21.   He also defended numerous local towns against Indian land claims.

22.   He maintains the land claims, which amount to liens, keep the state from selling any real estate without paying him.

23.   He said it is time to take care of the Negev, but the Bedouin there are more dispersed and more attached to traditional land claims.

24.   If there is a settlement, the federal government will help pay whatever the Indians agree to accept for their land claims.

25.   In Maine, like New York now, much of the state was targeted by Indian land claims.

26.   In recent years, the land claims have also provoked widespread anxiety and anger among private landowners and local government officials.

27.   In more recent times, governors were warned of the potential costs of the land claims.

28.   Indian officials stress, however, that the land claims are about righting wrongs that are centuries old.

29.   Indeed, some tribes have used paintings to dramatize their land claims against the Australian government.

30.   Ironically, this would put Canada in the position of defending native land claims it has never formally recognized.