Hamas: 'Demonstrations in Negev prove Israel's inability to defeat Palestinians'

Hamas Spokesperson Hazem Qasem asserted on Friday that the uprising in the Negev region demonstrates that the Zionist occupation cannot defeat the Palestinians despite using all of its “colonial tools”.

“Using all of its colonial tools, the Zionist Israeli occupation failed to uproot our people from the Negev,” Qasem avowed in a statement.

“Palestinian patriotism achieved clear progress against the Zionist colonial mechanisms,” he added, pointing to the Jewish National Fund (JNF)’s project to plant trees in the Negev region as a means of removing the Arabs from their lands.

“This is a continuous battle,” he expressed, adding:

It will never end without the victory of our people, who are the real owners of the land.

Read: Many injured as police break up protests in Israel’s Negev region

Earlier on Friday, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adalah, disclosed that the Israeli police used “all brutal means” to suppress a “legal” demonstration organised on Thursday in the Negev. Adalah reported that the Israeli police detained a large number of protesters.

There are around 300 Israeli Arabs – Palestinians who did not flee the Israeli occupation in 1948 – living on five per cent of their land, while Israel confiscated 95 per cent of it in 1948.

Arabs in the Negev region consist of Bedouin tribes living in villages scattered across the area. Many have been there since before the Israeli occupation.

Read: Forestation in Negev to continue, Israel minister says

Israel is trying to steal more Palestinian land in the Negev – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]