The Regavim movement for protection of state lands said, Sunday, that it will return to the Supreme Court with a petition to invalidate Sunday’s cabinet decision to approve proposals by Minister Benny Begin to change a program to regulate Bedouin settlement in the Negev. The change will add tens of thousands of dunams to Bedouin holdings. On Friday, the court rejected a petition to prevent the cabinet vote from taking place.
Responding to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s description of the decision as historic, Regavim called it “an historic mistake which puts a question mark on the future of the Negev.” A statement by the group explained that the Bedouin do not intend to cooperate with any program that offers them less than 100 percent of the land they now occupy. Regavim said the decision was not legal because of the government’s transitional status.
