<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israeli Arabs, Bedouins protest&nbsp;discrimination]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p class="hn-byline">
<div data-shortcode="caption" id="attachment_19324" style="width: 598px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19324" data-attachment-id="19324" data-permalink="https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/israeli-arabs-bedouins-protest-discrimination/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga/" data-orig-file="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg" data-orig-size="768,512" data-comments-opened="0" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="ALeqM5h5YBbQoGrhhxuwWqM2V1sRhX-bgA" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg?w=588" data-large-file="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg?w=588" class="size-full wp-image-19324" title="ALeqM5h5YBbQoGrhhxuwWqM2V1sRhX-bgA" src="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg?w=588&#038;h=392" alt="" width="588" height="392" srcset="https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg?w=588&amp;h=392 588w, https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 588px) 100vw, 588px" /><p id="caption-attachment-19324" class="wp-caption-text">Bedouin women hold a Palestinian flag in the destroyed bedouin village of Al-Arakib during a &quot;Land Day&quot; demonstration</p></div>
<p class="hn-byline">By Yoav Lemmer (AFP) – <span class="hn-date">March 30, 2011<br />
</span></p>
<p>AL-ARAQIB, Israel — Arab Israelis and Bedouins marked &#8220;Land Day&#8221; on  Wednesday, saying the Jewish state still maintains a discriminatory  policy of trying to force its minorities off their land.</p>
<p>Rallies  were held in Israel and the Palestinian territories in an annual  commemoration of a 1976 shooting in which Israeli troops killed six  people during protests against land confiscations.</p>
<p>&#8220;The title of  Israeli policy is the Judaisation of the Negev and the Galilee that  wants to drive out the Arabs and Bedouins and bring in Jewish citizens,&#8221;  said Ahmad Tibi, an Israeli Arab lawmaker attending protests in  Al-Araqib.</p>
<p>Several hundred people gathered in the dusty,  wind-swept Bedouin village in the Negev Desert that has been levelled  several times by the Israeli police over the past eight months.</p>
<p>They  danced to music, waved Palestinian flags, planted olive trees and  rebuilt several of the tent-like structures that Israeli forces had  taken down.</p>
<p>&#8220;The people are resisting,&#8221; Tibi told AFP. &#8220;They will rebuild.&#8221;</p>
<p>Israel  has never recognised Bedouin claims of land ownership in the Negev and  wants the population to relocate into seven government-planned  townships.</p>
<p>Several thousand people also gathered in the northern  Galilee town of Arrabeh for a protest attended by Arab Israeli MPs and  leaders of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee.</p>
<p>Many Arab Israeli  schools were closed for the day, and Arab human rights groups said  shops and businesses in the town of Sakhnin were observing a one-day  strike to mark the anniversary.</p>
<p>&#8220;This day inspires us in our struggle,&#8221; said Mohammed Zidan, head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our  message to the Israeli institution is that no matter how many racist  laws you pass it will not change our position,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>Israel&#8217;s  Arab minority leads Land Day demonstrations every year to protest  against discrimination and assert its solidarity with the Palestinians.</p>
<p>Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank also held protests, and in Gaza they were marred by clashes with Hamas police.</p>
<p>In  Gaza City, hundreds of students began a protest march at Al-Azhar  University but were stopped by Hamas police, who arrested a number of  them, witnesses said, without saying how many.</p>
<p>And around 300  university students marched to the Square of the Unknown Soldier where  their rally to mark Land Day and to call for an end to the division  within the Palestinian national movement, was forcibly broken up by  Hamas police, an AFP correspondent said.</p>
<p>A large number of police  converged on the square and were seen beating several demonstrators and  arresting others. There were no immediate details on injuries.</p>
<p>Protesters  were also gathering in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Loudspeakers  called on young people to join a peaceful protest against the Israeli  army&#8217;s years-long closure of the road from Ramallah to Beit El, a key  artery serving the northern West Bank.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gM4ARkrCMQFCHWanuZDTcZFSFdqQ?docId=CNG.583450bebb349b36f3b01e5eb1000e5f.3a1">Source</a></p>
]]></html><thumbnail_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/aleqm5h5ybbqogrhhxuwwqm2v1srhx-bga.jpg?fit=440%2C330]]></thumbnail_url><thumbnail_width><![CDATA[]]></thumbnail_width><thumbnail_height><![CDATA[]]></thumbnail_height></oembed>