saturday night at (http://972mag.com/activists-stage-day-of-rage-protests-...2706/ - the anti-Prawer demonstration ---- in the village of Houra, a policeman swung a club against my leg when I tried to persuade him to let go of a girl he was holding by the throat. Another policeman grabbed me by the arms and dragged me off. A moment later he grabbed a little boy standing next to me, shoved his face into the dirt and screamed at him that he is going to kill him. A young woman shouted at a policeman to calm down and stop beating people up, and he slapped her so hard she fell onto the ground. I’m running, escaping the jet of putrid water, a man is running next to me. Police on horseback appear out of the dark and trample him down, sending him flying into the air. (http://972mag.com/photos-day-of-rage/82813/ - Click here for a photo essay from the anti-Prawer protests ----

- Battling Israel’s ‘bad Bedouin’ ---- http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.561528
Haaretz 3 Dec by Zvi Bar’el — A chasm, deepening: Israel’s Arab citizens are well aware of the facts behind the government’s ‘demographic balancing.’ — “An Arab manipulation,” “Tyranny and oppression within Bedouin society,” “The Islamic Movement is the one trying to undermine the discussions,” 80 percent of the Bedouin agree to the plan,” “Arab MKs are attempting to connect the Negev Bedouin population to the Galilee Arabs and the Palestinians,” “There are those in the Bedouin opposition who think every shack should be eternalized – not to preserve Bedouin society, but to create territorial continuity between Hebron and Gaza.” These are just some of the reasons proposed by Doron Almog, head of the agency implementing the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev, to explain the stark opposition of the Negev Bedouin to the noble program of which he is the head. In Almog’s view, apparently, the Negev Bedouin are (http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.561241 - divided into two groups ----: The first is nice, loyal, unaffiliated with Islamic movements, lacking any national ideology and above all obedient. The other is warmongering, a “fifth column,” insubordinate to the law, radical Muslim, seeking to attach the Negev to the West Bank and in general to the Arab Middle East.

- Prawer ---- http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2013/12/prawer.html
[with links to 15 videos] Popular Resistence blog (Mazin Qumsiyeh) 3 Dec — On Friday, all demonstrations in many Palestinian villages had the theme against the Prawer Plan. On Saturday in 30 countries, events were held to counter the Prawer plan to ethnically cleanse 40,000 Palestinians from the Negev in the 65 year colonial Zionist program to make Palestine a “Jewish state”. The demonstrations locally in Palestine were held in Haifa, the Triangle, Jerusalem, AlBireh, and the Negeb with the same message: Prawer shall not be passed or implemented and we emphasize the unity of all 12 million Palestinians. All local demonstrations were attacked viciously by the apartheid forces. I personally noted the absence of the key symbols of the Palestinian authority which should have joined the demonstration in Jerusalem (many of the leaders have VIP cards and can travel to Jerusalem). Will these “leaders” finally listen to the people? …

- Israel police order media to hand over all photos from Bedouin protests in Negev ---- http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.561354
Haaretz 2 Dec by Shirly Seidler — Haaretz and Israel’s two biggest news networks, Channel 10 and Channel 2, say they will challenge the order in court — Police ordered Israeli media outlets on Monday to turn over all photographs taken at Saturday’s Negev demonstrations against (http://www.haaretz.com/misc/tags/Tag/Second00001B2F%252...77037 - plans to resettle ---- 30,000 of the area’s Bedouin. Police provided no explanation for the unusual order, but they are investigating (http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.560995 - violent clashes ---- between stone-throwing demonstrators and police, who employed stun grenades, tear gas and water cannons during the protests against the Prawer plan.

author by Fred the firstpublication date Thu Dec 05, 2013 19:13author address author phone

Ruubbish go and see for yourself the rubbish tips they live in all over the Negev

and then the luxury houses some of them have in Rahat and other towns

go and see first

author by yeah rightpublication date Thu Dec 05, 2013 20:38author address author phone

So all those news reports, from Israeli, Palestinian and International sources, are all just a pack of lies, while you, an obvious Zio-Racist yourself, are the only one telling the truth?

yeah . . . . right

author by yeah rightpublication date Thu Dec 05, 2013 20:52author address author phone

Avigdor Lieberman, a Soviet-born immigrant to Israel (Occupied Palestine), Israeli politician, and well known racist, who has been had the following Ministerial roles in Right-wing Israeli Administrations



quite unashamedly said:

“We are fighting over the national land of the Jewish people and there are those that intentionally try to steal that land and control it by force. It is impossible to close our eyes and run from this reality.”


and later in a FB post also stated
“Nothing has changed since the Tower and Stockade days [1920s-30s Mandate period of Zionist settlement]. We are fighting for the lands of the Jewish people and there are those who intentionally try to rob and seize them,”


But we should ignore all of that because Fred-the ZIo-Racist assures us that really the Zionists are Ethnically Cleansing the Bedouin cos they LOVE them soooooo much and really really want to 'help' them?

Yeah . . .

Right.

You are one sick puppy, Fred-the-Zio-Racist.


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