42 thousand Arab homes in Negev threatened with destruction

Monday June 18, 2007 12:56 by Nisreen Qumsieh - IMEMC News

The regional committee for unrecognized villages is preparing to establish a refugee camp in front of the Knesset as a symbol of protest against the fact 42 thousand Arab homes in the region are threatened with destruction.

The regional committee of unrecognized villages in Negev reported that it is preparing a plan of action, the details of which will soon be made public. The committee plans to release these plans when it establishes a refugee camp in front of the Knesset as a symbol of its opposition to Israeli plans in the Negev region. The camp is to bear the slogan "For the owners of the houses that have been destroyed by Israeli authorities in Negev.”

"Establishing the refugee camp in front of the Knesset is our right and the law guarantees this right for us," stated Hasan Rafay'ah, the leader of the committee.

Rafay'ah declared that the decision was taken because of Israeli intransigence and the ongoing policy of house destruction in the area, adding that residents have no other recourse to action and that the Israeli government refuses to heed their concerns and presses on with their plans in the area regardless.

Rafay'ah called on all residents and civil society institutions to participate in this activity to express solidarity with the plight of Negev residents and press for a fair and just solution in the region.

Rafay'ah rejected Israeli deferral of the implementation of the plan to a later date unless it was accompanied by a pledge that no more homes would be destroyed, adding that the aim of the protest was to raise awareness of aggressive Israeli policy in the Negev region.

The Israeli Ministry of interior affairs estimates that approximately 42 thousand homes in the region will be destroyed when it implements its plans for the area.

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