Six months after the establishment of the government, Minister Amichai Shikli is expected to present today a plan to regulate Bedouin settlement in the Negev. The "zip code program" is its name.
Shikli, who was granted the authority to regulate Bedouin settlement when the government was formed, wants to succeed where all his predecessors failed. Its goal is to create an orderly plan that will transfer the Bedouin in the Negev to the boundaries of organized communities, thereby eliminating the diaspora that dominates huge parts of the State of Israel without law and order.
Construction without plans and permits, the Bedouin diaspora. (Archive), photo: David Greenspan
Israel Hayom has learned that the plan includes, among other things, the appointment of projects in the Regulation Authority for the benefit of each of the goals in the plan: the removal of Rahat for independence and then also the community of Hura, where residents of the diaspora will gather from the Hebron Hills area, and thus succeed for the first time in evacuating Firing Zone 526.
Another plan will also try to create solutions for regulating Bir Hadaj, which covers vast areas and whose residents refuse to congregate on plots allocated to them by the state. Other parts of the plan will deal with enforcement – taxes, VAT and police – in order to subdue criminal elements that prevent the Bedouin from settling in the plots on the grounds of "ownership of the land."
The plan will be presented today to a ministerial committee on settlement regulation and economic development of Bedouin society in the Negev, headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The committee is expected to meet today for the first time in its term and discuss the issue. It should be recalled that the State Comptroller's report determined that an integrating government entity should be determined for the regulatory efforts.
He wants to succeed where all his predecessors failed. Minister Amichai Shikli (Archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Alongside the attempt to settle the Bedouin, the plan also includes the establishment of industrial and commercial zones, as well as another part of the decision prepared by the Ministry of Justice in favor of establishing a professional team to deal with incentives that encourage polygamy in Bedouin society. The resolution includes the addition of 14 standards to the law enforcement system dedicated to the government's fight against polygamy.
In the details of the decision sent to the ministers ahead of the discussion, four focus areas were chosen: "Rahat, in fact the largest Arab city in Israel with about 80,<> residents, (is) a functioning authority that must move to an independent development track and disconnect from the Bedouin authorities within two years when the diaspora regulation procedures are completed.
"Hura, which is an important urban focal point in the center of the Bedouin population that radiates over the entire area: northern Arad, natural and landscape areas that need to be evacuated from illegal construction clusters; And Bir Hadj, which was initially built on a patch, has become a crime hotspot and must change trend, and alongside enforcement efforts must enter the regularization track."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us