Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality
פורום דו-קיום בנגב לשוויון אזרחי
منتدى التعايش السلمي في النقب من أجل المساواة المدنية

Work Plan for 2014

The following activities are planned for 2014, subject to funding:

Direct Action and Community Empowerment

1. 1. Continue NCF’s Video Advocacy Project and Visual Literacy Project to provide children in unrecognized villages with the resources and knowledge to advocate for their civil and human rights using photographs and videos.
2. 2. Offer social media courses to build the capacity of activists to document and disseminate information about their struggle for civil and human rights.
3. 3. Offer human rights training to Bedouin activists documenting violations in their villages
4. 4. Establish an accessible system for activists to upload images of human rights violations onto NCF’s website.

Public Outreach and Engagement

1. 1. Organize demonstrations as part of a joint effort with other local representative bodies, including the Steering Committee of the Negev Arabs, the Regional Council for Unrecognized villages and Rabbis for Human Rights.
2. 2. Mobilize Bedouin and Jewish activists to assist communities affected by oppressive Israeli policies.
3. 3. Work with other civil society groups to file legal actions against the Prawer-Begin and the JNF’s forestation efforts in Bedouin villages.
4. 4. Arrange protests and solidarity visits to affected villages. This includes the weekly Sunday afternoon protest on the main highway into Be’er Sheva to draw attention to the plight of Al Arakib residents.
5. 5. Issue petitions against plans by the government and other institutions (for example, the JNF), which discriminate against the Arab-Bedouin villages.
6. 6. Lobby Knesset members, government officials and local power holders to raise awareness of negative consequences of Prawer
7. 7. Continue to run guided tours with an emphasis on unrecognized villages in order to provide students, journalists, diplomats and political representatives with a better understanding of the civil and human rights violations taking place in the Negev.
8. 8. Utilize the Multaka-Mifgash Cultural Center to serve as an Arab-Jewish meeting place by hosting cultural events and seminars about Bedouin culture, history and government policy.
9. 9. Hold joint Jewish – Muslim holiday celebrations for Ramadan, Sukkot and Tu Bishvat to strengthen the relationship between the Bedouin and Jewish residents of the Negev-Naqab.
10. 10. Offer spoken Arabic courses to encourage greater communication amongst residents in the Negev.
11. 11. Organize ‘home circle’ events. These are relaxed meetings in private homes where NCF staff is invited to lead discussions on discrimination in the Negev and democracy in Israel.
12. 12. Host conferences and workshops in Tel Aviv and in unrecognized Bedouin villages to raise awareness and understanding about the Prawer-Begin Plan and its consequences.
13. 13. Organize exhibitions of photos produced during workshops in locations across Israel.

Reporting and Information Dissemination

1. 1. Liaise with Israeli and international media and issue press releases.
2. 2. Maintain online record of house demolitions.
3. 3. Distribute regular, electronic and printed newsletters and updates to NCF members and supporters. Additionally, we will continue to utilize social media tools (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) to provide rapid updates following major events. The NCF will be at the forefront of bringing to light violations against the Negev residents by acting as a watchdog with regards to government actions.
4. 4. Release a house demolition report to coincide with the International Human Rights Day on December 10, 2014.
5. 5. Release a report to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21, 2014.
6. 6. Release a report on water consumption and water prices/police brutality or access to education.
7. 7. Release 3-4 position papers on the Prawer-Begin Plan, water prices or human rights violations in the Negev.
8. 8. Continue to develop our unique interactive, mapping project to document the lives of residents of unrecognized villages and the effects of home demolitions therein.

International and United Nations Advocacy

1. 1. Submit a follow-up ‘state report’ to the Centre for Civil and Political Rights 
2. 2. Send NCF representatives on international advocacy missions to the Thirteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (12-23 May 2014) and to the Seventh Session of Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (in Geneva in July 2014). The NCF intends to send a Bedouin representative to each UN event in order to bring attention to the violations committed by Israel against its Bedouin citizens and meet with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
3. 3. Build on previous correspondences with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing by providing information about human rights abuses as they occur. We hope that during 2014 Prof. Anaya will be granted permission to conduct a visit to Israel, which was formally requested in 2010.

Increasing organizational capacity

1. 1. Create new partnerships and collaborations with human rights organizations in Israel and abroad to better make use of consultative status at the UN