Negev Desert
As the fifth daughter in a family of girls, Amal al-Sana’s birth was considered a tragedy. She didn’t let that stop her, and is today the widely-respected founder of two empowerment organizations for women.
The 18-19-year-old men were detained last month for their alleged involvement in an attack on ‘Haaretz’ reporter Nati Yefet.
“We are in a struggle for the continuation of the Zionist enterprise,” says a spokesperson for “Ma’ale Paula,” named after the wife of Israel’s first prime minister.
Millions of Israelis are furious over the government’s caving to the rioting and its alleged plan to recognize these illegal Bedouin encampments situated on state lands, claiming that such capitulation will only lead to further unrest and violence.
“A big impetus for this friction is the fact that there’s been a disparity between the Bedouin’s perception of their property rights and Israel’s view of Bedouin property rights,” said David May, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “Bedouin simply don’t have deeds to the land that they claim to be theirs.”
Israel Police: “We will allow the freedom of protest as long as it is conducted in a legal manner; we will act with zero-tolerance against disturbances.”
Hamas spurs Negev Arabs to “rise up against Zionist oppression” after local Bedouin attack security forces and journalists at a KKL tree-planting event ahead of Tu B’Shevat.
Pini Badash, the head of Omer Regional Council—a mainly Jewish community just outside of Beersheva—stressed that the area was facing difficult times as a result of a lack of governance.
Israel Ganon, chairman of the Association of Public Transport Drivers in Israel, says drivers carry the trauma of violent incidents long after they’re over, and that “the Ministry of Transportation must give drivers moral backing and regulatory support as much as possible.”
On a tour of the Negev, the Israeli prime minister says Israel is moving from a defensive to an offensive approach to violent crime in the area.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, said it would be a strategic opportunity for renewal and growth, adding that it will also “play a significant role in making the desert bloom.”
The cornerstone has been laid for a two-mile promenade from David Ben-Gurion’s cabin to the Midreshet Ben-Gurion school, which will include information about the prime minister’s personal and family life.
