“The biggest issue and
root cause of the majority of problems that the Israeli government has with the
Bedouin, stem from their misunderstanding of what it means to be Arab.”. This
statement by Rasha Athamni (An Israeli Arab youth delegate to the U.N. [Representing Israel]) illustrates the
difficulty and confusion of the experience of the Bedouin in Israel. Donna
Rosenthal spends a chapter in her book “The Israelis: Ordinary people in an
extraordinary land” focusing on various experiences of the close to 200,000
Bedouin that live in Israel today. This feeling of confusion and being
misunderstood mentioned by Rasha is also a primary theme in Rosenthal’s
chapter. These issues have evolved and persist today, focusing on the sensitive
Israeli dispute over land.
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| Bedouin city of Rahat |
The majority of modern
day Bedouin in Israel and across the Middle East are descendants of the
independent semi nomadic tribes that once roamed the Middle East. They ignored
borders and lacked allegiance to any nation, constantly moving around the vast
area they consider their rightful property. The Israeli government website for
the Knesset has a section titled “Bedouins in the State of Israel”, 4 pages
stating the governing bodies official understanding of the history of Israeli
Bedouin. The pages mention that when Israel became a state in 1948 the Bedouins
were on movement restrictions and had their living grounds reduced, many flew
to Galilee and Gaza but around 11,000 stayed. In 1951 they were forced into a
small triangle in the Negev and after the passing of legislation of the Land Purchasing Law in 1953, the Bedouins lost all rights to the any land outside of
their living area, which was currently forced upon them. The Israeli government
then began to develop the Bedouins previous land into Jewish settlements,
nature reserves, military camps and firing zones.
According to Professor
Kassem Nabulsi, this issue of land is the biggest obstacle in the way of a
comfortable Israeli Bedouin relationship. In his discussion at California State
University Northridge he explained that the Bedouin issue is diverse among the northern and southern Bedouin but they unify on the feeling of the
injustice of stolen lands and their growing frustration towards the Israeli government.
This anger and confusion
rooted in land disputes from over 50 years ago have developed into modern day
racial tensions between the Bedouin Israelis and the Israeli police. In his article
“Is Rahat the Ferguson of Israel”, Ben Sales covers the 3 days of riots in the
Bedouin town of Rahat in protest against the Israeli police killing of an
unarmed young man. The police say that he was a bystander in a drug dealer and
the residence of the city claim he was murdered while innocently on his
doorstep, the disagreement took to violence in the streets. The citizens of
Rahat interviewed in the article said that the Bedouin public finds itself in
despair at the amount of racism and that they have lost hope at a diplomatic
future.
Rahat and the treatment
of Bedouins have become an example of the social inequality of Israel in the national
sense. In her article “How Rahat Became a Symbol of Israeli Inequality”,
Allison Deger talks about how the city that was at one point the image of a
path to peace, Rahat has become the symbol for the terrible mistreatment of
Arabs in Israel. Whether it be the failing school systems, deprived government
funding, or police brutality, the Bedouin of Rahat or losing patience working
with the Israeli government.
This growing tension in
the Bedouin Israeli community may have begun in relation to land rights but has
evolved into a racial, cultural, and overall debilitating social dispute.
Rosenthal’s point of
view reflected in her book “The Israelis”, views the Bedouin Israeli community
as a people in need of serious help. She has a sympathetic view towards the
Bedouin and a concerned view as an Israeli. She shares the stories of Bedouin
individuals that have been victimized by their situation in Israel. She ends
her chapter with a quote by Professor Abu-Saad warning that if nothing drastic
is done soon “the next intifada could come from the Bedouin”. To end on such a
note expresses her perspective of fear and concern for the immediacy of action.
The Knesset website is
supposed to reflect the perspective drawn from Israeli legislation and laws.
From the sites description of the Bedouin history there is a similar feeling to
Rosenthal's book, sympathy and concern but also with an added tinge of guilt
and defensiveness. The pages document a lot of disappointments the Bedouin have
toward the Israeli government, disappointment in the group that’s writing the
informational page and this relationship creates a sense of guilt for the wrongdoings.
Throughout the page the author also expresses a defensive point of view as it
lists all the efforts the government is taking towards fixing the Bedouin
issue, failing but attempting.
Both Rasha Athamni and
Professor Kassem Nabulsi express a sympathetic view towards the Bedouin Israeli
community and resentment towards the Israeli government for its actions towards
the group. They focused on the confusion and lack of cohesion between the
government and the Bedouin people. Both Rasha and Dr. Nabulsi were born and
raised in Arab towns in Northern Israel and identify as both Israeli and Arab.
While their points were critical of the government they also reflected a sense
of responsibility for the actions of their home country.
Ben Sales and Allison Deger present somewhat different
points of views in their articles discussed above. Ben is overwhelmingly
sympathetic to the Bedouin struggle and seems to understand the suffering and
resulting riotous behavior. On the other hand Allison Deger focuses on the out
of control behavior of the Bedouin in response to Israeli police along with the
root causes. Her article while describing the rational buildup of tension, also
explains the extent of irrational acts of the Bedouin rioters, something Ben
seems to push aside as just an outcome without placing responsibility.
According to the Knesset website all of the data used is in reference to Knesset government offices, records, and legislation, which are all reliable sources of data. Rasha Ahamni and Dr. Kassem Nabulsi are both qualified Israeli cultural representatives, Ahamni representing Israel to the United Nations and Professor Nabulsi who is a professor of Middle Eastern studies. Their opinions are a reliable source of reference. Ben Sales is the Israeli correspondent for JTA: The Global Jewish News Source which is a respected news agency that has been around for almost 100 years, a reliable source. Allison Deger is the assistant editor for the Mondoweiss news website founded in 2006 that has also produced reliable journalism.
The Bedouin community in Israel is
in desperate need of attention from the world and especially the intellectual
minds of the world. What I’ve uncovered is that this Bedouin situation is extremely
complicated and I haven’t found a proposed solution that works. The issue needs
to be tinkered with the by best religious, political, philosophical,
anthropological, and psychological minds we have in hopes of easing the terrible
situation.
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