PRESS RELEASE
27 March 2012

30 March 2012 is the 36th Land Day. The first Land Day began as a general strike in 1976 to protest Israel's policy of confiscating Arab land, and ended with the killing of six Palestinians from Sakhnin and Arrabeh by Israeli security forces. Israel continues to displace and dispossess Palestinian citizens of their land, with the government-initiated Prawer Plan Law (Law for the Regulation of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev 2012) being the most recent iteration of government policy.

On Land Day 2012, Adalah calls on Israel to cancel the pending Prawer Plan Law that if passed, will forcibly displace up to 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel from their homes and ancestral lands. The Prawer Plan anticipates the largest confiscation of Arab-owned land since the 1950s, and will deny the Arab Bedouin of their rights to land, equality, and dignity. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recently called on Israel to "withdraw the 2012 discriminatory proposed Law for the Regulation of the Bedouin Settlement in the Negev, which would legalize the ongoing policy of home demolitions and forced displacement of the indigenous Bedouin communities." In the run-up to Land Day and to inform the public about the devastating Prawer Plan and the government's ongoing policy of demolition and displacement in the Naqab, Adalah initiated a lecture series entitled "Bringing the Naqab North".

This month, Dr. Thabet Abu Rass, Director of Adalah's Naqab Office, presented lectures in four Arab villages in the Galilee (Nazareth, Majd Al-Karoum, Koukab Abu Al-Hija and Taybeh). He was joined by Khalil Al-Amour of Alsira village and a member of the Board of Directors of Adalah, as well as members of the Arab Steering Committee in the Naqab. The lectures included a screening of the film "Sumoud," which is directed by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours and documents the story, struggle, and resilience of the people of Al-Araqib. There will be a special evening event in Jaffa in April.

For more information and media coverage about "Bringing the Naqab North", see:
http://www.mjdna.com/Article.php?ID=2097
http://www.panet.co.il/online/articles/71/73/S-517802,71,73.html
http://www.alarab.net/Article/445577
http://www.alarab.net/Article/445622