Bedouin Community in West Asia- Need for Settlement

“We are citizens of the state of Israel. We belong to the state if we like it, or we do not like it if they like it or do not like it. If we are citizens, we should be treated without discrimination, in the same way, the Jews are treated. There is a Zionist theory that continues that Arabs should not have land, in their subconscious, it goes like this: Arab plus land equals danger for the Israeli state.”- Al- Naqab, Chair of local Bedouin Non- governmental organization.

In cultural anthropology, sedentism is known as the practice of living in one place for a long time and in evolutionary anthropology and archaeology, sedentism applies to the transition from nomadic society to a lifestyle that involves settling or selecting one place to reside[1]. Sedentism in a transitional phase where the previously nomadic groups tend to start living in permanent settlements. Historically, the practice and evolution of agriculture have been an outcome of sedentism. Sedentism, naturally, is essential because the practices of trade and the first Middle East and European cattle were exchanged through these sedentary sites and practices over time[2]. Sedentism establishes itself as a practice of which have led to new civilizational and subsistence strategies to which we are accustomed today and the rise of population aggregating and formation of social strata. Forced sedentism occurs when a dominant group restricts the movements of a nomadic group. Nomadic populations have undergone such a process since the first cultivation of land; the organization of modern society has imposed demands that have pushed aboriginal populations to adopt a fixed habitat, which is on a majority basis established on the political ideologies of hypernationalism[3]. These forced practices create hostility and deprive the tribe or the community of their inherent rights of territory or natural rights of establishing their livelihood. At the end of the 19th and throughout the 20th century, many previously nomadic tribes turned to permanent settlement. It was a process initiated by local governments, and it was mainly a global trend forced by the changes in the attitude to the land and real property and due to state policies that complicated border crossing. Among these nations are Negev Bedouin in Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, Bashkirs, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs, Evenks, Evens, Sakha in Soviet Russia, Tibetan nomads in China, Babongo in Gabon, Baka in Cameroon, Innu in Canada, Gypsies in Romania, and Czechoslovakia[4].

In 1948, on the eve of the establishment of the State of Israel, about 65,000 to 100,000 Arab Bedouin lived in the Negev region (southern part of Israel)[5]. Following the 1948 war, the state began an ongoing process of eviction of the Arab Bedouin from their dwellings. At the end of the war, only 11,000 Arab Bedouin people remained in the Negev, most of the community fled or was expelled to Jordan and Egypt, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula[6]. The social structure of Bedouin communities comprises three large confederations: Al Tayaha, al Azazmeh, and al Tarabeen, to which several 92 tribes are linked. While most of the tribes are in Jordan, major tribes in the West Bank are the Jahaleen, Ka’abneh, Rashaydeh, Ramadeen, ‘Azazme, Communities of Sawarka, Arenat and Amareen.[7] During the early 1950s and until 1966, the State of Israel concentrated the Arab Bedouin people under military administration. Being a subgroup with an Arab minority in the State of Israel, have a distinct cultural, social, and political identity, Bedouin population in 2004 was comprised of approximately 130,000 in the Negrev and 60,000 in Northern and Central Israel which also comprises up to 3.5% of the Israeli population[8]. War of Independence has been responsible for the major displacement as pre-war days several tens of thousands of Bedouins lived in the Negev. The state put the Bedouins under severe limitations of mobility and their living grounds were reduced, causing several tribes to leave to the Galilee and other regions. In 1951, as the military rule was applied to Israeli Arabs, the Negev Bedouins were forced to move to an area between Dimona, Arad and Beer Sheva[9]. They lived in groups of tents, shacks, and stone houses. The military rule was applied to them through their Sheikhs. Legislation of the Land Purchasing Law in 1953, which determined that any land not found in its owners' right in April 1952 will be made public[10]. This led to Bedouins losing all rights on their land. Most Bedouin problems are caused by two broad policy positions taken by the Israeli authorities. First, Israel does not recognize the Arab Bedouin as an indigenous population of Israel. The Israeli government restated this position in September 2011, in a response to a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples presented to the UN General Assembly. Consequently, Israel also refuses to recognize and grant the range of rights available to indigenous peoples and minorities under international law[11]. Second, Israel enforces discriminatory policies and practices that target Arab Bedouin, rather than treating them as equal to the Israeli Jewish majority. The Arab Bedouin face serious problems due to Israel’s failure to recognize their land rights and the villages they live in. Arab Bedouin have a historical and traditional link to their land. As in many indigenous communities, this connection is deep, almost spiritual. Their culture, traditions and way of life revolve around the land. Some Bedouin families have legal documents proving that they own their land, but the Israeli government broadly refuses to recognize these documents. Bedouin have their own traditional administrative and governance systems, and their codes of conduct. Under Bedouin systems, specific criteria for recognition of land rights include historical access to the land for animal grazing and where their ancestors are buried. Within the community, these laws are well understood and respected. Tribal ownership of land is respected by families even if the original owner has been displaced by the government and no longer lives there. This system was recognized before the formation of the state of Israel by the Ottoman and British authorities[12].

