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<div class="ViewDetails_Stamp"><b><big><big>Protesters rally against
Prawer Plan in Israel, West Bank</big></big></b><br>
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<small><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=614048">http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=614048</a></small><br>
15/07/2013 19:31</div>
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BEERSHEBA, Israel (Ma'an) -- Demonstrations took place across Israel
and the occupied West Bank on Monday to protest against Israel's Prawer
Plan, which will displace thousands of Bedouin families in the Negev
desert.<br>
<br>
In Beersheba, protesters blocked the main road by Ben-Gurion University
of the Negev before being displaced by Israeli forces, witnesses said.<br>
<br>
At least 20 people were arrested and dozens assaulted by Israeli forces
as demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted "Down with the
Prawer-Begin criminal plan".<br>
<br>
Protesters carried signs with the names of the Bedouin villages which
are due to be displaced.<br>
<br>
Balad, a Palestinian political party in Israel, said that Israeli
officers assaulted the party's chairman Jamal Zahalka, with Palestinian
MKs Ahmad Tibi, Ibrahim Sarsour, Talab Abu Arar and Talab al-Sani all
participating in the demonstration.<br>
<br>
Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Ma'an that 14 protestors
were arrested and two Israeli police officers were injured during the
rally.<br>
<br>
"After demonstrators blocked the main road in Beersheba, police
announced the rally had become illegal," Samri added.<br>
<br>
The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab citizens of Israel announced a
general strike on Monday, with protests due to take place in Umm
al-Fahm, Sakhnin, and the Negev.<br>
<br>
Demonstrations will also take place in Jaffa, Jerusalem, Ramallah,
Hebron, Nablus and across Israel in Lod and Ramle.<br>
<br>
In May, Israel approved a draft law to implement a plan which will
displace thousands of Bedouins in the Negev desert.<br>
<br>
The Israeli government approved the Prawer-Begin plan in 2011, in what
it says was an attempt to address the problem of unrecognized Bedouin
villages in the Negev desert of southern Israel.<br>
<br>
The 2011 proposal was formulated without any consultation with the
Bedouin community and rights groups slammed it as a major blow to
Bedouin rights.<br>
<br>
According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the plan will
forcibly evict nearly 40,000 Bedouins and destroy their communal and
social fabric, condemning them to a future of poverty and unemployment.<br>
<br>
Israel refuses to recognize 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev, which
collectively house nearly 90,000 people.<br>
<br>
The Israeli state denies them access to basic services and
infrastructure, such as electricity and running water, and refuses to
place them under municipal jurisdiction.
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