Description

MK Jamal Zahalka being restrained in Knesset Photo by Dudi Vaknin

Palestinian Knesset members and Bedouin leaders are promising resistance to the evacuation with all possible means at their disposal. (Activestills.org)

Riot Police face a Bedouin during an evacuation of the unrecognized village Al-Araqib (photo: Activestills)

_________________


A letter from Rabbi Arik Ascherman, Rabbis for Human Rights:


43 in Favor of Destroyed villages and a Destroyed Way of Life; 40 Against.

I don’t know whether we will be tried in this world or in another, or by history. But if this isn’t stopped, we will be tried. There will be no need for outside commentators or experts or facts or witnesses. It won't be a matter of a hostile outside world. Tonight's Knesset transcript will be sufficient. Every word spoken by those who rose to defend or decry this legislation will be a fiery witness for the prosecution. Those in support revealed their true colors, while the words of those opposed ensure that we will not be able to say that we didn't know or weren't warned. We will be tried according to our own words, and found guilty.

I take comfort in our public opinion poll, for which we will be lifting the embargo this morning, our time. Our hope is that the majority of average Israelis, when the disinformation is stripped away, recognize the fairness in recognizing the historic claims of the Bedouin to a mere 5.4% of the Negev.

I also take comfort in your letters flowing in. We will need to revise after today's events. But for now , please keep them coming. When this law is defeated, you will be part of the story.

Most of the Arab MK's tore the law up from the speaker’s platform. All expressed anger. Some pleaded not to push the Arab population to the wall, asking "What do you want from us?"

Jewish MK's from Meretz and the Labor party spoke of the dangerous anti-democratic nature of the legislation, and said that the only way forward was to sit down with our fellow citizens as equals and come to agreement. Their pain and anger was also palpable, as they confronted the imploding of everything they believe in as Israelis and as Zionists. They asked that the land issue be put aside and that the issue of development and infrastructure be put first. It will be easier to talk about thorny issues after some trust is created. Michal Rozin said, "First, stop the cruel demolitions." (She happened to witness demolitions on the day she was on tour with us and our coalition partners.) Almost everything we might have said was said. Micky Rosenthal and others practically repeated the words of Theodore Bikel when he asked, “How can we do to others what was done to us.” (All MK's received the Bikel video and our background/position paper)

It was theater of the absurd, as Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein repeatedly expressed his dismay at the violation of Knesset decorum, expelling Arab MK after Arab MK. While many of those opposed spoke of how this was a dark day for the Knesset and Israeli democracy, going beyond the pale of legitimate debate, Edelstein displayed no empathy, and seemed impervious to the pain, desperation and dismay being expressed. For him, those emotions were all theatrics, and this was just another Knesset debate that had to be conducted according to the rules. Amid my streaming tears, I reflected on how Chaim Herzog was seen as a hero for tearing the "Zionism is Racism" resolution in pieces while standing on the speaker's platform at the UN.

The right wing spoke lies about criminal squatters and Orit Struck said bluntly, “It is our land. They don’t have rights.”

Then, there were the "Moderates." Ruby Rivlin (Likud) and Meir Shetreet (Tnuah) spoke for passing the law and then continuing the negotiations. But they and Welfare Minister Meir Cohen (Yesh Atid) made it perfectly clear that the Bedouin would have to change their way of life. They paternalistically maintained that little urban boxes with electricity and running water would be good for the Bedouin. They glossed over the fact that plenty of Jewish Israelis enjoy electricity and running water in rural settings, and certainly didn't breath a word about the fact that "Changing their way of life" included dispossession from their land. The opposition pointed out that there was no necessary connection between the issue of where the Bedouin should live and their ownership of their lands.

MK Issawi Freij (Meretz) summed it up best. This bill says, “We will give you water if you give us your lands.”

Ya'akov once said to Esau, "I will give you food if you give me your birthright." He thought he was being clever, but the price was anger, enmity, and twenty years of exile and estrangement from his brother.

Not only will we be judged if we do not pull back from what we did this evening, but we will pay a terrible price. Please stand with us, and be our mirror.



Arik



P.S. I am including some of the English language coverage, which is fairly poor. From most of the news coverage, one would think that it was only Arab MK's who opposed this legislation. Interestingly, it is the settler news outlet, out of their belief that this is a giveaway to the Bedouin, that mentions some of the numbers. One of our last minute pleas to MK's was asking them how they could responsibly vote for this legislation when the government has been mum about the numbers of villages to be destroyed, people to be displaced and amount of land to be taken. We were repeatedly told by the media that they weren't interested in covering this until after the first reading, and we are hopeful that we will be able to get some better press coverage in the coming days.