A controversial bill that would allow the government to seize some 40,000 acres of Bedouin lands in the Negev without the right of appeal passed its first reading in the Knesset last night by a vote of 46-44. But the narrow margin was a disappointment to coalition leaders who had hoped for a broad consensus on the issue in view of the strong internal and international criticism of the measure.
The opposition was led by the Labor Alignment which had been importuned by Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich and Justice Minister Shmuel Tamir at meetings yesterday at least to abstain if it could not support the bill.
The lands in question are needed for the construction of one of three U.S.-financed air bases to replace those Israel will give up in Sinai Under the terms of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty the bases must be completed within three years. For that reason, the government-sponsored bill bans the right of the Bedouins to appeal the confiscation of their land to Israeli courts, a process that could seriously delay work on the airfields. The Bedouins would be offered compensation, however, and the right to appeal if they consider the offer to be insufficient.
Members of the Labor Alignment’s Knesset faction met several times with Ehrlich and Tamir yesterday and last night and caucused among themselves. While the top party leaders–Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Allon–favored abstention, they were overruled by junior MKs. The Labor faction voted 19-7 against abstention and as a result the party opposed the billen bloc.
FAIL TO AGREE ON COMPROMISE
It came to at vote after the coalition and opposition factions failed to agree on a compromise which would have postponed Knesset action while a more moderate version of the bill was worked out with Bedouin participation. The Labor Alignment did not question the need for the lands but felt that the new measure was too arbitrary and that the issue could be resolved within existing legislation covering land expropriation.
Ehrlich argued that “supreme defense necessity” and a desire not to jeopardize the peace treaty were the only reasons the government presented the bill. He noted that uninhabited lands were selected for two of the projected air bases but the third, in the opinion of military experts, had to be located in the Tel Molhata area south of Beersheba, inhabited by about 6000 Bedouins.
The bill provides that the State will acquire title to the lands specified on the date the law takes effect. The inhabitants would be given three months to evacuate and turn over the land to the State. The measure was sent to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee for further discussion. The Knesset, which adjourns for summer recess tonight, may be called back into special session for the required second and third readings of the bill.
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