Arab Negev residents rally against displacement

Thousands of Palestinian holders of Israeli citizenship on June 13 demonstrated in Beersheba in southern Israel in protest against the Prawer Plan which will displace thousands of Bedouin families in the Negev desert. A Ma'an News Agency reporter said the demonstrators waved Palestinian flags as they marched in front of a governmental complex in the center of Beersheba chanting slogans against the Prawer Plan. Large numbers of Israeli police officers deployed in the area. Heated arguments broke out between demonstrators and police officers who tried to prevent the protesters form shutting down offices in the complex. The officers tried as well to force the protesters to lower Palestinian flags they were waving. 

Several Arab members of Knesset joined the rally including Jamal Zahalqa, Ahmad Tibi, Ibrahim Sarsour and Talab Abu Arara. Chairmen of the Islamic movement in Israel Sheikh Raed Salah and Hamamd Abu Daabis also attended the protest along with several mayors and heads of local councils of Bedouin villages in the Negev. Earlier this week, the al-Naqab Association for Land and Human Beings called upon all residents of Negev to join a protest organized by the Higher Guidance Committee of the Arab Residents in the Negev.

From Maan News Agency, June 14