Bedouins protest against the Israeli government policy

Bedouins protested together with Israeli activists against Israeli land seizures near the village of Al-Arakib in the Negev desert in southern Israel on 3/9/2009.

The protest was held against the government's policy of denying rights to the residents in the unrecognized villages in the Negev, to demand water supply to every single village just as the government connects every single private ranch (whether or not its Jewish settlers hold official permits or not) and to put an end to home demolitions and the land grab.

50,000 Israeli citizens live in the Negev in villages whose existence the Israeli government refuses to recognize, although the existence of some of the villages preceded the founding of the State of Israel. Other villages were transferred by the authorities to their present location in the 1950s.

Non-recognition deprives the villages of any possible official construction planning (and consequently of obtaining building permits) and elementary infrastructure – water, electricity, sanitation, transportation, education and health.
The government has persisted in its policy to evacuate these villages and concentrate their residents in townships without letting them choose to maintain their own rural, farming way of life. The State imposes sanctions against the villagers, demolishes their homes, and denies them of proper access to water sources.