Bedouin Leaders Hold Emergency Meeting Over Tree Planting in Negev Amid Land Dispute

Following the commencement of tree planting operations near the unrecognized Bedouin village of Bir al-Hamam in the Negev, under police protection, Bedouin leadership convened an emergency meeting. Residents claim the afforestation is a precursor to land expropriation and called for collective resistance. The Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages and the Supreme Steering Committee of Negev Arabs held the meeting on Monday to coordinate responses against what they describe as policies aimed at land confiscation and afforestation in the Negev.

The tree planting began on lands belonging to the Abu Ghnima family and is expected to expand to other families' lands in the area. According to local reports, neither the police nor the Israel Land Authority provided clear maps of the work zones in advance. Residents view the afforestation as an attempt to establish new facts on the ground and urged locals to come to the site to oppose these measures.

Amid the protests, Mansour Abbas, chairman of the Ra'am party, and his colleagues have reiterated their intention to work within any future coalition to regulate the status of unrecognized villages in the Negev and to prevent home demolitions and land confiscations affecting the Bedouin community.