Israel slammed a senior United Nations human rights official over comments about a controversial Israeli plan to forcibly evict some Bedouin on state land in the Negev,
The Foreign Ministry said a statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay criticizing Israel over the so-called Prawer-Begin Plan was ignorant and “unacceptable.”
“The text raises question, since it displays ignorance and lack of acquaintance with the subject matter. It clearly seems that whoever drafted the text had only partial knowledge, not based on any primary, official or reliable sources,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Last week, Pillay released a statement harshly criticizing Israel for advancing the proposed “Law for Regularizing Bedouin Habitation in the Negev,”, which seeks to resettle some unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev while recognizing others.
Drawn up by former Likud minister Benny Begin and approved by the cabinet in January, the bill calls for the government to officially recognize and register the vast majority of Bedouin settlements throughout the south of Israel and to compensate the residents of 35 unrecognized villages who are to be moved off state-owned land.
In her statement, Pillay focused on those who would be forced to move off land they claim ownership of. If approved, she stated, the plan would likely “result in the demolition of up to 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev desert and lead to the dispossession, eviction and forcible displacement of as many as 30,000-40,000 Arab Bedouins from their ancestral land and homes.”
Pillay said she was “alarmed” by the bill. The Israeli government “continues to actively pursue a discriminatory policy of forced displacement against its own Arab citizens,” she charged, contending that the bill offered limited and inadequate compensation for moving to one of the seven Bedouin cities created by the Israeli government.
“As citizens of Israel, the Arab Bedouin are entitled to the same rights to property, housing and public services as any other group in Israel,” the statement continued. “The government must recognize and respect the specific rights of its Bedouin communities, including recognition of Bedouin land ownership claims.”
“If this bill becomes law, it will accelerate the demolition of entire Bedouin communities, forcing them to give up their homes, denying them their rights to land ownership, and decimating their traditional cultural and social life in the name of development,” she said.
In Jerusalem, Pillay’s comments raised eyebrows. “It is strange that the communique demands that Bedouins be entitled to the same rights to property, housing and public services, when this is exactly the declared purpose of the bill,” the Foreign Ministry statement read.
“Moreover, the text presents as known facts affirmations which have been examined and invalidated by the Supreme Court. It also ventures into raw generalization of entire populations, whereas their characterization and their alleged grievances are of concern to only a small proportion of the Bedouin population in the Negev.”
In May, the Knesset Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved the Prawer-Begin bill, which outlines the framework of government policies vis-à-vis the Bedouin population in the Negev, the evacuation of unrecognized villages, and the ownership of land. Approval of the bill was based on three key changes to the original Prawer-Begin Plan, negotiated between members of the YisraelBeytenu and Jewish Home parties, Begin, and National Security Council chief Yaakov Amidror.
A major clause inserted into the bill asserts that a map demarcating the area in question would accurately show the lands set to be allocated for the plan and clearly differentiate between parts allocated for the Bedouin and those that weren’t designated for their use. Ministers also reserve the right to look at the map before final approval.
The second change limits the period needed for implementation. The Begin Plan originally called for a span of five years, but the new bill will aim to implement the plan within three years, without the option to further push off the implementation. Thus, the current government can ensure that it will oversee full implementation of the plan while still in power.
Another critical issue was the supervision of the implementation of the plan. Jewish Home insisted that a ministerial committee be established to oversee implementation. Housing Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) is set to chair that committee.
In late June, a slim majority in the Knesset approved the plan, following a stormy session that saw an Arab MK booted out of the chamber for pouring water on a draft of the bill.
By Raphael Ahren and Lazar Berman The Times of Israel
