By Palestine Chronicle Staff
Mossawa Center, the advocacy center for Arab citizens in Israel, said the Israeli Prime Minister is planning to introduce the Kaminitz bill, which aims to demolish more Arab houses built in Arab cities and communities inside Israel.
“Following an order from the Prime Minister’s office to begin procedures to pass the law, the bill entered its second reading in the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee on Monday, January 30, where it is expected to pass on March 16,” Mossawa Center noted.
The center called for “far-reaching amendments so as to lessen destruction in Arab communities and to provide planning alternatives to “illegal” construction in the first place.”
As evidenced by the crowds, many in the Arab community, especially Bedouins in the #Negev, have no choice but to build "illegally" #Kimintiz pic.twitter.com/Nd7JOR9RZd
— The Mossawa Center (@MossawaCenter) February 28, 2017
The center criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Israel in a different manner compared to their Jewish counterparts, noting,
“the State of Israel has allocated lands and provided planning services for over six hundred Jewish communities since its establishment in 1948, yet it has not created a single Arab locality, aside from the seven it established to concentrate the Bedouin community in the south. Meanwhile, the government refuses to recognize many of the preexisting Arab villages.”
A crowd of Arab citizens gathers in the Bedouin city of #Rahat with the hopes of obtaining the scant 350 construction permits available. pic.twitter.com/uOI69Vo3ek
— The Mossawa Center (@MossawaCenter) February 28, 2017
The Mossawa Center called on members of the Knesset to “focus their attention on the roots of unauthorized construction and, in turn, propose and support amendments to the Kaminitz bill that will provide a sustainable solution for those living in unrecognized settings.”
“The Mossawa Center calls on the State of Israel to recognize the historical, cultural, and social rights of the Bedouin community and, in turn, recognize unrecognized villages in the Negev and the Galilee,” the center concluded.
(PalestineChronicle.com)
