http://www.imemc.org/article/49800

45 villages, 90.000 residents in the Negev on the verge of displacement
Thursday August 09, 2007 09:34 by Maisa Abu Ghazala – IMEMC saed at imemc dot org

Thousands of residents participated on Wednesday in a conference which comes in solidarity with the “unrecognized” Arab villages in the Negev, and the ongoing Israeli threats to evacuate these villages and displace the 90.000 Arab residents in the Negev living in 45 unrecognized villages.

Beduin children in an unrecognized village in the Negev

Translated by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

The participants in the conference stated that Israel is housing thousands of Israeli settlers in the Negev and establishing towns for them while it rejects to recognize the Arab villages in the Negev and continues to displace the residents.

The participants also called on the Arab countries to act in support to the residents of the Negev and counter the Israeli racist policies against them.

On Wednesday, the regional council of the unrecognized villages conducted a press conference to expose the Israeli policies against the Arab residents in the Negev, and the continuous demolishing of Arab houses there. Several Arab members of Knesset, and dozens of Arab leaders in addition to hundreds of residents participated in the conference.

The participant carried banners written in Arabic, Hebrew and English; the banners read; “Yes for recognizing our villages”, “Israel wants us out of our lands, and wants settlers to replace us” in addition to several others banners confirming their steadfastness in their lands.

Arab member of Knesset, Talab Al Sane’, said that the Negev is 12000 square kilometers, which it as twice as big as the West Bank, but after the 1967 war Israel displaced 90% of the Arabs and replaced them with settlements and settlers.

Al Sane’ also said that now there are only 90000 Arab residents in the Negev, and that those residents are facing displacement by Israel “just because they are Arabs”.

He added that the Israeli government is financing the annexation of Arab lands in the Negev, already annexed graveyards in Be’er Shiva, and transformed an old mosque into a museum.

He also said that the Arab residents are not provided with the basic services, such as water supply and electricity and are denied construction licenses which forces them to build houses without licenses and that these houses are always demolished by the Israeli authorities.

“meanwhile, settlers in the Negev are allowed to have their own farms, they have water and electricity, and are receiving all services from the state”, Al Sane’ added.

Hussein Al Rafay’a, head of the regional council of the unrecognized villages, stated that Israel wants the Arabs to be refugees in their own lands, and is ongoing with its violations by demolishing the houses and displacing the residents.

“The Arabs used to own 5.5 Million Dunams of lands in the Negev, now they only own less than 200.000”, he stated, “We will resort to the security council, and the international court to provide the residents and their lands with the needed protection”.