Israel's Arab minority marks Land Day
AFP
Date: 03-30-05
ABU TLUL, Israel (AFP) - The Arab minority in Israel commemorated annual Land Day to protest against ongoing discrimination and appropriation of their land by the Jewish majority.
Held annually for the past 29 years, this year's event held Wednesday was dedicated to fighting for the rights of unrecognised Bedouin villages in the southern Negev desert which lack basic services and are threatened with demolition.
Land Day has been observed by Israel's large Arab minority of 1.2 million each year since six Arab Israelis were killed in clashes with security forces following a government decision to expropriate land in the Galilee in 1976.
"The Negev is our major cause. We will not allow ourselves to be uprooted from our land or see our houses destroyed," Arab Israeli leader Shawqi Khatib, told the thousands who turned out to a rally in the village of Abu Tlul.
"The injustice must be rectified immediately," he demanded.
One of dozens of unrecognised Bedouin villages in the Negev, Abu Tlul was chosen as the main rallying point for this year's Land Day.
Harangued by the crowd, Arab Israeli MP Mohammed Barakeh slammed the government for setting aside seven million dollars in the 2005 budget to destroy Arab homes built without permits.
"The residents of the Negev are not invaders. The invaders are the settlers and Ariel Sharon's farm," he said, of the prime minister who keeps a private ranch in the area.
In the crowd, dozens of demonstrators held up Islamic banners as Palestinian flags fluttered in the wind.
"We're staying here. No to threats, no to expulsion," was the slogan emblazoned across T-shirts worn by the young.
Fellow Arab Israeli MP Jamal Zakalkah said the Israeli government planned to confiscate 24,000 hectares (59,300 acres) of land in the Negev, with another 70,000 hectares considered "contested" land.
Tens of thousands of people live in scores of Bedouin communities throughout the Negev that lack basic amenities such as water and electricity because they are not officially recognised as residential areas by the state.
"Living conditions in these villages are worse than in Palestinian refugee camps and we're talking about Israeli citizens. They don't have water or electricity," said Arab Israeli MP Taleb el-Sana.
Wednesday's commemoration, which in the past has supported the Palestinian uprising against Israel, comes as the Jewish state and Palestinian militants are observing a de facto truce on the ground.
The Abu Tlul rally also protested against proposals that Arab Israelis should do national service in return for receiving all their rights.
Arab Israeli leaders demand that full equality is their basic right as citizens of Israel and should not be dependent on any form of national service, which they have branded tantamount to military service.
But no general strike accompanied this year's Land Day as has normally been the case in the past.
Instead, a spokesman said a dignified, legal and democratic protest against the demolition orders would be held.
Thousands of Jewish pacifists and members of left-wing Israeli groups are also expected in Abu Tlil to show solidarity with their Arab compatriots.
Arab Israelis are the descendants of some 160,000 Palestinians who stayed in their homes after the state of Israel was created in 1948.
Bedouins make up about 10 percent of the Arab Israeli population, living for the most part in the Negev and the Galilee.
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