Prawer Plan

Israeli Police arrest a Bedouin protester during a demonstration against the Prawer Plan, Hura, Naqab Desert, November 30, 2013. (Activestills)

A pat on the back for condemning anti-Arab racism

A video of a popular children's entertainer mocking Bedouin children was widely condemned by Israeli society. But does the singling out of one racist prevent a real reckoning?

By Edo Konrad July 15, 2020

Leader of the Joint List, Ayman Odeh, casts his vote at a ballot station in Nazareth on election day for the 20th Knesset, March 17, 2015. (Basal Awidat/Flash90)

The Israeli right’s fury is driven by fear of Palestinian citizens

Palestinian citizens of Israel are intensifying their fight for equality. The right-wing has spent the last decade doing everything in its power to stop them.

By Amjad Iraqi December 27, 2019

Young Palestinians demonstrate against the Prawer Plan in East Jerusalem, November 30, 2013. (Photo: Activestills.org)

The case for a unified Palestinian protest movement

The Arab Higher Monitoring Committee is calling for a general strike against recent Israel-U.S. attempts to further repress Palestinians. This is an opportunity to involve a younger generation of activists, and coordinate a joint struggle. By Rabeea Eid Palestinians across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza are banding together in a general strike on October 1, in…

By +972 Magazine September 24, 2018

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Prime Minister Netanyahu at the first Knesset session following the 2015 elections (photo: Haim Tzach, Government Press Office)

What to expect from Netanyahu’s fourth government

The new government, which could survive longer than most observers expect, intends to resume the implementation of the Prawer Plan, aimed to force the Bedouin Palestinian population in the “unrecognized villages” into a narrow territory. Benjamin Netanyahu’s fourth government was sworn in in the nick of time. Due to last-minute controversies over cabinet positions, President Reuven Rivlin…

By Noam Sheizaf May 15, 2015

Bedouins and other activists shout slogans during a protest against the Israeli government's Prawer Plan, on road 31 near Hura, Israel, on November 30, 2013.

So we meet again, Prawer Plan

In 2013, when the government shelved a plan to displace thousands of Bedouin from their villages, we rejoiced. Now, less than two years on, it’s back on the table. And so is our struggle. By Huda Abu Obeid The following is what I wrote in December 2013, when then Minister Benny Begin suspended the Prawer Plan,…

By +972 Magazine May 11, 2015

A resident of al-Araqib approaches Israeli police during one of the dozens of times authorities demolished the unrecognized village. (Activestills.org)

Supreme Court gives al-Araqib the right to fight for its land

As far as the state was concerned, not only do the indigenous people of the Negev have no right to land, they didn’t even have the right to argue in court that they do. The Supreme Court rejects that position. By Michal Rotem For years, the battleground of the Negev Bedouin in Israel has existed…

By +972 Magazine April 13, 2015

A man from the Zanoun family sits next to the ruins of his house a few hours after it was demolished in the unrecognized bedouin village of Wadi Al Na'am, Negev Desert, May 18, 2014. A women with her 5 children, the oldest of them is 5 years old, were living in the house demolished by the Israeli Land Administration. Wadi Al-am is the largest unrecognized village in Israel, with estimated 13,000 residents, most of them are internally displaced. The village is not connected to electricity. (Activestills.org)

How many cars does it take for a Bedouin village to vote?

While the majority of Jewish Israelis will have no problem voting on election day, some Bedouin will be forced to travel up to 40 kilometers simply to participate in Israel’s democracy. By Khalil Alamour and Amjad Iraqi In the run-up to every election day in Israel, polling stations are set up in various locations in…

By Amjad Iraqi March 13, 2015

A Jahalin Bedouin girl stands near the Khan al-Ahmar Mixed Primary School which is under demolition orders by Israeli authorities. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

Israel, state of all its victims

Like the failed peace process or the policy of severing Gaza from the West Bank, the plight of the Bedouin in Israel is one more long-term problem that there is just no time to solve. Two Israeli sisters, 10 and 13, were wounded yesterday by Hamas rocket fire in the Negev. One of them is…

By Dahlia Scheindlin July 15, 2014

Citrus farmer Yusuf Jilal Arafat stands in front of his home, in which his 5-year-old daughter Runan was killed when 10 Israeli missiles struck this mostly agricultural area in the Al Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, December 2, 2012. Arafat's wife, four months pregnant, and 8-year-old son Jilal (black shirt) were found alive in the rubble. His children now suffer from frequent panic attacks at night. Arafat does not know why his home was targeted, as no rockets were launched from the area. (photo by: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)

‘They left us no choice’: On military escalation and its Israeli rationale

The alternatives to military action shouldn’t only be examined when things blow up, but rather in the context of the months and years that preceded this latest round of fighting. When it comes to using military force, I find Netanyahu to be one of the most restrained prime ministers Israel has ever had. I don’t…

By Noam Sheizaf July 9, 2014

A sign at the entrance of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Alsira warns of home demolitions. Villagers had the sign made. June 19, 2014. (Photo by Michael Omer-Man)

WATCH: Living in the shadow of the Prawer Plan

Following a series of high-profile protests that seemingly ended one iteration of the Prawer Plan, nobody — especially those who would be most affected — knows where the plan to displace tens of thousands of Bedouin Israelis stands today. Social TV visits two unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, Al-Araqib and Alsira, to see how…

By Social TV June 26, 2014

House demolition in Anata, Northern Jerusalem, April 14, 2008 (Photo: Meged Gozani/Activestills.org)

38 years later, Israel gives Palestinians new reasons to mark Land Day

Like other Palestinian national days, Land Day commemorations are less about the historical event as they are reminders of things happening today. Despite years of active struggles, Palestinians are finding themselves protesting the same threats to their land rights in 2014 as they were in 1976. March 30 marks the 38th anniversary of Land Day,…

By Amjad Iraqi March 30, 2014

Illustrative photo of an interrogation room (Photo by Shutterstock.com)

‘Hi, this is Rona from the Shin Bet’

The logic of Israel’s secret police dictates that it can summon left-wing activists and Palestinian citizens of Israel for friendly ‘chats’ about their political activities. Sounds like a movie script? Illegal? The State, it turns out, insists that this state of affairs is perfectly appropriate. By Hagai El-Ad (translated by Sol Salbe) / ‘The Hottest Place in…

By +972 Magazine March 27, 2014

File photo of a Bedouin family after its home was demolished. (Photo: Anne Paq/Activestills.org)

Sweeping the sand out of the desert: From Verwoerd to Prawer

The Prawer-Begin Plan was shelved. But the idea that you can forcefully transfer an indigenous population and determine where it can legally reside — looks and smells like a plan pulled from the dusty drawer of Hendrik Verwoerd, architect of Apartheid South Africa. And that didn’t work out so well. By Hilla Dayan Sadly, it was…

By Haokets December 29, 2013