Board Statement on Bedouin Settlement in the Negev
Adopted in 2013 by the OHALAH Board.
The Board of Directors of OHALAH calls upon the government of Israel and its Minister of Finance to adhere to the call of Israel’s Bedouin leaders and to stop or defeat the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev.
The cost of Bedouin dispossession is daunting, both in terms of its budget implications and the toll it will take on the lives of thousands of Israeli Bedouin citizens. At a time of budget pressures, it is unconscionable to spend billions of shekels to dispossess and displace tens of thousands of Israeli citizens living within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, including the demolishing of Bedouin homes and entire villages.
We call upon the government of Israel to recognize and legalize the thirty-five Bedouin villages that remain in the status of unrecognized villages. The square meters are less than five percent of the Negev and recognition promises to be a less costly than demolition and relocation.
As a Jewish state and a democracy, we believe that Israel has a responsibility to not discriminate against its Bedouin citizens. We urge the government of Israel to ensure the welfare of all citizens of Israel including all of its Bedouin citizens by recognizing their villages and extending government services to the presently unrecognized Bedouin villages. A government must grant all its citizens fair access to government services, such as education, health care, water, sanitation, electricity and roads, and these services should be offered without discrimination. We also urge the government of Israel to work with these communities on zoning plans and to provide the residents of these villages with mechanisms for being granted building permits.
By demolishing homes, forcing people off of their land and denying people of basic government services the government of Israel risks a building of animosity among the Bedouin population towards the state of Israel and towards their Jewish neighbors in the Negev. Forcing more Bedouin into impoverished urban slums against their will and with few economic opportunities also creates a risk of breeding crime and further entrenches cycles of poverty.
The Prophet Micah tells us: “And they covet fields, and seize them; and [they covet] houses, and take them away; thus they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.” We believe that as a nation of people who know all too well what it means to be an oppressed minority, Israel has a moral obligation to protect the most vulnerable within its midst.
Adopted in 2013 by the OHALAH Board.
The Board of Directors of OHALAH calls upon the government of Israel and its Minister of Finance to adhere to the call of Israel’s Bedouin leaders and to stop or defeat the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev.
The cost of Bedouin dispossession is daunting, both in terms of its budget implications and the toll it will take on the lives of thousands of Israeli Bedouin citizens. At a time of budget pressures, it is unconscionable to spend billions of shekels to dispossess and displace tens of thousands of Israeli citizens living within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, including the demolishing of Bedouin homes and entire villages.
We call upon the government of Israel to recognize and legalize the thirty-five Bedouin villages that remain in the status of unrecognized villages. The square meters are less than five percent of the Negev and recognition promises to be a less costly than demolition and relocation.
As a Jewish state and a democracy, we believe that Israel has a responsibility to not discriminate against its Bedouin citizens. We urge the government of Israel to ensure the welfare of all citizens of Israel including all of its Bedouin citizens by recognizing their villages and extending government services to the presently unrecognized Bedouin villages. A government must grant all its citizens fair access to government services, such as education, health care, water, sanitation, electricity and roads, and these services should be offered without discrimination. We also urge the government of Israel to work with these communities on zoning plans and to provide the residents of these villages with mechanisms for being granted building permits.
By demolishing homes, forcing people off of their land and denying people of basic government services the government of Israel risks a building of animosity among the Bedouin population towards the state of Israel and towards their Jewish neighbors in the Negev. Forcing more Bedouin into impoverished urban slums against their will and with few economic opportunities also creates a risk of breeding crime and further entrenches cycles of poverty.
The Prophet Micah tells us: “And they covet fields, and seize them; and [they covet] houses, and take them away; thus they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.” We believe that as a nation of people who know all too well what it means to be an oppressed minority, Israel has a moral obligation to protect the most vulnerable within its midst.