In 1966, as the military rule was coming to an end, and into the 1970s and 1980s, the state made efforts to settle the Bedouins in permanent residences[13]. The Bedouins proclaimed that the authorities did not take into consideration their way of living and their needs as a tribal society based on agriculture and made further allegations on unfulfilled promises made by the government to provide them with adequate services in their permanent settlements. They proclaimed that the development of infrastructures was neglected, and their settlements lacked proper employment opportunities. These interactions have exposed Bedouin society to the Jewish culture which has brought exposure to Arab and Islamic culture[14]. Since the early 1980s, the questions regarding their ownership of land have been bound to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and strengthened their Palestinian identity. The foundations of the Islamic Movement in local and national politics have also been rooted within the Islamic stream among the Bedouins and their historic Arabic traditions. The Bedouin population is ranked at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in Israel. Unemployment rates among them are relatively high in comparison to the Israeli society, and their education level is also low in comparison to other minorities and the state of Bedouins living in unrecognized settlements is even worse considering the recent restrictions and shortages posed by the Covid- 19 pandemic. Israeli efforts towards the settlement of the Bedouin community have seen the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry committee in 1994[15]. Knesset’s report of 1996 resolved taking permanent actions for land-ownership dispute. In 1986, the government established a directorate for the promotion of Bedouins in the Negev, aimed to serve as a central authority for attending to the Bedouin population in unrecognized settlements, working in collaboration with all government ministries[16]. However, these land disputes prevent the establishment of new settlements and hold back the development of existing ones. In 2003, the Israeli government declared a program for resolving the problem. The program included the recognition of eight of the unrecognized settlements, the enhancement of existing settlements to uphold urban-agricultural lifestyle, the enlargement of compensations for lands and providing those willing to relinquish their claimed land for 20% return of alternative lands and the remainder in cash payments[17]. The program also included an article on increasing enforcement against illegal construction among Bedouins.

Rather than recognizing their villages, the Israeli government has offered Bedouin an alternative: to move into planned townships. There are seven government-planned townships: Rahat, Ar’ara BaNegev, Tel Sheva, Kuseifa, Segev Shalom, Lakiya and Hura[18]. Bedouin families are allowed to construct homes within the town and are provided with basic facilities, such as water, sanitation, electricity, roads, and transport. But all these towns suffer from overcrowding and rank lowest in terms of social and economic development according to Israeli government indicators, MRG was told. Unemployment and lack of livelihood opportunities are also major problems in the planned townships. These towns also suffer from crime and youth unrest because of what Bedouin describe as forced urbanization. In 2007, the Israeli government appointed a committee, chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Goldberg, to make recommendations on regulating Bedouin settlements in the Negev[19]. The Goldberg Committee Report, released in 2008, is considered one of the most far-reaching responses to the Bedouin problem[20]. The commission recognized ‘the historical link’ of Bedouin to their land and that forcing the Bedouin into the Siyag was a cause of the conflict. It recommended compensation for 50% of Bedouin land claims and made recognition of Bedouin villages conditional on new ill-defined criteria that did not apply to Jewish settlements. In 2010, the Israeli government-appointed Ehud Prawer, to look at how the Goldberg report could be implemented[21]. Rather than taking the process forward, Prawer produced a new report, which offered far less than the Goldberg report. The Prawer Plan had two major components. The first deals with resolving land claims through compensation. It recommends that the right to compensation be offered to Bedouin who filed ownership claims between 1971 and the beginning of 1979 if these claims were not subsequently rejected by a court of law. Once a land ownership claim is legally established, Prawer recommends that compensation for 50 per cent of the land claimed should be given. Under the responsibility of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, who are responsible for Palestinian refugees have described the difficulties of resettlement in the West Bank due to the restrictions imposed by the Israeli administrative and military control[22]. According to a statement made to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: ‘Access to 70 per cent of Area C (West Bank) is now severely restricted to all Palestinians including the displaced Bedouin community, taken over by the Israeli Authorities for the building of settlements, firing zones, the West Bank barrier, checkpoints and protected nature reserves.’[23] 

