A Bedouin Arab by John Singer Sargent
Way back in the day, I formed the typical North American visual of the Bedouin people. Of course it was tinged with the romance that only a child can imagine... beautiful tents, amazing horses, ships of the desert (camels), a nomadic people who roamed their deserts, free, wild and proud, always knowing where the water was. The women were exotic, the men beautiful, skin browned by the sun and eyes that could make one melt with their exotic promises.
Today, these people struggle for their survival against the severest of enemies, the Zionist entity which is hell bent on either eradicating them or "civilizing them" in slum blocks with no chance to tend to their own needs... to steal their freedom to breathe wild air and keep their herds as they have for millenia. Indeed, the oppressor calls them "a phenomenom" that must be "fixed" ~ the same way they had native peoples all around the globe "fixed" to bring around their own desires at the expense of their victims.
Living with uncollected garbage, no water, electricity, public transportation, schools or clinics and dangerously close to hazardous chemical plants, the Bedouins of the Negev, citizens of Israel, struggle every day to save their homes, land, and way of life. Demolition signs are placed on their homes, bulldozers wait nearby to pull their houses down, Israeli special police forces arrive in black uniforms giving them 24 hours to vacate. This silent war against the Bedouins has been going on in different forms since the formation of Israel in 1948.
The Bedouins, numberings aproximately 160,000, lay claim to these lands for centuries and while the solutions are simple and available, the Israeli government wants the Bedouins of the Negev to give up their agricultural way of life and move into government planned and crowded communities. Approximately 75,000 remain in unrecognized (or illegal) villages.
Omer, a Jewish community, bordering a Bedouin village, has recreation centers, mansions, swimming pools, landscaping, etc. Although so close, Israel does not permit these Bedouin villages to even hook up to the water or electricity.
The pool in Omer
The children in the village of Al-arakib running
~ excited to greet friendly visitors.
~ excited to greet friendly visitors.
Ibrahim Abu Afash, in his village, Wadi el-Naam which suffers from a very high incidence of cancer, asthma, severe birth defects, miscarriages, and skin diseases because of its close proximity to the chemical plants. For, example, there is a 45% more cancer here than in Israel as a whole.
The simple mosque, an illegal structure.
Each village constitutes an organic community. These communities were established many hundreds of years ago and are essential to the everyday functioning of their lives. If a child is sick, a neighbor helps with the other children, or drives to the clinic; help is just the distance of your next neighbor. There are no paved roads, no facilities close by. Neighbors are essential. Many villages are home to people of different tribes that have been living together for generations.
The houses are right up against the toxic plants. According to epidemiologists at Ben Gurion University, the environmental monitoring at Chernobyl was better than here and the health risks no more severe.
The homes of the Bedouins are simple tin shelters. It is hoped that because the houses are so simple the Israeli "green police" will ignore them and not demolish them.
The animals too are sick from living next to the toxic plants. In addition, the Israeli government had the area sprayed with pesticides over and over, another attempt to force the Bedouins out of their villages. When the courts ruled against the spraying, tractors came in to destroy their crops.
Bedouin women hold regular fowl markets which are quite famous around the world. These chickens, geese and ducks are relatively untamed and have not been genetically tampered with. People have come from around the world for breeding stock if they want hardy healthy birds for their own flocks.
The Israeli government tries to attract Jewish Israelis to the Negev with very little success. Moyshe Dayan said in 1963 in an interview in Ha aretz:
"We should transform the Bedouins into an urban proletariat. Indeed, this will be a radical move which means that the Bedouin would not live on his land with his herds, but would become an urban person..His children would be accustomed to a father who wears trousers, does not carry a Shabaria [the traditional Bedouin knife] and does not search for vermin in public. This would be a revolution, but it may be fixed within two generations. Without coercion but with governmental direction this phenomenon of the Bedouins will disappear." 31 July 1963)
A demolition notice placed on every home in Khalil's village, Alsira. The special police forces (green patrol) may arrive at any time of day or night to demolish homes. They wear black uniforms and give very little notice.
In the tent, these men and their families, wait to protect their homes from the bulldozers perched outside their village.
The children refuse to go to school today because of the threatening bulldozer outside their village. They want to stay to help their parents fight off the "green police" from demolishing their homes. A "school" is set up for them as they wait.
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The children happy to have nonthreatening guests.
In the summer of 2010 armed forces demolished the village. But the villagers and Israeli friends rebuilt it. As of January 2011 the village has been demolished 10 times. Each time the village has been rebuilt. But at the 10th demolition, 5 residents were shot and wounded and 3 were arrested. So far well more than 1 million dollars has been spent to demolish this village.
A gaggle of watchers.
Police telling her to leave the remnants of her home.
Blocked from returning to the site of his destroyed village
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The alleged purpose of the demolition is to build the Ambassador's forest. Interviews with Ambassadors reveal they have never seen or heard of it, whatever it is.
This last time, today, February 17, 2011, this camp was torn down again ~ the second time in under 24 hours. This time there is no telling what will happen if the Bedouin rebuild. Materials have been lost with each demolition and now the Jewish supporters are blocked from reaching them to give them assistance.
Life would be very dull for these Zionists if they did not have people to victimize. If it is not the Bedouin they displace, it is the residents of Tana, or the people of Bil'in or any other place they wish to bully.
The government has announced the people must pay for demolition of their own homes now.
WAR AGAINST THE BEDOUIN
Sukkot and Our Bedouin Problem: Movable Booths, Dreams of Going Home
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