As you might have heard, Israel and Palestine are resuming peace talks for the first time
in three years.
But already there is trouble brewing.
Although Israel appears to be sticking to its agreement to release 104 long-term Palestinian
prisoners, releasing a first group of 26 men on the 13th August, that same day it approved
the building of 900 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem.
And this was an addition to the 1,200 settlement homes, i.e. homes built on occupied land,
that Israel had approved just two days before.
And on the 14th August, the day on which the peace talks were officially set to start,
Israel's housing minister Uri Ariel vowed to build "thousands of homes" in the West
Bank.
For those of you who don't know, East Jerusalem and the West Bank are Palestinian areas that
have been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Despite the fact that settlement homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are considered
illegal under international law, there are now more than 500,000 Israeli nationals living
in more than 100 settlement communities established in these areas since 1967.
And it was Israel's building of new settlements that caused the peace talks to fail last time
around back in September 2010.
"The United States of America views all of the settlements as illegitimate.
That is the policy of the United States.
And we have communicated that policy very clearly to our friends in Israel and we have
worked very closely with the Palestinians in order to try to make certain that everybody
understands what the road forward will be like."
While the US has been criticised for being far too soft on its so-called "friends in
Israel" over settlements, the European Union has shown that it's prepared to be tougher.
On the 16th July, the EU announced new guidelines that will exclude Israeli settlements from
any deal made between EU member states and Israel from 2014.
Among other things this means that any bodies with links to the settlements will no longer
be allowed to receive EU funding.
Israel isn't happy about this and in retaliation has frozen all co-operation with the EU on
work in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
This has included refusing to give permits to EU humanitarian aid workers trying to gain
entry to Gaza.
But being overshadowed by ALL of this is something known as the "Prawer Plan".
On the 24th June 2013, Israel's parliament, the Knesset, approved the first reading of
a bill that would lead to the mass expulsion of the Arab Bedouin community living in the
Naqab or Negev desert in the south of the country.
According to Adalah, a human rights organisation and legal center based in Israel, if fully
implemented the Prawer plan will result in the destruction of 35 Arab Bedouin villages
which are unrecognised by Israel, and also result in the forced displacement of up to
70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel from lands that they have lived on for generations.
The exact number of people who will be affected is disputed however, and the Israeli government
has declined to give numbers.
Many of the so-called unrecognised villages predate the Israeli state, while others are
home to Bedouins who have been internally displaced from other parts of the Naqab or
Negev desert.
Because the Israeli government does not recognise the Bedouins' claims to these lands, they
do not receive basic services such as connection to water lines or the power grids.
Under the Prawer plan, which the Bedouin community were reportedly not consulted on, tens of
thousands of bedouins will be relocated to specially designed urban towns, removing them
from their traditional way of life.
"We are against any transfer and evacuation from this area.
We will do everything we can.
We are a people who stick to our land and we are not going to leave this land because
we belong to this land and we are the owners of this land.
Even if we have to die we will not leave this area."
Resistance to the plan from both Bedouins and others across Israel and Palestine is
growing.
On the 1st August activists across Israel and Palestine declared a "day of rage" to
show their opposition to the plan.
But despite all this, the Israeli government is continuing to defend the Prawer plan.
"All Middle Eastern countries, not just Israel, have issues with traditional bedouin concepts
of land ownership and I think if you look at the way Israel is dealing with this issue
you will see that Israel is being more forthcoming than any of our Arab neighbours in our consideration
and respect for traditional bedouin,"
You can let us know what you think about all of this in a comment below and you can check
out others we've made on Palestine on the left here.
We'll see you again next time.