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| MK el-Sana Photo: Gil Yohanan
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Arab MK confronts police over Bedouin crops
Talab El-Sana accompanies Bedouin villagers to protest plowing of crops planted on State land
Anat Bershkovsky
Police and monitors from the Israel Lands Authority (ILA) who arrived at the Lehavim community in the Negev to spray crops found themselves clashing with Knesset Member Talab el-Sana, who arrived in order to aide Bedouin residents.
The residents, from unrecognized villages in the area, claim that the spraying of the crops harms their income and produce which they planted, while the Israel Lands Authority claims that the action was carried out – as it is annually – to prevent a takeover of State lands.
At 5 a.m. in the morning, large numbers of ILA employees, accompanied by hundreds of police officers and dozens of monitors, arrived to plow 2,500 dunam of State land.
The Bedouins who live in the area asked for the plowing to be prevented, since they plowed wheat in the land.
The planting was carried out on State land, causing law enforcement agencies to send six tractors to turnover the soil, preventing the wheat from growing.
Chasing after tractors
When the act became known to the unrecognized Bedouin villages, residents came to the area hoping to prevent the continuance of the plowing. Knesset Member el-Sana accompanied them, who, together with the residents, chased after the tractors in an attempt to stop them and save what was not yet plowed.
In the course of the chases and confrontations which later ensued, el-Sana felt unwell, and had difficulties breathing, requiring medical aide.
The Chairman of the unrecognized Villages Authority, Hussein al-Rafia was detained until the end of ILA's work.
El-Sana was taken to the Soroka hospital where he is classified as being in light condition, and is expected to be released shortly.
"I came to prevent the ILA from carrying out the operation," he told Ynet. "I raised my hands so I wouldn't be struck, I was knocked down to the ground and someone sat my chest. I felt dizzy and breathless, and I was taken to the hospital. I asked to be released in order to avoid riots in Soroka. I call on the acting prime minister (Olmert) to first make peace at home, because this policy will lead to an intifada and clashes," added el-Sana.
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