Amos Oz: Situation of Bedouin in Negev is 'ticking time bomb'
Oz is the latest public figure to voice solidarity with the residents of Al-Arakib, a town torn down 4 times in last months in order to plant forests.
By Jack Khoury and Maya SelaThe unrecognized Bedouin village of Al-Arakib was demolished yesterday for the fourth time in three weeks.
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Amos Oz, right, during his visit to Al-Arakib Tuesday. |
| Photo by: Negev Coexistence Forum |
In late July, all of the village's 40 homes were razed and hundreds of orchards were uprooted, in response to pressure from the Jewish National Fund to plant a new forest in the area. The residents, along with volunteers, worked to erect new structures and provide themselves with cover from the sun, only to have the new shacks torn down twice more - the last time on the last evening before Ramadan.
Author Amos Oz is the latest public figure to voice solidarity with the residents of Al-Arakib. Oz, who visited the village yesterday, described the situation of the Bedouin in the Negev as a "ticking time bomb."
"This includes both the unrecognized and recognized villages and towns," said Oz. "Tens of thousands of people live in inhumane conditions, without running water, without electricity, without jobs. The state doesn't provide the Bedouin people the most basic infrastructure it gives to its citizens. The village I visited this morning is the most radical example of a ticking time bomb."
Later in the day yesterday, the villagers held an improvised Ramadan dinner, which they billed as an alternative to the official meal hosted last night by President Shimon Peres. The Al-Arakib dinner was attended by Arab members of Knesset, local authority heads, and Muslim and Christian clergy members from across the country, as well as Jewish activists supporting the rights of the Bedouin in the Negev.
The sheikh of the village and the Negev Coexistence Forum sent a letter to Peres, calling on him to cancel his official dinner and dine with the newly homeless villagers.
"How do you expect anyone to honor your invitation to dinner when the State of Israel and the Israeli government disrespect the holiest month for Islam and order the eradication of an entire village during the fast itself?" the letter said. "This is an unprecedented act. Israel has never before demolished homes during Ramadan."
Last night some 40 people demonstrated in front of the President's Residence, banging drums and trying to interrupt the official Ramadan dinner. The protest was dispersed by police and four protesters were detained.
This coming Saturday, the Negev Coexistence Forum, Culture Guerrilla and Zochrot are organizing a protest in the village. Jewish and Arab poets are expected to arrive in Al-Arakib, where they will read poetry as an expression of solidarity with the village.
The Culture Guerrilla poets released a statement yesterday, saying they "strongly opposed uprooting citizens and replacing them with trees. We are launching a campaign to have the JNF forest cut at the root, and to replant the poetry of the Bedouin on the Negev hills."
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I have seen and heard so many dreadful acts perpetrated by various Israeli governments that none surprise me any longer. Left or right, coalition or majority it all means one thing; continued persecution of non-Jews. I hope that this story breaks out of the national press into the global press. It might lay just a little shame on Netanyahu's shoulders; may make a tiny difference, like the peace convoy debacle.
He is a hypocrite ,yearning for pat on shoulder . So also Negev ,not only WB is "occupied" ,where "natives" should be left in peace to grab the land owned by the State.
Just adding something which is for some reason being ignored on this site
The land belongs to them more than any one else. They were nomad people for thousands of years. Do not forget they are the closest people to the genuine hebews who also were beduin and nomad.
First of all most of "Israeli" Beduins sippped into Israel illegally from Egypt. Secndly ,nomads don't own the land per definition. Thirdly ,your "Hebrew nomads" is preposterous ,by the same tokens Israel owns the Saudi Arabia-since " the ancient Hebrew were nomads and hence closest to Beduins in Saudi Arabia ,who have abandonned their ancient way of life and cruise in Rolls Royces". Sounds good ,not ? btw. why your Negev Beduins don't wander into Jordan and Saudi Arabia if all "belongs to them"
If you like them so much why do not get them to your bedroom? Hippocrates. No one trusts you. Your answers are just another "nail in the coffin of Zionist entity". What are you doung in this site? Go to Iran - this is the perfect place for you. The FOREST will be there just to make you crash your teeth..
They have been living here for centuries while your grandad's arse was kicked around somewhere in Europe! Why don't you go back to the whence you came and live the land to the rightful owners?
Alex are you sure you deserve t be ibdetified with Alexandre? Do'nt think so.
I wonder if the Jews in the Diaspora would continue donating to the JNF if they knew what was being done with their money. The Bedouin are being deprived of basic human rights under the pretext that forests are being planted to provide "recreation spots for all the citizens of Israel." If the JNF stuck to building reservoirs and ecological projects they might regain some semblence of honor. I fail to understand why these people's homes have been demolished dozens of times and now, when it is Ramadan, everyone suddenly recoils in horror. Is it all right to demolish people's homes at any other time? It is high time the government settled the Bedouin in agricultural settlements suited to their agricultural lifestyle instead of attempting to cram them into hopeless squalid towns with no services or employment. There is enough land in the Negev. After all, there are Jewish single family farms of thousands of dunams. The Bedouin are far more entitled to land than trees.
Amos Oz is right. The government should get off its throne in Jerusalem and see the harsh realities of Bedouin life in the Negev, in both the recognized and unrecognized villages.
I hope the Bedouin learn that the State of Israel does not care about them and does not view them as equals to Jewish citizens. That is the truth Israeli Arabs learned long ago.
"The state doesn't provide the Bedouin people the most basic infrastructure it gives to its citizens." So many, including Amos Oz, find it hard to "get" that these Bedouin ARE Israeli citizens. Perhaps he meant to say "The state doesn't provide the Bedouin people the most basic infrastructure it gives to its Jewish citizens."