The Higher Steering Committee for Arabs in the Negev (HSCAN) has warned of a “frantic” Israeli campaign to Judaize the Naqab desert and displace its indigenous Bedouin population, the Middle East Monitor reported.
The statement came after the Israeli government voted on Sunday to establish a new Jewish community in the Naqab. The Israeli government is also exploring the possibility of establishing a new city in the south and five further Jewish settlements.
🧵Up until the Nakba in 1948, the Naqab region was populated by some 75,000 – 90,000 Palestinian Bedouins, of whom only some 11,000 remained.
Those who remained were forcibly displaced and concentrated in an area known as the Siyage, in the northern part of the Naqab. pic.twitter.com/iaoLAKcqpB— Who Profits (@Who_Profits) December 15, 2021
Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked said that this move would “advance Zionist values as well as play a key role in the security of the state.”
Israel Hayom article – flagged by @noa_landau, translated by @SolSalbe – cites 'Knesset sources' (poss close to Netanyahu) on "practical implications" of 'Jewish nation state' law – e.g. "Judaisation of the Galilee & the Negev". https://t.co/Cpv79wVJmrhttps://t.co/6JqxPwI0AX pic.twitter.com/TZAEonQeRR
— Ben White (@benabyad) August 6, 2018
Responding to the Israeli government’s plan, the HSCAN said in a statement that the Bennett-Shaked government is waging an unprecedented frenzied campaign to implement its settlement project to Judaize the Naqab area.
HSCAN also explained that the new cities will be constructed within the geographical space of the natural development of Palestinian communities, with the aim of besieging Arab villages and limiting the possibility of their future development.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
