JERUSALEM, Israel – Bedouin Arabs launched violent protests in southern Israel on Tuesday over the Jewish National Fund’s forestation plans on land used by local Bedouins.
Police said they received reports of stones being thrown at a bus and car. Video shows a car on fire in the middle of the road.
בתיעוד נוסף מהמהומות סביב נטיעות קק”ל בנגב, נראה רכב בוער סמוך למחלף שגב שלום@Itsik_zuarets pic.twitter.com/202ajX293E
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The rioting temporarily shut down a stretch of highway and 2 police officers were injured during the clashes, law enforcement said.
In one incident, a train was forced to brake near Beer Sheva after the conductor noticed stones on the tracks. Police removed the stones and launched an investigation into who is responsible.
Earlier in the day, police arrested 18 people during clashes with Bedouin protesters at a KKL-JNF planting site.
“Officers will allow freedom of protest so long as it is within the confines of the law and with no tolerance for those who break it,” a police statement said.
Tensions have been simmering for several weeks over ongoing forestation work by Keren Kayemet L’Yisrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) in the Negev region. The organization began planting trees on land settled by the Bedouin al-Atrash tribe to incentivize “new families to populate these areas,” provide a “source of livelihood for farmers” and boost the “Israeli agricultural industry.”
The Bedouins charge KKL-JNF with trying to displace them under the guise of agricultural work, and one local Bedouin municipal official predicted that thousands living in the area could be expelled due to the forestation plans. But KKL-JNF says it is simply acting on a government request to “conduct agricultural land preparation” on public land.
According to the plan, 1,250 acres of forest will be planted near Israel’s Anim stream. The first phase of the project involves planting 74 acres on land locals planted wheat on just a month ago, Haaretz reported.
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The initiative has sparked outrage and praise among Israeli politicians.
Mansour Abbas, chairman of Israel’s United Arab List party, threatened to stop voting with the rest of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government coalition until the issue was resolved. The Bedouins “were born here and will remain here. A tree is no more important than a human being,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “no one will stop the planting of trees in the Land of Israel.” Abbas responded by saying Netanyahu himself had agreed to stop the forestation plans during coalition negotiations in 2020 along with other concessions to Negev Bedouins.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid made calls to halt the forestation plans until the government can find a solution.
“Just as the Netanyahu government stopped planting in 2020, it is possible to stop reorganizing even now. The government of change is committed to solving the Bedouin problem and bringing about settlement in the Negev,” Lapid tweeted on Tuesday. “Politicians on all sides need to calm down instead of igniting the fire. I condemn the violence on the ground and support the activities of the police to restore public order.”
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