The campaign by Israeli Arabs against the “Wine Road” settlement plan in the Negev region, has continued. Adalah Center has lodged an appeal with the High Court of Justice against the National Board for Planning and Building and Israel Land Administration after they turned down Adalah’s previous objections to the settlement project.
Adalah claims the project aims to prevent Arabs from claiming the land by handing over extensive tracts of land to 30 Jewish families, at the expense of the local Arab population. The petitioners claim the “Wine Road” plan aims to set up individual farms in the Ramat Hanegev region which will serve as agricultural and tourism ventures. The scheme represents a further stage in the implementation of the government’s decision from 2002 on the promotion of selective settlement projects in the Negev and Galilee regions. The plan extends over 40,000 dunams -10,000 acres and includes nature reserves, national parks and military firing ranges.
Adalah claims that the project has been portrayed as a vehicle for promoting tourism, to hide the legal difficulties created by its real purpose of blocking Beduin settlement in the region and securing state-owned land for the resolution of demographic issues.
The petitioners note that tens of thousands of Beduin Arab citizens live in unrecognized villages in the region slated for the proposed individual farms and that the various government ministries have refused to grant such villages municipal status or provide them with essential services.
The petition stipulates that 59 individual settlements currently exist on a combined space of 81,000 dunams (20,250 acres). These settlements are alleged to have been constructed without the proper permits and the “Wine Road” plan was introduced with the goal of registering a large number of individual settlements, established without the proper permits.
Adalah claims the “Wine Road” plan views the presence of Arab citizens in the Negev region as a threat that should be neutralized. Therefore, the decisions taken by the relevant planning authorities contravene both the basic rights of local Arab citizens and the principle of unbiased allocation of resources.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 23, 2006
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