The Recognition Forum and the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality cordially invite you to a conference:

Monday, March 18, 2013 at 19:00 (7 p.m.)

At the Tzavta Cultural Center, 30 Ibn Gabirol St. (corner of Shaul Hamelech), Tel Aviv

Agenda:

Proposed Government Law for Forcibly Settling Bedouin in the Negev/Naqab: A Solution or a Land theft?

The Government of Israel has endorsed a proposed law regarding Negev Arab Bedouin residence. The proposal is awaiting Knesset ratification. Presumably, once the new Israeli Government is fully established, the bill will be reviewed by that Government.

The proposed law has been altered several times. It was amended following Judge Goldberg’s Commission Report, in response to the Prawer Committee’s proposals, in incorporation of National Security Council Deputy Amidror’s amendments, and following Minister Benjamin Begin’s recommendations.

The Arab Bedouin community of the Negev rejects the proposed law, and warns that its ratification and implementation will significantly endanger tens of thousands of Bedouins who will be uprooted from their villages, homes, and ways of life; they will also lose the possibility of returning to their lands in the future as a result of the plan.

To coerce the Bedouin population to leave their lands, the State has begun a wide-scale series of house demolitions and destructions of crops. At present, the Bedouin community is bracing itself for a public campaign to counteract this plan.

At the conference, we will discuss the government’s proposal and hear the Negev/Naqab community’s position regarding a desirable solution.

Speakers:

Mohammad Zeidan, Chair of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel. He will discuss how to deflect the government’s plan to forcibly settle the Negev Bedouins and the role of the Palestinian community in Israel in the struggle for a just solution.

Advocate Rawia Aburabia, Negev Bedouin Rights Director at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel will discuss legal aspects of the government’s proposal, answering the question of whether it is a solution or an act of illegal dispossession.

Said Al Chrumi, Secretary General of the Islamic Movement in Israel,Member of the High Steering Committee of Negev Arabs, and former Chairman of the Segev Shalom Local Council. He will discuss proposals for regulating Bedouin villages in the Negev/Naqab and explore whether this proposal have the potential to do justice or will result in a dead lock.

Sheikh Sayach Al Touri, head of Al Arakib village. Al Arakib serves as an example of the heroic struggle of the Bedouin population for their rights to land.

Haia Noach, Executive Director of the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality. She will discuss the history of the Negev Bedouin, the process of expulsion and dispossession, the development of the unrecognized villages, and the problem of overcrowding in Bedouin townships.

Facilitator: Lili Galili, journalist

Transportation from Be’er Sheba at 4.30 pm, at the Multaka, 7 Shlomo Hamelch St. (register with Rateb 050-7701118) .

The Member Organizations in the Recognition Forum: Gush Shalom, The Association for Assistance and Defense of the Rights of Bedouins in Israel, Social TV, Alternative Information Center, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Al Arakib Village Committee, Yesh Gvul, On the Left Side – Internet Magazine of the Center-Left, Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, New Profile, Women’s Coalition for Peace, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights, and Taayush Arab Jewish Partnership.

Address: P.O.Box 1335, Kfar Saba 44113

Telephone: 09-7670801, 050-5733276

Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality:

Address: P.O.Box 130, Omer 84965.

Telephone: 08-6483804 , 050-7701118

Email: info@dukium.org Website: www.dukium.org