This falls under the category of unintended consequences.
I found this editorial in the Arab News.
In it the author addresses the issue of something called Blueprint Negev. In a nutshell you have groups of nomads, the Bedouins, who have set up some ramshackle settlements in the Negev region. Because of the Israelis pulling out of Gaza they need someplace to put the citizens.
Negev seems like a logical spot since it is largely unpopulated but needs massive work on infrastructure to make it viable. In some editorials or news articles I read in researching this the Bedouins are transformed into Palestinians. I am no expert on how Israel handles its' property rights but the groups opposed seem to be most opposed to the government transferring the ownership of the land to private citizens, but forbidding anyone other those of Jewish ancestry from owning it.
The back and forth on this has been going on for some time, back to around 2002 it looks like.
The Jewish National Fund is the driving force behind the development of the Negev region. Here is their stated blueprint.
The biggest opposition group appears to be something called NeoHasid.
There is more information in an article I found here.
This is just one of the side effects of Israeli's pull out from Gaza and I am not taking sides so much as just bringing attention to a situation inside of Israel that will no doubt be getting more attention in the coming years.
So now if you ever hear about this you can say you have heard of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment