Dear Lirit,

 

Thank you so much for sending this information through. I’m sorry for my delay in response, I was away on annual leave.

 

It’s really great to be in touch with you, as we’ve been struggling to find any information in English, aside from that put out by NGOs. If there are any government reports available that you could direct me to or forward on once they are released, I would be very grateful.

 

With best wishes,

 

Charlotte

 

 

 

 

Dear charlotte,

Nice to meet you.

I'm the head of strategic Planning department in the headquarters of Economic and Community Development of the Negev Bedouin.

Following your questions:

We estimate that 30,000 people will be relocated. At least half of them because of health restrictions and for their own safety.

We are working on a master plan of the future settlements and soon we will have updated estimation.

The Bedouin currently live on:

120,000 dunams inside blue lines (in towns and recognized villages)

120,000 dunams that they don't claim ownership on

290,000 dunams in illegal and non regulated villages

Total: 530,000 dunam

 

The historic land claims are on 776,556 dunams

170,000 dunams are already setteled.

592,000 dunams – active land claims.

 

I'm available for further information.

Best, Lirit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Havatzelet,

 

Thank you so much for your reply and the introduction to Lirit.

 

Lirit, please let me know if any of the questions are unclear.

 

Best wishes,

 

Charlotte

 

 

 

Dear Charlotte,

Sorry for my late response, I was out of office in the last few weeks.

I wrote some remarks in the text and I am forwarding your questions to Lirit from the Prime Minister Office, who may have the rest of the answers.

Best,

Havatzelet  

 

 

Dear Havatzelet,

 

You may remember that you spoke to our delegation of UK Jewish communal leaders when we visited the Negev in 2012. We’d like to update our members on the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev, now that it is due for its reading in the Knesset, but we are struggling to find facts on the details of the plans outside of NGO reports.

 

We’re very keen to give accurate information on these issues, so would it be possible for you to verify the following for me:

 

1.       30,000 Bedouin will be relocated as part of the plan. Is that the correct number? Lirit can answer.

2.       That the Bedouin currently live on about 260,000 dunams of land or about 2% of the overall territory of the Negev. Of this area, the unrecognised villages account for about 180,000 dunams, or 1.4% of the total territory. 

The term "Negev area" is undefined.

You should better refer to criteria commonly used when estimating population density. But Lirit can give you more information about that.  

3.       That the total land area claimed by the Bedouin is estimated at 5.4% of the total territory in the Negev, or 775,863 dunams.

The land area of Israel is about 20,250,000 dunam. So we are talking about 3.8% of the total land area of Israel.   

 

4.       To date the state has managed to reach an arrangement with Bedouin residents on 205,675 dunams (about 18% of the claimed land).  

Lirit can answer that as well.

We would be extremely grateful for your help with this and if you are unable to answer these questions, please could you recommend someone else that I could ask.

 

Kind regards,

 

Charlotte

 

Charlotte Newman
Research and Projects Officer, UK Task Force
JHub | Haskell House | 152 West End Lane | London NW6 1SD

T: +44 (0)20 7443 5156 | E: [email protected]  | W: www.uktaskforce.org 

 

 

 

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