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Occupation magazine - Activism

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Tuesday, March 30, Land Day rally in the Negev , Jews and Arabs against the land theft
This year Passover and the Palestinian Land Day fall on the same day. It is the day in which Jews around the world remember their transition into freedom; it is the day that symbolizes the Palestinian citizens of Israel`s fight for their rights in the country that was created to allow a place of freedom… for Jews.

To mark Land Day this year, in the Naqab, the High Monitoring Committee of the Arab Population in Israel, along with the Village Committee of El-Araqib, will hold a mass protest and solidarity rally on Tuesday, March 30th, between 4:00 – 6:00pm in the village of El-Araqib, protesting the continued land confiscation, and call for a vision of a just future for all residents of the Negev.

Transportation:

Tel Aviv at 14.00 from the Arlozorov St. Railway Station (near Sixt parking lot)
Registration: Ya`akov 050-5733276 email manor12@zahav.net.il

Negev Rendezvous point: 15.40 at Lehavim Junction, in the direction of Be`er Sheba.
Contact nd registration:
Hassan 052-5393416
Haya 052-4269011

Transportation is by private cars, if you intend to come with your car, please let organizers know of it in advance and pick up passengers at the rendezvous points.

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Background info:

the High Monitoring Committee decided to have this year two major rallies to makr Land Day: At Sakhnin in the north and at El-Araqib in the south.

El-Araqib was chosen as the location for the main ceremony in the south as an act of support for the struggle of the Bedouins in the Negev for restoration of their stolen lands in general and support for the inhabitants and lads owners of El-Araqib in particular, whose lands are taken away by the Jewish National Fund which is openly and flagrantly planting trees on thousabnds of dunams of the village lands.

Don`t miss this opportunity to express support for the Negev badouins` struggle!

In the village of El-Araqib the Government of Israel is leading a battle against its Arab citizens. The government is attempting to confiscate the village lands and assure that the villagers will not have any option of regaining their lands. the government is using every means possible to this end:
By forcing the land owners to the Israeli courts, where a cynical justice system does not recognize rights from before the establishment of the state. Nuri el-Ukbi is currently within this biased process

* By withholding any option for home construction permits, rendering all homes `illegal`, and demolishing homes – over and over again.

By destroying crops, by re-plowing the land a short time before the harvest. *

* By bringing in the Jewish National Fund, to plant a forest on the lands of the village. While this is an illegal act (the land is designated as farm land), the JNF`s response to the people was to claim that they are doing no more than performing a job for the government.

The actions of the government in the village of El-Araqib are a reflection of the actions towards all unrecognized villages: crushing the historical rights of the indigenous Arab-Bedouin minority in the Negev, confiscation of lands, causing poverty and despair. The government has succeeded already in obtaining 97% of the lands that were under Bedouin ownership, now, all the debilitating policies are aimed at confiscating the remaining 3%.

On Tuesday, we will stand together, Arabs and Jews, and demand that the Government of Israel stop destroying the Negev for us and our children. We call for a just future for all, a future that is not based on the destruction of one`s rights, to ensure an over-privileged future for others. We demand that our government honor all Bedouin land claims, and create an equitable distribution of resources in the Negev for all its residents: including water for agriculture, pasture lands, and villages built to fit cultural and economic need.

Come join us on Tuesday!

For more information, transportation, and directions to the site, please call
Huda: 0543-387208 or Noam: 0507-701118, of the Negev Coexistence Forum
Faisal Sawalha, RCUV, Faisal.rcuv@gmail.com , 050-7342917
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