Occupation authorities approve two new Jewish communities on Bedouin lands

The Israeli cabinet approved on Sunday a plan for the establishment of a new Jewish community in the Negev, known in Arabic as the Naqab, on top of a Bedouin Palestinian village set to be destroyed as part of the plan.

The residents of the Bedouin village Umm Al-Hiran, who are only in their current location after having been placed there by occupation forces back in 1956, now face expulsion from their homes so that the new Jewish community of Hiran can be created.

Hiran is not the only new project being planned; Netanyahu’s government also gave the go ahead for the creation of Kasif, another new Jewish community going ahead at a time when the Israeli government is proceeding with other efforts to demolish Bedouin communities.

These newly-approved plans are in fact separate from the notorious Prawer Plan, which threatens tens of thousands of Bedouin Palestinian citizens with expulsion. While there was a small-scale protest outside the cabinet meeting yesterday in opposition to the ongoing expulsions, much larger demonstrations are expected on 30 November, a declared ‘Day of Rage’ against Prawer.

Legal rights group Adalah observed that the juxtaposition of ‘the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Naqab’ with the development of the Prawer Plan ‘demonstrates that the primary motivation behind these plans is the government’s racist policies.’