Fifteen years after the members of two Bedouin tribes from the Ovdat region in the Negev erected a protest tent outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem – the National Council for Planning and Building saw fit to authorize the establishment of a permanent place of residence for Bedouins living in the area.
This will be the seventh permanent community built in the Negev for the Bedouin sector.
The council's decision was preceded by a government ruling determining there was a genuine necessity for such a community in the region. Building plans for the community will be prepared by the Israeli Land Administration and will then be examined by the Regional Council for Planning and Building.
The establishment of the community will call for the evacuation and compensation of Bedouins currently living in unrecognized communities.
Interior Ministry Chief Arie Bar told Ynet that completing the evacuation-compensation process was crucial to the establishment of the community. "Bedouin representatives from the region took part in the planning stages and have voiced their support for the plan and intention to cooperate with it," said Bar.
'There is a future for us in the Negev'
MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List - Ta'al) said he welcomed the council's decision. "I hope that in the planning of this community they take into account its uniqueness, its nature and the demand for employment," he said.
"What transpired here today teaches us that a political struggle can bear fruit when it is backed by the
public. A public campaign that has no agenda or leadership to guide it is hopeless – and a political struggle that lacks public backing shares the same fate," he added.
"There is a future for the Bedouins in the Negev," Ynet was told by Laba'ad Ta'asan, one of the key leaders of the original 1993 campaign.
Tani Goldstein contributed to this report