In 1948
some Bedouins were evicted from the Naqab and in the 1950s the state gathered
the Bedouin into the “Sayig” designated area which was declared a closed
military zone, and then declared much of the area as agricultural which meant
they were not allowed to do any construction. In the 1960s, the state
become more aggressive and gathered Bedouin into a number of townships,
punishing those who refused by declaring their homes as unrecognized villages.
It should be remembered that the city of Be’er Sheva was founded in 1900 with
the purchase of 200 dunans (approximately 50 acres) from the Hazazin
tribe.
We are
about to visit Wadi Aliam, the largest unrecognized village in Israel, some
10-15,000, all under threat of displacement. The Israeli authorities have
announced the closure of the schools starting August 23, transferring the
children to pressure their parents to move. The students are on a general
strike.
We are
meeting with the traditional leader of the local committee which is the
political organization of unrecognized villages.
Such
villages are not on any maps, some existed before 1948, some are the results of
previous dispossessions and now they are under threat again. Thabet explains
that since 1948, Israeli policy has included:
1. Concentrating Bedouins into small reservation areas and restricting their movement (think Native Americans)
2.
Urbanizing the Bedouin in the name of modernization without any respect for
their identity and culture and destroying a traditional way of living
3.
Finalizing land claims. Of the 90,000 pre 1948 Bedouins, 10,000 remained
after the war and the population has grown to 200,000 people who claim 3.5% of
the Naqab. Since the 1948 dispossessions and transfer to the different
reservations, the Israelis have created seven planned towns for those who lost
land or live in unrecognized villages; this will involve the destruction of
20-25 villages, uprooting 35-75,000 people, and the loss of land claims.
The Bedouin look at these townships as refugee camps and strongly prefer
agricultural villages with livestock and herds.
He notes
sadly that the Bedouin are not being given any options, while Jewish Israelis
are welcome to live in cities, towns, kibbutzim, moshavs, or individual farms
and get full support. Some Jews from Tel Aviv are attracted to the rustic
rural life and are setting up individual farms in the Naqab with full
governmental services provided.
As we drive
down Route 40, a modern highway, on our left are clusters of shanty towns and
on our right is sandy, rocky, uninhabited desert. We are 30
kilometers from Gaza and that side of the road has been totally cleansed of
Bedouin towns and is now a firing area for the military. I see a sign
that says: “Beware of camels near the road.”
Tahbet
explains that villages are made up of a tribe with clusters of clans subdivided
into families. The Bedouin want to keep these relationships intact and
will never violate tribal law, even if it conflicts with Israeli law. I
am horrified to learn that many of the unrecognized villages are located
adjacent to the most poisonous chemical/industrial parks in Israel. We
turn onto a rocky bumpy pot holed (I can’t really call it a road) towards Wadi
Aliam which is built adjacent to a gigantic electrical plant. Massive high
voltage electric towers and wires crisscross over and in between patches of
houses as far as we can see. (Isn’t that supposed to be a major health hazard?)
Again the painful irony is that none of these houses are actually connected to
the electrical grid. There is a certain cruelty to this whole mess.
We learn
that the 50 year old tribal leader we are meeting, Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Hafash,
like many Bedouin, used to serve in the IDF under the belief that serving their
country would result in a better future, (just look at the benefits for Jewish
soldiers) but they returned to their poverty and villages without water and
electricity and nothing changed. This man was wounded in the service of
his country and is now one of the leaders of the Islamic movement of the Naqab.
We are soon
seated in a square of long red rugs and pillows on the ground in a large tent
on hard packed dirt, with the same arrangement of plastic sheeting supported by
wooden planks, the cooking pit, but also a sink and what appears to be a gas
burner in the back. A refreshing breeze cools us a bit and the meeting with the
sheikh begins with the rituals of coffee and tea. His face is sun brown,
he is wearing a long grey robe, and tells us the village includes 50,000 dunams
and 20,000 people and the state provides no services except a school which is
under threat. In 1953, Bedouin in the surrounding areas were gathered up
and put in an area called The Fence where they stayed from 1953 to 1988 without
interference. Then the Israeli Land Authority announced that the Bedouin
were illegally occupying the land where they had been transferred by the
government. This was followed by a long and tortured court fight,
deceptive legal maneuvers, multiple judicial decisions which ended with the
decision in 2002 that the Bedouin could stay until a new agreement was
reached. The government has shown no interest in agreements and lots of
interest in removing them. He says that a few days ago, a few Jews came and
asked the Bedouin, “to be loyal.” He replied, “We are as loyal as we are
treated. The state treats us as a knife in the back, so how do they
expect to be treated?” The Israeli media also joins in the lies and
distortions.
Much of the
battles are around water for which the Bedouin pay the highest amount and then
are responsible for building the infrastructure to carry that water.
