The Negev's Pale of Settlement

A blog post by Adam. The car was a mess. Worse than mine. Dirt caked windshield. No hub caps. An interior decorated with layers of papers and partially empty water bottles. A hood that had to be frequently checked because its latch was precariously unsecured. It was in bad shape but it would pale in comparison to the sad scenes we were about to witness.

The day, however, didn't start in the car. Instead we took a quick trip to the Temple Mount where we saw the Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock (both from the outside - only Muslims were allowed inside). The buildings were impressive to say the least.

Melissa in front of the Dome of the Rock.

From there we made our way to the Prime Minister's Office by way of a pastry shop in the market. It was here that the day really began. We joined a Bedouin protest against a proposal to forcibly transfer 40,000 Bedouin from unrecognized villages where they are currently living to official villages in other parts of the desert. Some of these communities have lived and farmed on these unrecognized lands for generations - from the time before Israel became a state. Many claim to have made oral agreements with the British, and the Turks before them, regarding ownership of the land. Without written documents, however, Israel doesn't recognize their land claims, and over the years Israel has repeatedly tried to push Bedouins onto smaller and smaller plots of land.  The total Bedouin land claims now constitute about 5 percent of the Negev, but this is far too much for the Israeli government; thus, Israel's plan (created with no Bedouin input) to relocate dozens of small ancestral villages.

The protest was an inspiring mix of about 150 Bedouin and Jewish Israelis (Bedouin are also Israel citizens though they clearly don't quite share equal rights with their Jewish fellow citizens). Chants were in Hebrew and Arabic, as were signs. Just as the protest took place, Israeli government officials were meeting to discuss the plan to relocate the Bedouin. We left feeling good, feeling we had participated in a productive effort to support Bedouin concerns.

Bedouin protest.

Then we got into the messy car and the brief moments of hope quickly subsided. Our driver and guide for the rest of the day would be Rabbis for Human Rights' Rabbi Arik Ascherman. His car was a good match for his frenetic personality. Talking constantly, changing subjects quickly, and on and off the cell phone without end. Sometimes in mid sentence with us he would decide to make a phone call, and after concluding the call would pick up right were he left off. Our conversation focused on the challenging history of Israeli Bedouins. We most wanted to understand why Israel was so adamant about moving the Bedouin. According to Rabbi Arik the reason was simple - Israel wanted as much land as possible for Jews, and the Bedouin had too much.

After more than an hour of driving we arrived at the remnants of al-Arakib, one of many unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev. Over cups of bitter coffee and sweet tea we met with a man and his father, who claimed to have lived in the area since birth. Destroyed more than 40 times by the Israeli police since 2010, al-Arakib's formerly well constructed homes are now a series of ramshackle shanties. And surrounding fields where al-Arakib's villagers had once farmed, a Jewish National Fund (JNF) forest now stood. The quasi governmental JNF that so many Americans donate to every year had taken over the Bedouin fields with no input from the Bedouin (an article from a year ago...http://972mag.com/jewish-national-fund-resumes-forestation-project-in-al-arakib/44850/). The JNF then bulldozed the fields and replanted JNF trees with police escorts. Rabbis for Human Rights had helped halt some of the planting with court victories, but the majority of the land was now a young forest. How was this good for the Jewish people?

Remnants of a Bedouin home destroyed by Israeli police.

View of the young JNF forest surrounding al-Arakib (taken through a very dirty car window).

Back in the car after our brief visit we headed into the West Bank where we saw Palestinian farmers out in their fields. With each group of farmers, Rabbi Arik would bring the car to screeching halt, jump out and see how they were doing. He explained that Jewish settlers had prevented these farmers from accessing their lands until recently, but with the support of Rabbis for Human Rights Palestinians had slowly regained their land rights. We momentarily felt hope once again.

Our hopes subsided only moments later when we learned that the government had indeed decided to move forward with its plan to relocate the Bedouin. We were shocked. Why would the government do this? To plant forests? To save the land for Jews? Rabbi Arik was back on the phone discussing strategies to respond. We heard him spontaneously draft a press release, comparing the situation to the Pale of Settlement, the designated area where 19th century Russian Jews were forced to live (http://rhr.org.il/eng/2013/05/rabbis-for-human-rights-responds-to-passage-of-the-praver-plan/). Why had we not learned from our own history?

For more information on how to support the Bedouin please go to rhr.org.il/eng.