Construction and Housing Minister Ze'ev Elkin (New Hope) has decided that the tree-planting in the Negev will resume, including in locations near illegal Bedouin outposts, Kan Bet reported.
For decades, the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL) has hosted tree-planting events around Tu B'shvat, the "birthday of the trees." The trees are planted on State land.
However, the planting was suspended two months ago, after thousands of Bedouin violently rioted in protest of the KKL-hosted events.
The subject came up again in conversations within the New Hope party, as well as with other sources in the coalition, and it was agreed that the way the planting ended last time was not seen positively by the public. This is especially true since in some places, the newly-planted trees were uprooted by Bedouin.
Senior sources in the coalition have claimed that one of the reasons for the timing of the decision to renew the planting is that the Knesset's winter session has ended, so the United Arab List (Ra'am) will not be able to respond by boycotting votes in the near future.