Dozens injured in Jerusalem protest

Dozens of Palestinians have been injured after being violently attacked by Israeli soldiers and police officers during a protest against the Prawer plan that would forcibly displace between 30,000-70,000 Negev Bedouins, Palestinian medical sources reported Monday. The protest started at the Bab Al-'Amoud area, in occupied East Jerusalem, and the protesters were attacked as they marched towards Sultan Suleiman Str., clashes also extended to various areas in Jerusalem. Bassem Zeidan, of the Palestinian Medical Relief, stated that twelve Palestinians suffered fractures and bruises after being attacked by the army and the police, while a medic identified as Osama Mkheimar, suffered fractures in his foot, a cameraman identified as Amin Siyam suffered various bruises, a pregnant woman suffered a dislocated shoulder, and at least fifty more Palestinians were treated by field medics. The Begin-Prawer Bill passed its first reading in the Israeli Knesset on June 24 2013. Adalah , The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, previously reported the bill involves the dismantlement of "unrecognized" Bedouin villages in the Negev, and the forced displacement and relocation of the inhabitants, numbering in the tens of thousands, to settlements that will be "recognized" by Israel. Critics of the bill claim that the Bedouin have not been consulted, and that it violates their rights to property and ignores their legitimate claims to ancestral lands. The United Nations said that Israel must respect the land claims of the Bedouin, who are internationally recognized as indigenous peoples of the land.