VIDEO FEATURE: Residents of Negev Beduin village protest on Land Day

For Israel’s Beduin in the Negev, day gives the opportunity to raise their voices against the ongoing state demolition of their villages.

Land Day Sowaween (photo credit: CAMILLA SCHICK)
Land Day Sowaween
(photo credit: CAMILLA SCHICK)
 
Residents and neighbors of the ‘unrecognized’ Beduin village of Sowaween, near the city of Beersheba, held a march on Sunday for ‘Land Day’, which is normally marked by Arab Israeli citizens of the northern Galilee region, as well as Palestinians, to remember six community members who were killed during protests against Israel’s expropriation of their land on March 30, 1976.
For Israel’s Beduin communities in the Negev, Land Day gives opportunity to raise their voices against the ongoing government demolition of their villages, dozens of which the state deems to be illegal. The Beduin say they gather on this day each year in a different village to call for recognition and to protest against what they describe to be ‘uneven’ development plans for urban areas in the South.