British Jews censure Israeli regime

Jewish youth and students in Britain have censured Israeli regime™s authorities over a proposed Knesset bill to relocate Israeli Arabs (Bedouin) families who live in the Negev desert.

The British Union of Jewish Students, the Progressive Zionist movement Pro Zion and four youth movements – Habonim, LJY-Netzer, RSY-Netzer and Noam Masorti – demanded Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Finance Minister Yair Lapid put a halt to the proposed legislation.

œAs Zionist organizations, we cannot allow the expulsion of 40,000 Bedouin, and deny the Bedouin a fair opportunity to hold on to their ancestral lands.”

They called on the regime to give official recognition to all existing Bedouin villages and accept land ownership claims made over the past 40 years.

œThe Bedouin community constitutes 30 per cent of the Negev population, and their demands involve only 5.4 percent of its land,” the groups stated.

œThere has never been a fair process for examining their demands, and most of the land claims the regime invited the Bedouin to submit in the 1970s were never processed, one way or the other.

œEvicting 40,000 people from their ancestral homes; cutting them off from their sources of income and destroying their social fabric and way of life will only increase problems.”

Sam Cohen, movement worker for the Liberal LJY-Netzer, said that all the signatories were members of the UK Task Force on Issues Relating to Arab Citizens of the occupied Palestinian territories.

MOL/HE