The Arab Center for Alternative Planning said, “The Arab community in Israel must be careful not to pass planning decisions during this particular period.”

On October 12, 2023, the District Planning and Building Committee published an announcement about the submission of a “Regional Structural Plan (Tamam) for the Southern District - No. 6/23/14/4 named Mevovot Arad,” for objections for a period of 60 days.

The plan proposes establishing 5 new settlements in the Negev region, in the south of the country, one of which will be designated for the Arab Bedouin population in the Negev.

The plan to establish five new settlements in the Negev is a continuation of Government Resolution No. 3782 of October 30, 2011, which stipulates the establishment of a village settlement complex in the Mevovot Arad area.

Accordingly, District Planning and Building Council recommended the establishment of five settlements, one of which would be allocated to gather the Bedouin population from villages deprived of recognition in the region.

On March 27, 2022, the Israeli government approved Government Resolution No. 1325 to establish settlements based on the above Council decision.

This plan (exact 6/23/14/4) comes in the context of the Netanyahu government’s strengthening of the policy of expanding settlement in the Galilee and the Negev, which emerged in the coalition agreement with the “Religious Zionism” party, which pledged to accelerate the establishment of 14 settlements in the Negev.

The Arab Center for Alternative Planning said, “The plan contains several problems, which are:

The settlements proposed in the plan are located on areas on which deprived villages stand. These villages have been in the region for a very long time and are struggling to gain recognition and obtain rights and basic necessities of life.

Instead of recognizing and regulating existing Arab Bedouin villages, the plan proposes grouping the Bedouin population within the proposed settlement of Mevovot Arad 3.

The proposed plan for the Mevovot Arad 3 settlement ignores the existing population and community character of the area, and the existing rural and communal character of the villages.

The plan proposes converting the area surrounding the Mevovot Arad 3 settlement into an area defined as a “desert landscape,” thereby limiting the possibility of its expansion in the future.

The plan proposes that the settlement designated for the Bedouin population accommodate approximately 5,000 citizens, on an area not exceeding 800 dunums. In contrast, it is proposed that the four Jewish rural settlements accommodate approximately 1,800 citizens only, without specifying their area.

In addition, only the detailed map of the Bedouin settlement is subject to the approval of the representative of the “Minister of Security” in the district committee.

The Arab Center for Alternative Planning warns local authorities and Arab community leaders of “planning decisions that may be passed during this period in which the media does not pay much attention to planning issues.”

Source: Arab 48