Pro-Settler Group Demands Israeli Army, Shin Bet to Stop Protests in Negev

Last Thursday, Janurary 13, extremist Jewish pro-settler group Regavim demanded the Israeli army and the Shin Bet security service to suppress protests by Palestinian Bedouin residents of the Naqab (Negev) desert region against planting trees on Palestinian land.

While #Israeli media have reported that the Jewish National Fund has started to plant trees in the desert in a project worth $48 million, local residents protest about the project, saying that it is a prelude to the confiscation of their land by Israel. https://t.co/WviBoRmsJp pic.twitter.com/3gQFB7Ymx4
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 13, 2022

“During the events of May 2021, the army’s response was slow and late, roads and cities were burned, life was disrupted, and it took a long time for security to return, and these scenes should not be repeated, and we demand action now,” Israel’s Channel 7 reported Regavim Director-General, Meir Deutsch, as saying.

“The events that took place yesterday [January 12] and today [January 14] in the Negev are a direct result of the government’s failure in the issue of agriculture, as we had previously warned that surrender by the Prime Minister would directly lead to an increase in confrontations in the streets,” Deutsch added.

Deutsch claimed that the statements of elected officials, led by Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defence Forces and an MK for Meretz, Yair Golan, were the fuel that led to the ignition of the Negev, and that responsibility must be taken and lessons learned.

Many Palestinian residents in the Naqab, despite having Israeli citizenship, live in unrecognized townships scattered across the southern desert. Last week, one such region, Al-Atrash, erupted in protest as Jewish National Fund started demolishing Palestinian homes with the aim of confiscating the land.

#Israeli occupation forces arrested 16 civilians, including a minor and three women, from the village of Al-Atrash in the Negev desert, the #Palestinian Information Centre reported. https://t.co/EXYmOB820X pic.twitter.com/RijNBB8CVX
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) January 13, 2022

On January 11, Israeli occupation forces arrested 16 civilians, including a minor and three women, from Al-Atrash.

The Palestinian government has condemned the demolitions and arrests and accused Israel of committing crimes against Palestinians in the Negev region. “The crimes of the occupying state in Negev are an extension of its war on the Palestinian Arab presence,” denounced the Palestinian Foreign Ministry through a statement.

The Jewish National Fund, a Zionist non-profit, was established in 1901 to collect money from Jews all over the world to purchase land in Palestine. At present, it works closely with the Israeli authorities in their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Featured image: Palestinians protesting against land confiscation in the Negev desert region, being repressed by Israeli occupation forces. Photo: ActiveStills.org

(The Palestine Chronicle) with Orinoco Tribune content