Israel Plans to Judaize Galilee and Negev, Targeting Arab Land and Rights

Israel is intensifying its actions against Palestinian citizens within its borders, particularly in the Galilee and Negev regions, through measures that confiscate civil rights and seize remaining land. This escalated with a recent move against lands in the village of Majd al-Krum in the Galilee.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced a broad plan to "Judaize" the Galilee and Negev, under the slogan "Yes, we Judaize." This initiative aims to diminish the Arab presence in these predominantly Arab northern and southern areas by establishing numerous Jewish settlements and farms, expanding existing ones, and canceling development plans for Arab towns. Smotrich cited the success of his West Bank plan, "The Decisive Plan," as motivation to seek control over Israel Land Authority planning in the next government to implement radical changes in land allocation and planning policies.

These developments place Palestinian citizens of Israel at a critical juncture, facing what is described as a more aggressive campaign than previous ones. The current Israeli government, since its inception in 2022, has declared a war on these citizens, potentially using them as a means to deflect from its multifaceted political crises.

The article recalls the 2013 "Prawer Plan" under a previous Netanyahu government, which aimed to confiscate hundreds of thousands of dunams from the Negev's Arab population, then around 220,000 people. The plan sought to consolidate them onto less than 1% of the region's land, effectively seizing about 500,000 dunams of the 600,000 dunams Arabs claimed ownership of, which the government refused to recognize.

The Higher Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel deemed the Prawer Plan the most significant colonial scheme targeting their existence since the 1948 Nakba, viewing the battle for the Negev as decisive for remaining Arab lands, following Israeli institutional encroachment on lands in the Galilee, the Triangle, and coastal cities over the years.

Key aspects of the Prawer Plan's development and execution involved figures from the Israeli military and security establishment, indicating a military mindset and security-based approach to Palestinian citizens, viewing them as a national security threat. Furthermore, experts described the plan as a "national mission" driven by severe population pressures in central Israel and the need to relocate military bases from the Tel Aviv area to the Negev for civilian housing and development projects for Jews.

The Prawer Plan was ultimately thwarted when the Prime Minister's office withdrew the related bill from the Knesset agenda, a retreat attributed to intense popular, field, political, and legal pressure. The article emphasizes the importance of learning from past lessons and applying them to present challenges.