Bedouins in Israel: victims of ongoing discrimination
Israel, Local, 11/28/1997

So outstanding were the services that many of them had given to Israel . Hundreds, if not thousands, of Bedouins had even given the best years of their lives to Israel through serving in its army but, almost fifty years after Israel was proclaimed, they are still accorded less rights and more obilgations. The feeling of being unjustly treated by the state, even neglected in almost all fields of daily life, has caused a sudden upheaval of national and pariotic beliefs and feelings among those Bedouins. A few moths ago, Israel released a classified report prepared by its General Security Services, better known as Shin Bet, in which they anticipated a wave of Bedouin unrest against Israel, mainly in the Naqab [Negev] and in Galilee, where the Bedouins who live in Israel are concentrated. The report said the Bedouins are very likely to stage an uprising of their own to protest the discrimination policy Israel is adopting against them.

Aref Abu Rabee¹a, a professor in Anthropology at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheba who himself is a Bedouin, had warned a year ago of such an outbreak of violent protest on the Bedouins' part. His warning then came after violent clashes erupted between Tarabeen As-Sane¹ tribe and the Israeli police over land disputes. This time, however, the warning that came from Israel¹s security has risen new concern among the Bedouins. Many of them believe the aim of releasing the report is simply to look for pretexts to crack down on Bedouins and to strengthen the tough policy the Israeli government is adopting against them.

The report, excerpts of which appeared in the Hebrew papers, spoke of the unfair treatment the Bedouins receive in Israel, in addition to the governmental denial of their rights on their land. It also cited the increase of Bedouins who have joined the Islamic movement in Israel throughout the past three years, mainly after the Ibrahimi Mosque massacre in Hebron in which Baruch Goldstine opened fire at a group of Muslim worshippers in February 1994, killing some 28 and injuring dozens of others.

With the absence of government care to the Bedouins, the Islamic movement in Israel has walked forward to fill up the gap. Israeli official and security reports said the Islamic movement in Israel has taken considerable steps recently to fill up the social vacancy the Bedouins suffer from because of the absence of government assistance. Assistance offered by the Islamic movement covered fields of education and social life. And in a society where schools are in their worst condition, as in the case of Bedouin schools, any help is not only appreciated, but its extenders are highly admired.

Despite the fact that many Bedouins serve in the Israeli army in part of the compulsory service which the Arabs in Israel reject, they are still treated like second class citizens, or even less. A few months ago, two cousins of the Al Heib family, Hussam and Kamel, were among the 73 Israeli soldiers who were killed in a helicopter crash in northern Israel. During their funeral in the village of Zarazir in the north, a feeling of discontent could easily be observed. The village has no local council. Its day to day matters are handled by the Jewish local council of a neighbouring settlement, the population of which is less than one tenth of Zarazir's population. When the news of the crash reached the village and the names of the two were given to their families, the settlement council sent a bulldozer to clear the road to the houses of the two cousins and to clean the main street entering the village. A relative to the two cousins later said: ³Are we only good enough to get killed for the country but not equally good enough to run our municipal affairs in our own village?²

Bedouins are not allowed to build in Arab villages that have not been recognized by the government. There are now 26 Arab villages inside Israel that are not recognized by the government and as such do not receive any public or health services. Besides, unemployment, lack of industrial infrastructure in areas close to their communities and the feeling of being permanently neglected by the Israeli government are only some of the reasons behind this feeling of discontent among Bedouins.

But the switch in Bedouins¹ attitudes towards Israel is not only blamed on lack of equality but also is seen as a result of the new political developments in the region. The founding of the Palestinian National Authority in parts of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have pumped fresh blood into patriotic feelings among Bedouins, who might have assimilated with the Zionist system throughout the past decades but have not forgotten their Arab origin and their Arab identity. The semi-independence the Palestinians have under the PNA has raised hopes among Arabs in Israel that their rights, mainly civil ones, are one day going to be honored by Israel.

Israeli Knesset member Talab As-Sane¹, who himself is a Bedouin and member of the Arab Democratic Party, said the document does not address the real problems of the Bedouins. ³We are carrying out our duties towards the just cause of our community in the Naqab. It is no secret that over the past years, the Bedouins have suffered a lot from the lack of a governmental policy towards them. The only policy that existed was that of land confiscation and of collective harassment. Sane¹ noted that the accumulated outcome of such anti-Bedouin policy is transforming Bedouin communities in Israel into powder kegs that are potentially ready to explode any minute. ³I have been warning for years that the continued policy of house demolition, land confiscation and freedom harassment by Israel would push the Bedouins into the corner and that is exactly what is happening today. It won¹t help Israel to claim that the issue in hand is a question of radicalization of the Bedouins. We are a community whose rights are denied and believe there is no way to react other than by means of revolt.²

Before the 1948 proclamation of Israel, approximately 70,000 Bedouins lived in Palestine, but most of them fled the country, leaving behind no more than 10,000. Bedouins¹ growth rate is said to be the highest in the world and Israeli expectations included in the document said their population would double within 15 years. At present, Bedouins living in Israel number some 100,000 divided between the Naqab and the Galilee. The high growth rate among Bedouins, and among the Arabs in Israel in general, has increased government worries that Arabs might become a real demographic threat to the Jewish nature of the state in the coming decade or two.

Among the proposals the classified security report presented to tackle the so-called ³Bedouin crisis² was to set up new police stations and have them established in every village or location where over 5,000 Bedouins live. Amer Al Hazil, member of the Bedouin Guidance Committee in the Naqab, said the symptoms included in the document were right but warned that Israel might use them not to solve the problems that caused those symptoms but to use them as a pretext to practice even more harassment against the Bedouins. ³Instead of suggesting more police stations in our villages, the document should have suggested that clinics, schools and social welfare offices be opened. Besides, it should have adopted a decision to stop house demolition among Bedouin communities,² said Al Hazil.

Nouri Al Oqbi, head of the Committee for the Defense of Bedouin Rights, said the consecutive policies of the Israeli government against the Bedouins over the past years have brought the Bedouins deep into this bitter and tough conflict with the Israeli authorities. "For the past 20 years, we have been warning against the continuation of anti-Bedouin policies but all our warnings fell on deaf ears. We are certain our struggle will not stop until after our rights are achieved.² Oqbi suggested that the Israeli government stop immediately the house demolition and plan for building Bedouin villages where people can design their future on their own land. Without this, he said, the Bedouin crisis is going to enflame the society in Israel. He did not elaborate more. But hundreds of Bedouins are armed with automatic rifles and guns. They serve in the Israeli army and should their families get involved in clashes with the police, they will find themselves in a situation where sitting on the wall cannot be the name of their game.

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