Israeli
Citizens
Who
Don't
Exist
A new advocacy
arganization is
Supporting the
?rights of dozens
of Arab villages
seeking recognition
by the Israeli
government.
KENNETH BANDLER
Special to The Jewish News
T
he Bedouin
village of Arab
al-Kamana is
situated on top
of Mt. Kamon,
one of the
tallest moun-
tains in northern Israel. The
village is inhabited by more
than 1,400 members of the
Soueid tribe, all of whom are
Israeli citizens. Some have
served in the Israel Defense
Forces, which accepts Bed-
ouin as volunteers. Yet,
according to the government,
Arab al-Kamana really does
not exist.
It never has been officially
recognized, and, lacking gov-
ernment sanction, has been
denied access to water, elec-
tricity, telephones, sewers and
other basic services. Despite
their abject living conditions
and continual pressures of the
Kenneth Bandler is visiting
researcher in the Bronfman
Program on Jewish-Arab
Relations at the Moshe
Dayan Center for Middle
Eastern Studies of Tel Aviv
University. He is on leave of
absence from the National
Jewish Community Relations
Advisory Council, where he
is director of public
information.
Muhammed al-Haje, chairperson of the Association of Forty, is an example of Arab- Jewish cooperation.
government to move, the
Soueid intend to remain on
the mountain top, where they
have been settled since the
time of Ottoman rule.
Arab al-Kamana is one of
about 60 Israeli Arab com-
munities seeking recognition.
Forty of them are represented
by the Association of Forty,
an organization established
two years ago to provide a
coordinated lobbying effort to
seek a resolution of the claims
of unrecognized villages. Un-
til the Association's founders
had carried out a survey to
determine the extent of the
problem, the Soueid of Arab
al-Kamana had believed their
situation was unique, as did
the inhabitants of each of the
other unrecognized villages.
Arab al-Kamana's obvious
strategic location is one of the
main reasons that recognition
has been withheld. Govern-
ment officials also assert that
providing services to such a
small community is not prac-
tical. For nearly 30 years the
government, whether Labor
or Likud, has been encour-
aging disparate Bedouin to
relocate to new communities
that are provided basic serv-
ices.
The Soueid have remained
steadfast in their refusal to
leave simply because the land
on which they live and have
built their homes belongs to
them, explains Mahmoud
Hassan Soueid, the 35-year-
old organizer of the local com-
mittee seeking recognition for
the village. A graduate of
Ben-Gurion University, Mr.
Hassan teaches biology and
chemistry in the high school
in Nahaf, an Arab village
near Karmiel.
Concerted government
pressure began in 1961, when
lands on top of the mountain
that had been used for graz-
ing animals were fenced off,
forcing the traditional farm-
ers to look for work outside
their village, mainly in Jewish
localities. A year later their
elementary school was shut
down. Mr. Hassan already
had completed the third
grade, but to continue his
schooling through 12th grade
he had to walk nearly four
miles each way to attend
school in Nahaf.
Over the years the Soueid
purchased generators to pro-
vide electricity and tractors
to bring water in containers
from Nahaf. Refrigerators are
turned on for only four or five
hours a day, enough time to
preserve food while conserv-
ing power. The ruins of 15
bulldozed homes lie as re-
minders of the government's
position against building in
the village.
Since the village has not
been recognized, no one can
obtain a construction permit.
If all the demolition orders
were carried out, some 80
houses would be destroyed.
Only the handful of houses
that date back to before the
British Mandate would re-
main. The ban on building
applies to extensions on exist-
ing "illegal" homes as well.
"A newly married couple
cannot make a home, and
there is little room for them
in parents' homes," says
Hassan.
Strict enforcement of the
ban on building in Arab al-
Kamana contrasts sharply
with the construction in the
early 1980s of Kamoun and
Mekhmanim, two Jewish set-
tlements within walking dis-
tance of the Arab community.
Building such settlements on
mountain tops, strategically
placed around, and looking
down upon, the growing Is-
raeli Arab communities, has
been a central component of
the government's "Judaiza-
tion of the Galilee" plan,
which aims to promote Jew-
ish settlement in the Galilee
in an effort to correct the
demographic imbalance in
this region.
Yet despite the millions of
dollars spent, Jewish settle-
ment in the Galilee has been
negligible. At the same time
that policy has contributed to
tensions between the govern-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
209