Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu decided, Sunday, to defer the Ministerial Committee on Legislation's discussion of a program of reforms affecting Bedouin land use in the Negev. The deferral was in response to objections by ministers from Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home-New National Religious Party) and pressure from the public, including the Regavim movement for protection of state lands.
Under the program, developed by former minister Benny Begin, 160,000 dunam/40,000 acres of state land would be transferred to private hands. Ministers were only notified on Thursday that a 58-page draft proposal would be put on the agenda.