Bedouin in Israel
Bedouin in IsraelFlash 90

Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dov Tzedakah was dismissed from his position as the head of the IDF Civil Administration's negotiations with the Bedouin in Judea and Samaria following allegations that he is a member of an extreme-leftist organization funded by the European Union (EU).

An investigation by the Otef Yerusalayim Forum revealed that Gen. Tzedakah was a member of the The Economic Cooperation Foundation, which was founded by Oslo Accords architect Yossi Beilin and received funding from the EU.

"The membership of Gen. Tzedakah in an organization which publicly supports the illegal construction of Bedouin settlements in the Adumim region while is job is to lead the negotiating team on behalf of the Civil Administration with the Bedouin in the same area constitutes the most serious conflict of interest imaginable," Otef Yerusalayim said.

The Adumim region, between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, is the location of Maale Adumim, with its 40,000 Jewish residents and other Jewish communities as well as Arab ones. The EU has built illegal structures there, including in the area known as E1 between Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood and Maale Adumim, possibly in an effort to prevent Israel from building a connecting road there and making Maale Adumim contiguous with Jerusalem.

The organization called on the Defense Minister to dismiss Gen. Tzedakah from his position immediately.

Gen.Tzedakah's dismissal Friday morning was welcomed by Otef Yerusalem. "An IDF officer who who is obligated to act in the national interest of the State of Israel can not work simultaneously for the same international actors which undermine those interests in order to harm us."

Otef Yerusalem called for the appointment of a negotiator who would act to remove illegal Bedouin outposts in Area C of Judea and Samaria to replace Gen. Tzedakah.