The visit coincided with the anniversary of the Nakba.
A European Political and parliamentary delegation began its field tour in several Arab towns and villages inside Israel to examine the living conditions of Palestinians living inside the Green Line.
The Council for European Palestinian Relations (The CEPR) stated, Saturday, the 11th of May 2013, that the delegation’s visit coincides with the anniversary of the Nakba, It also pointed out that the delegation will do a series of visits and meetings in order to monitor the Israeli violations of the rights of the Palestinian population inside Israel and also to investigate the forms of Israeli racial discrimination against them.
Moreover, the statement added that the delegation, organized by The CEPR, has begun its tour with visits to the Northern Palestinian areas; specifically, the cities of Umm Al-Fahm and Nazareth in which the Israeli authorities are frequently demolishing Palestinian homes under the pretext of lack of license. In the northern city of Nazareth the delegation met with the Arab High Follow up Committee and a number of Arab Knesset members who briefed the delegation on the most important problems that face the Arab population inside Israel.
The delegation also visited the displaced villages of Al-Bassa and Baaloul to evoke the tragedy of the Nakba, which will be meeting its sixty-fifth anniversary by the mid of the month, when armed Jewish troops had forced nearly a million Palestinians out of their towns and villages before bringing Jewish immigrants to substitute them.
Furthermore, the Council affirmed that the EU delegation will continue its tour today in the southern Negev territories, in order to visit a number of Bedouin villages that are threatened with forced eviction by the Israeli authorities without providing any alternatives of housing. Not only do the Israeli authorities try to evict these villages, they also periodically destroy them. Nevertheless, the indigenous people of these villages, Bedouins of Negev area, rebuild them each time.
It is noteworthy that the visiting delegation will review what had been briefed in a report that will be submitted to the concerned committees in the European Parliament. In addition, the delegation will participate, on the mid of this month, in a discussion panel that will be organized by The CEPR in parliament.