Bedouin community
Bedouin communityHezki Ezra

Regavim, an NGO watchdog group for Jewish national property rights, expressed its satisfaction Thursday with the announcement that the government is halting attempts to pass a law based on the Prawer Plan for legalizing Bedouin communities in the Negev.

The announcement by former minister Benny Begin, who was tasked with advancing the law, “is a good opportunity for the government to turn to a different, more just course, for a new arrangement with the Bedouin population in the Negev,” the NGO said.

"Now the outline can be amended and the necessary corrections inserted into the bill, so that it truly deals with the problems of the Bedouin population and does not serve a tiny, interested group of ownership claimants, to whom it doles out hundreds of thousands of dunams.”

"Land is the most important and least available resource in the state of Israel, and it must not be seen as currency for payment,” added the group.

"The systematic refusal and violence exhibited by the leaders of the Bedouins and the Arab MKs, vis-a-vis the super-generous plan offered by former minister Begin, proves again that hading out gifts for free projects weakness, and increases the appetite of those who claim ownership.