Dozens protest Israeli policy against Arabs in Negev

By Zain Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Dozens of Arabs in Israel staged a rally outside Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office in West Jerusalem on Sunday to protest government policies against the Arab community in Negev in southern Israel.

Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and Arab lawmakers were among protesters, the Israeli army radio reported.

The rally was organized by the Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, the highest representative body of the Arab public in Israel.

The demonstration came as Bennett vowed to continue his government policy to remove Arab Bedouin communities from their area in Negev.

Hundreds of local Arabs demonstrated in the Negev in recent days in protest of the confiscation of their lands by the Jewish National Fund, an organization that collects money from Jews around the world to seize Palestinian property.

Arab citizens in the Negev region are estimated at around 300,000, living on 5% of their land, 95% of which they say was confiscated by Israel since 1948.

* Writing by Ahmed Asmar