Israel will invest great resources, including a 1,7 billion euros allocation, to resolve the outstanding issues with the Bedouin population in the south of the country, Doron Almog, Director of the Headquarters for Economic Community Development of the Negev Bedouins in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told the European Parliament.
Addressing a meeting of European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Israel in Brussels on Thursday, Almog and Kamel Abu Nadi, a representative of the Bedouin community, provided the MEPs with details regarding the implementation of the so-called ‘Prawer-Begin’’ plan, adopted in June in first reading by the Knesset, Israel's parliament, for the 200,000 Bedouins living in Israel.
‘’This is a top national priority for Israel,’’ Almog said, stressing that Bedouins living in the Negev, in southern Israel, are a Muslim minority with equal rights as other Israeli citizens. ‘’They are voting and some of them servei in the IDF, Israel’s army,’’ he recalled.
The Bedouins represent a third of the Negev’s population.
Around 120,000 of them live in planned and regulated urban centers.
Around 60,000 others live in illegal communities and encampments that will be legalized and developed, will all the residents receiving property rights.30,000 who live in non-regulated encampments and slums not connected to elctricity, waer, air conditioning… will be relocated in a short distance and will be offered agricultural, communal and urban living options, all with property rights.
According to Israel, the overwhelming majority of Beduin support the plan and only a small percentage are against.
‘’The Israeli government plan aims at making a dramatic change of their life standard by bringing modernity, improving the welfare and living conditions while preserving their culture and heritage,’’ said Almog, who describes himself as a ‘’social activist’’ who has built a village for severe disabled people in the Negev where Jews and Bedouins live together.
The economic development plan for the Negev Bedouins foresees a modern Bedouin community living in much better housing, benefiting from education services, healthcare centers, modern infrastructures, a commercial zone and employment opportunities.
‘’Many Bedouins want to make a change to modernity,’’ Almog stressed, adding that reducing the socio-economic gap with the rest of Israel’s population is one of the main objectives. ‘’Together with the Bedouins, the government is shaping a better future for them.’’.
1.7 billion euros have been allocated to implement the plan out of a total of 8 billion to develop the entire Negev region which makes up 60 % of the land of Israel, including the creation of new communities and towns, making it a Silicon Valley by bringing high tech companies, and military bases.
Doron Almog gave the example of the biggest Bedouin town of Rahat with a population of 60,000. ‘’6,000 new housing units are built in high storey buildings and we are building an industrial zone, a joint venbture between Bedouins and Jews.
Rahat is one of seven Bedouin cities in the Negev desert with approved plans and developed infrastructure. The others are Hura, Tel as-Sabi, Ararat an-Naqab, Lakiya, Kuseife and Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom).
Israel has denounced a campaign in the EU to exploit the Bedouin issue by presenting its plan as a way to remove and displace the Bedouins from the south ‘’to make room for new villages for Israeli Jews.’’
Israel’s ambassador to the EU, David Walzer,reportedly wrote a letter to European Parliament President Martin Schulz denouncing as ‘’unacceptable’’ the fact that during an hearing hosted this week by the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group on the Bedouin issue a poster was displayed accusing Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’ toward the Bedouin population in the Negev.
‘’Europeans and Israelis are fully aware of the possible consequences of the irresponsible use of such words. I hope that you would agree with us that this is certainly not the best way to handle a constructive dialogue on ‘the state of play of the Prawer-Begin plan,’’ the ambassador wrote.
According to David Saranga, an Israeli diplomat at Israel’s EU mission, the S&D Group rejected the full participation in the seminar of Doron Almog.
He told The Jerusalem Post that ‘’unfortunately, Veronique De Keyser, Vice-President of the S&D group, systematically rejected our many requests to host an Israeli official as a speaker.They only agreed to give Mr. Almog the floor for five minutes during the debate.’’
‘’All this makes me fear that the real objective of this seminar is not to improve the living conditions of the Israeli Bedouins but rather to cynically exploit this crucial issue to bash again Israel. This is certainly not the best way to conduct a constructive dialogue,” he said.