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Pillay urges Israel to reconsider proposed bill that will displacetens of thousands of Bedouin

GENEVA (25 July 2013) The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay onThursday urged the Israeli Government to reconsider the proposed Law for RegularizingBedouin Habitation in the Negev (the Prawer-Begin Bill), which, if adopted, is likely toresult in the demolition of up to 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev desert and lead to thedispossession, eviction and forcible displacement of as many as 30,000-40,000 ArabBedouins from their ancestral land and homes.As citizens of Israel, the Arab Bedouins are entitled to the same rights to property,housing and public services as any other group in Israel, Pillay said. The Governmentmust recognize and respect the specific rights of its Bedouin communities, includingrecognition of Bedouin land ownership claims.

The High Commissioner regretted that the Israeli Government continues to activelypursue a discriminatory policy of forced displacement against its own Arab citizens,despite the concerns she raised during her official visit to Israel two years ago regardingthe repeated demolitions of Bedouin villages in the Negev that are not recognized by theauthorities.I am alarmed that this bill, which seeks to legitimize forcible displacement anddispossession of indigenous Bedouin communities in the Negev, is being pushedthrough the Knesset, Pillay said, noting that the proposed Bill does not recognize anytraditionally owned Bedouin land titles in the Negev desert. Instead it offers limited andinadequate compensation on the condition that claimants move to one of the sevenofficially recognized urban Bedouin townships it has created.If this bill becomes law, it will accelerate the demolition of entire Bedouin communities,forcing them to give up their homes, denying them their rights to land ownership, anddecimating their traditional cultural and social life in the name of development, she said.

Pillay pointed out that the 2008 Goldberg Commission set up by the Israeli Governmentrecognized that the Negev Bedouins must be viewed as equal citizens with historic tiesto the land, and that they were legitimate residents of the Negev. The GoldbergCommission report also recommended that, as far as possible, the State shouldrecognize each one of the unrecognized villages, depending on the number ofresidents and its eligibility for municipal status.

The High Commissioner added that a reconsideration of the bill must involve a genuinelyconsultative and participatory process that involves all representatives of Bedouincommunities in the Negev.

Respect for the legitimate rights of minorities is a fundamental tenet of democracy, shesaid.

The first reading of the proposed Prawer-Begin Bill passed by a narrow margin in theKnesset on 24 June, and is expected to go through the second and third readings beforethe end of July.

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