The Prawer Report and the Bedouin of the Negev Desert | Tikun Leil Shavuot | ›

Parasha / E-Letter | ‏| 06.06.11

Blowing the Trumpet at the Feast of the New Moon (illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible). cc: wikipedia
  • Blowing the Trumpet at the Feast of the New Moon (illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible). cc: wikipedia

Parashat Hashavua “Behaalotecha”: What Will Be, What Was and Tora

Thoughts

For several years we have been active in the South Hebron Hills in order to implement human rights in the area. With the cooperation of all the departments and with the agreement with Adv. Quamar Mishirqui Asad, we have decided to write an internet letter that will be sent to the highest- ranking personality in the area and with this appeal: Minister of Defense,  please return security to the South Hebron Hills. We will be grateful if you will distribute the facebook campaign in three languages to your family and friends. Please sign the letter.

Parashat Hashavua “Behaalotecha”

Rabbi Kobi Weiss reveals insights that are connected to teaching and social work. Continue reading

What Will Be

You are invited to Tikun Leil Shavuot in Haifa and in Jerusalem.

The Week that Was

Social Justice

Rabbi Idit Lev: “Jewish tradition obliges the community to care for the weak and to provide its members with its basic needs.” Continue reading →

Rabbi Arik Ascherman: “Today is Jerusalem day. I am in the far north, in the closest city in the world to the North Pole. By total coincidence, I have been invited to speak about Jerusalem. My heart is in the East…” Continue reading

 

Commentary on Parashat Naso for Rabbis for Human Rights by Rabbi Peretz Rodman.  Continue reading

RHR Media Coverage

Messeges from Other Organization

We publish these media links as a service to the community, but they are not our activities and we are not responsible for their content.  The links are a mixture of English and Hebrew articles

Celebrate the “Reunion of Jerusalem”, 1.6.2011 (with English subtitles)

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The Prawer Report and the Bedouin of the Negev Desert | Miri Weingarten

Reports are that the Israeli government will ‘soon’ officially approve a policy regarding Bedouin communities in ‘unrecognized villages’ in the Negev/Naqab desert, known as the Prawer Report. The Report was set to be brought to a governmental vote on 5 June, but political pressure from the right has postponed the vote.
According to a draft leaked to the press in March, the Prawer policy involves displacement of up to 30,000 people from their homes, with compensations of up to 50%, over a period of five years. If implemented, it will involve the single largest displacement in Israel since the time of its establishment. The policy reportedly includes the establishment of special courts to handle appeals via a fast track, after which law enforcement authorities will be employed for implementation.
It is widely believed by human rights groups and activists that the means used over the past year to repeatedly demolish the Bedouin village of Araqib and displace its residents – including police violence, false arrests and harsh sentencing of activists – were a ‘practice run’ for broader implementation, and represent the means that will be employed for the general policy as well.
In recent years several parallel strategic planning processes regarding Bedouin communities in the Negev/Naqab were initiated. Some of these were publicly accountable (the Goldberg Commission; various planning authorities in Israel), while others were non-transparent, involving JNF-USA and specific parts of the Israeli government, reportedly with the services of McKinsey & Co. These were followed by the work of a governmental committee headed by Ehud Prawer of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, which was conducted in near-secrecy and without any involvement of members of the Bedouin community. The resultant Prawer Report overrules many of the recommendations of previous public mechanisms.
Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has written an analysis of the Prawer Report and its context. Please see here.

shabbat shalom and hag samech