Against the Expulsion of the Palestinians Bedouins from their Lands

A protest will be held in São Paulo capital (Brazil) on Thursday, August 1st, at 07:00 pm, on the corner of Paulista Avenue with Augusta Street.

On last June 24, the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) approved in first session, the bill concerning the Prawer Plan. Featured by the Israel’s Government in January 2012, the plan envisages the resettlement of the Palestinians Bedouin who have been living in the Naqab desert (Negev), the south of Palestine. The Palestinian youth have reported that, in fact, the plan regulates the eviction of this population from their lands.

Thus, Palestinian youth have called this the initiative of «nakba of 2013.» These inhabitants are the most marginalized and poor sector of the society.

The Palestinians Bedouins are a nomadic people who live mostly from agriculture. Most of them were expelled at the time of the nakba (Palestinian catastrophe) in 1948, when it was unilaterally created the State of Israel. In the desert of Naqab, those Bedouin Palestinians who have managed to remain in their homes, now represent only 30% of the local population. They live in 36 villages unrecognized by Israel, therefore, without any infrastructure for essential services such as electricity, schools and health care.

What is the purposeof the Prawer Plan?

– Confiscate about 850,000 dunums of land from the Palestinians Bedouin in the Naqab desert (each dunum equals one thousand square meters);
– Evict approximately 50,000 Bedouin Palestinians from their lands;
– Demolish 36 Bedouin villages in which they live;
– Confine the Palestinians Bedouins in only 1% of the land (nowadays, for plantation and to survive, they have only 100 square meters of land per person).

Solidarity and struggle

In the fight to stop the approval of this bill in the Israeli Parliament, in the second and third sessions by the end of the month, Palestinian youth have held huge demonstrations throughout Palestine.

On July 15, there was a large protest violently repressed by Israel. On August 1st Palestinianyouth is going to carry outother demonstrations, which have been called «Day of Rage».

In São Paulo, the Front in Defense of the Palestinian People – SP / Brazil BDS, which includes dozens of Brazilian civil society organizations, sum up to this initiative. In solidarity, a public event will be held next Thursday (August 1st ), as of 07:00 pm on the corner of Paulista Avenue with Augusta Street.

After the first protests held in Palestine, the Prawer Plan was condemned this week by the Head of the Human Rights of the United Nations (UN), Navi Pillay.

Declarationof the Palestinian Youth

«Dozens of the Palestinians have been wounded in peaceful demonstrations or have been arrested since July 15 by Israeli occupation forces, but our anger is far from being over. We are determined to continue protesting daily and strive to raise the international awareness about the suffering of our brothers and sisters, the Bedouin Palestinians. The Prawer Plan is the largest and imminent campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians performed​​by Israel since 1948, and the Palestinian new generation will not let that happen again”.

More information:

Front in Defense of the Palestinian People – SP / Brazil, frentepalestina@yahoo.com.br