International solidarity groups have helped install solar panels so they are
generating their own clean electricity. In addition, the IDF has designated
their land for training, a military area with no shooting. He claims that
the Israelis want Bedouin in the IDF so they can be the human shields in the
front lines, but now less that 1% serve and they are looked down upon by their
communities.
Suddenly,
it is time for the Muslim prayers and the Sheikh leaves us. Four Muslim women
in our group ask if they can go to the mosque and the answer comes back in the
negative; shortly thereafter, our Muslim sisters are praying at the back of the
tent. Thabet explains that Bedouin society is very traditional and patriarchal;
women are totally separate from men but derive their influence through their
relationship with their husbands. The community can meet at the communal
tent where we are sitting, but not in people’s homes. One third of Bedouin are
polygamous with up to four wives, each with a separate household, and the
number of wives is a mark of prestige. There are usually 10 to 15 children per
family, (each a blessing), but families up to 40 are not unheard of.
Nonetheless, society is changing and the majority of Bedouin in the
universities are female. The women have associations involved with
weaving, embroidery, and other traditional crafts. In Be’er Sheba, all
the demonstrations are led by women. Israeli policy has forced women into
the streets. As we leave the tent, he points out a huge gas storage facility in
the middle of the town, again another major health hazard.
We are back
in the van and I am marveling how people can survive under such harsh
conditions, what kind of toughness emerges living in the desert, what will
happen as they struggle to survive in such a racist and unsympathetic
country. Thabet continues the discussion, some pertinent pieces of
information strike me:
There is
already a bill in the Knesset to make the road we are on a military road and
this will effectively criminalize all the Bedouins who refuse to leave; they
are known for their resilience and stubbornness
Every
Sunday, the sheikh, his wives and many children demonstrate in Be’er Sheba
reminding people they are here to stay.
In the town
of Alssir, part of the southern district of Be’er Sheba, the Bedouin
inhabitants have already been displaced a number of times, many have served in
the IDF and although they are technically part of Be’er Sheba, they receive no
services and live under the dangerous high voltage wires.
When
rockets from Gaza were landing in this area (which has no shelters), the sheikh
laughed and said, “He’s asking about rockets? I am looking for water. I
was a soldier in the Israeli army, I served my country.” When it is time for
Allah to take him, he is ready.
When
reviewing the volume of health risks to this society, lets not forget the
Dimona nuclear reactor which is 30 miles away. Thabet remembers a time
when they were told the reactors were “textile factories,” but no one was
allowed to investigate due to massive security.
Adalah
takes many petitions to the Israeli supreme court and often wins, but
implementation is always a problem. It took the state six years to build a
Bedouin school which consisted of a row of caravans.
He predicts
that in five years all these villages will be cleared and Jewish towns will be
built as part of “developing the Negev,” but there is obviously enough room for
everyone, this is the same process going on in the West Bank in area C.
These areas are the ancestral lands and villages of the Dirat tribe that
existed long before 1948. Bedouin are people of the desert, they have had their
own villages for 300 years, they wander with their herds, but then return to
their villages. Maps from 1945 show fertile cultivated Bedouin
villages. Now not only are they being asked to prove their ownership, but
if they do, they are offered 17% of that land. The Bedouin are not
interested in compromise.
We stop and
drive up a small hill that in another perverse irony has several huge water
storage tanks (that do not feed the surrounding villages of course). Sand
storms dance across the vista below. In the distance we see another important
piece of this puzzle, the Nevatim military air base that has plans for
expansion. The location of this area is critical to prevent any
demographic contiguity between Gaza and the West Bank. (Take a big “Ah ha”
moment).
Shortly
thereafter, the only Bedouin MK in the Israeli Knesset, a lawyer and former
mayor active in the Islamic movement, Ibu Arar pulls up in his car wearing
western dress, short hair and a beard, neatly pressed shirt. Standing in the
wind with the highway below and the water tanks above, more sand storms, like
mini tornados, dance across the clusters of villages. He talks about all the
expected issues regarding the racism in Israeli society, the treatment of
Bedouin, the discriminatory laws in the Knesset, and notes ironically that the
state is spending twice as much money to expel the Bedouin as it would to
recognize them. He asks, “If Israel can’t make peace with its own citizens, how
can it make peace with Palestinians outside?” His family was displaced in the
1980s to build the military airport, the villagers were promised 10,000 dunams
to move and they received 7,000. His allies in the Knesset include Meretz, a
few MKs from Labor and the Arab parties, 20 out of 120 parliament
members. His is a lonely battle.
We pass the
town of Nevatim, population 2,500, a (segregated I might add) Jewish settlement
from India. Thabet gets agitated when he points out there are three signs
along the road to a small Jewish cemetery and not one sign to any of the many
villages for the living. He talks about the politics of fear, fear of the
other, of Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Abu Mazin, there is always a new
target. “Fear is the centripetal force that binds Jews together.”
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