Bedouins Angry over Lands Decision

Hammad Abu Rabi, a Bedouin, has asked Premier Yitzhak Rabin to meet with the leaders of the Bedouin tribes in the Negev over the government’s decision to go ahead with the settlement of Bedouin claims of ownership of nearly two million dunams of land in the northern Negev.

The meeting was demanded after Bedouin leaders expressed anger over the decision last Wednesday by the Ministerial Committee on Israeli Arab Affairs, beaded by Rabin, to accept the recommendation of an interministerial committee that a committee be set up to negotiate a compromise with the Bedouins and that a supreme decisions committee rule on claims in cases where compromise settlements could not be reached.

The Bedouins claim that the government decision will deprive them of most of the land they now own in the Negev. The issue has already been tested in the courts with the government winning in all cases. The decision by the ministerial committee would provide the Bedouins with more-compensation than they have received from the courts.

The meeting last Wednesday of the Ministerial Committee on Israeli Arab Affairs was its first since the Cabinet decided on May 23 to establish the committee in the wake of the Mar. 30 disturbances by Israeli Arabs in the Galilee. The Cabinet at that time also decided to set up an interdepartmental committee of director generals of ministries involved with Arab affairs and a Public Council on Israeli Arab Affairs with an equal number of Arab and Jewish members.

The interdepartmental committee has met several times while the ministerial committee at its meeting last week first set up regulations for the public council whose members have not yet been appointed. The council will include 40 Arabs and 40 Jews with Rabin serving as its chairman. There has been some difficulty in naming members since some Arabs who have been approached have refused, while others who asked to be on the committee were found to be unrepresentative or unsuitable.