Israeli police and Bedouin clash in tree-planting protests

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Protesters have held a series of demonstrations in recent days over the environmental scheme in southern Israel's arid desert region, posing a thorny challenge for the fragile coalition government.

Bedouin, who are part of Israel's 20 percent Arab minority, have long opposed tree-planting initiatives in the Negev, blasting them as a de facto government land grab in areas they call home.

"Police dispersed the demonstrators who blocked a road in the Negev and threw stones at the police," the security forces said in a statement.

Thirteen people were arrested in the events, the statement added.

An AFP photographer was lightly injured during the clashes.

The latest unrest in the decades-long dispute has attracted fresh attention given the make-up of Israel's coalition government, led by right-wing Prime Minister Naftali Bennett."...