The Prawer Plan’s true agenda, like in District Six, South Africa, is a racially-motivated one. Rather than channeling resources to improve “unrecognized” Bedouin villages, Israel is intent on concentrating the Arab Bedouins in as little territory as possible and erasing their land claims in the Naqab. The townships they will be forced into are impoverished, have poor basic services, and do not accommodate the agricultural lifestyle of many Bedouins. While thousands of Arab homes are scheduled for demolition, the government is facilitating the expansion of Jewish communities in the Naqab – some on the future ruins of Bedouin villages. This “Judaization” of the Naqab – think “Jews-only” – moved toward becoming official law when the Prawer-Begin Bill passed its first Knesset reading on 24 June 2013. The echoes of District Six, however, are not isolated in the Naqab. Throughout Israel and Palestine, the state is continuing its process of population transfer to transform the ethnic landscape. Since 1993, at least 11,000 Palestinian Arabs from East Jerusalem had their residency status revoked due to government claims that their “center of life” is no longer in the city (this policy is not applied to Jews). In Jaffa and Akka, gentrification is deliberately employed to pressure Arab residents out of their neighborhoods and bring Jewish residents in their place. The uprooting of Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills, Jordan Valley and the rest of Area C aims to clear the land for Jewish settlements across the Occupied West Bank. — via +972 Magazine
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 08:02:33 +0000
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