The emerging Israeli coalition government has now focused their attention on taking significant actions towards addressing the deteriorating plight of the Bedouin community. The new government has promised to recognize Kahsham Zana and other villages of Negev at the start of its term[24]. The promise of the new government is seeking to address inequalities between the southern Bedouin and other parts of Israeli society and the recognition of Rukhma and Abda[25]. But recognition is not the only solution that Israeli society should work upon. Political stalling needs to be stopped to give due recognition to these communities. These political Stallings are not allowing the Bedouin society to receive the basic amenities which comprise the basic essence of the Right to Life in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). And this is a problem because right-wing political members in the government are not considering the resettlement of Bedouin in West Bank and Negrev to be taken as prime consideration by Knesset. Poverty and high unemployment rate and a fast-growing population pose an existential threat upon these communities. Even though the Goldberg Report and Prawer Plan have defined the historical claims of the land, but the problem of jurisdiction have created many problems. International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre- Trial Chamber of 2014 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016 has also called for the parties to refrain from acts of provocation, incitement, and inflammatory rhetoric[26]. Middle East Quartet has similarly called for “affirmative steps to be taken immediately to reverse negative trends on the ground that are imperiling the two-state solution”[27]. These resolutions have signaled that the community are in a constant threat if these political altercations of the Israel- Palestine issue is not stabilized and in long run can threaten the peace of all the stakeholders involved. Organizations like Bedouins Without Borders, have established Bedouin Data Bank for collecting information and better track of the families that have been displaced. And the question of motivating the youth and the community, these communities must be focused on better resettlement of land and self-empowerment will be successful only when these organizations and NGOs are helped across. Civil societies are a key that can provide the aid that these communities require and keep them away from the rising political contests. The plight of the Bedouin community can only be improved if the Israeli government takes the idea of settlement into serious consideration, away from any political establishments and work according to the recommendations of the international legislation working towards these workings.

Notes

[1] Kelly, Robert. (2003). Mobility/Sedentism: Concepts, Archaeological Measures, and Effects. Annual Review of Anthropology.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] (9th May 2021). “Bedouins without Borders Helps the Bedouins). Borgenmagazine.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] M.Elsana (29th October 2020). “Left to fend for themselves, Israel’s Bedouin are struggling with Covid- 19”. Middle East Institute.

[9] Ben David, J. 2004. The Bedouin in Israel: social and territorial aspects. Institute for the Research of Territorial Policy and the Uses of Land in the name of Ben Shemesh, Jerusalem (Hebrew)

[10] Ibid.

[11] A.Heneiti (2015). “Bedouin Communities in Greater Jerusalem: Planning or Forced Displacement?”. Jerusalem Quarterly.

[12] Ben David, J. 2004, ibid.

[13] Ginat, J. 1998. Bedouin settlement policy in Isarael, 1964-1996. in J. Ginat., and A. M. Khazanov (eds.), Changing nomads in a changing world, 58-67, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press, Great Britain.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Sibirski, S., and J. Chason. 2005. Transparent citizens: government policy towards the Bedouin in the Negev. Adva Center, No. 14, Tel Aviv (Hebrew).

[16] Ibid.

[17] A.Heneiti (2015), ibid.

[18] A.Rasgon (10th June 2021). “A New Israeli Government Could Mean Help for Neglected Bedouin Villages”. The New York Times.

[19] Ibid.

[20] JPostEd (3rd June 2021). “Government move to help Bedouins is imperative- editorial”. The Jerusalem Post.

[21] A.Rasgon (10th June 2021), ibid.

[22] UNRWA and Bimkom, al-Jabal: A Study on the Transfer of Bedouin Palestine Refugees (Jerusalem: UNRWA and Bimkom, 2013), 14, online at www.unrwa.org/ userfiles/2013052290269.pdf, accessed 12 March 2016

[23] UNRWA and Bimkom, al-Jabal, ibid.

[24] I24(7th June 2021). “Israel’s Bedouin to receive Government Community Investment Grant”. The algemeiner.

[25] Ibid.

[26] M.Elsana (29th October 2020). “Left to fend for themselves, Israel’s Bedouin are struggling with Covid- 19”. Middle East Institute.

[27] Ibid.

Pic Courtesy -Vera Davidova at unsplash.com

(The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)