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Forgotten Citizens from page 17
Kirnawi, a Ben-Gurion University graduate
student, and Kher Albaz, the director of
social services for the government-recog-
nized village of Segev Shalom. Albaz, who
had three mothers and 21 siblings growing
up in Tel Sheva, organized the meeting
with Imam Heniya to educate the report-
ers about Bedouin life and culture and the
reason this patriarch holds a more accept-
ing view of women's roles in the changing
Bedouin society.
Inside, the walls seemed too close for
a home for eight people. Sounds of food
preparation rattled from the kitchen
downstairs. White terrazzo stairs led to the
second floor. The imam removed his shoes
before entering the entertaining room,
which featured brightly colored floor cush-
ions and textiles separated by cushioned
armrests.
Thus began Bedouin hospitality, totally
unscripted. Imam Heniya's 24-year-old son,
Islam, a Ben-Gurion University pharmacy
graduate, brought several rounds of chai
tea, fruits, vegetables and other snacks,
finishing with a shot of Arabic coffee. The
room was transformed from a sitting area
for note taking into a circus for the senses
as Islam individually spiced each tiny cup
of tea before serving the guests.
A 'Failed' Initiative
Set up by the Israeli government in 1968,
Tel Sheva is known to the Bedouin as a
failure. The Western community planners
who built it did not take into account the
large size of Bedouin families when they
developed the 170-square-foot homes (the
size of a small studio apartment).
Next to housing, education is the top
concern of Bedouin leaders such as Albaz
and Imam Heniya.
After putting six children through school
and BGU, and with six other children at
home working toward higher education,
Imam Heniya said: "In Tel Sheva, the qual-
Who Are
The Israeli
Bedouin?
T
he Bedouin population of
Israel accounts for one-
quarter of the people in the
Negev Desert. Of the country's almost
160,000 Bedouin, 80 percent are
under the age of 18.
The Bedouin are scattered through-
out the country; each tribe descends
from a different ancestor. The Bedouin
are Sunni Muslim Arabs. They also are
18
August 9 • 2007
ity of education in the schools is very low.
The teachers are not qualified enough to
prepare the kids for their academic future.
"The person in charge of education in
Tel Sheva never went to school. I person-
ally, as a religious person, believe in educa-
tion. Education is very essential in our lives
these days."
Imam Heniya went to college on a soccer
scholarship. After a sports injury took him
out of competition, he was bedridden, and
he began to study the Koran. Appointed
the imam of Tel Sheva by its people, he acts
as a spiritual counselor. For his forward-
thinking approach of sending his children
to the university, he is a role model.
"It is a known perception that if you
have many kids, you can't send them to
school; and I am here to change that',' said
Imam Heniya, who studied and is practic-
ing holistic medicine to make extra money
for his family.
The outlook for childhood education is
not totally grim. In the Abu Basra region,
Bet Qrinat grade school opened last
September. It enrolled 130 children and
can hold 500. The challenging curriculum
includes five units of computer science,
chemistry and environmental science.
Soon physics will be on the curriculum,
which is developed by the Israeli Ministry
of Education and also covers math and
computers (taught in Hebrew, not Arabic),
four units of English, and religious studies
covering the Bible and the Koran.
Other schools are nearby, although
transportation is a problem for families.
Albaz, who developed social services for
the Bedouin as his first job out of college,
said many appearances are deceiving in Tel
Sheva and the other recognized villages.
"In some ways, this is a developed town; in
other aspects, it is underdeveloped."
There is only one main road into and
out of Tel Sheva, and Albaz said the main
palm-tree-lined streets give an illusion of a
high quality of life. Deeper into the village
are piles of asbestos-laced construction
rubble, dirty diapers, foodstuffs, animal
carcasses and mountains of uncollected
garbage.
Israel officially has allocated funds for
the recognized villages to receive such
basic municipal services as sewage, gar-
bage collection, electricity and police; but
few residents have seen garbage trucks or
police. In one village, 15 large garbage con-
tainers sat in a remote area with garbage
scattered around them.
From the outside, many of the legal
buildings within the recognized villages
appear to have modern amenities. Inside,
the toilets are merely holes to deposit
human waste straight into the ground.
Grim Outlook
Things are worse in the unrecognized,
illegal villages. Residents of Unbatim suf-
fer from serious toxic exposure because
streams of raw human waste have flowed
through the area for more than 40 years.
Dead sheep, cows and other bloated and
maggot-infested carcasses bake in the sun
in Unbatim while children pass by.
The 45 unrecognized villages depend
on 11 primary health care facilities. They
operate on generators that are shut off
when the clinics close, making it impos-
sible to store vaccines and anything else
requiring refrigeration. The Regional
Council for the Unrecognized Bedouin
Villages of the Negev and two civil rights
groups petitioned the Israel High Court of
Israeli citizens.
In the Negev, the Bedouin are not
completely nomadic, as are some
tribes in Egypt and other Middle
Eastern countries. For more than 250
years, long before the modern state
of Israel was born, the Negev Bedouin
have roamed the area in search of
grazing land for camels and sheep. An
agrarian lifestyle and the change of
the seasons keep the Bedouin mov-
ing to areas of sustainability for their
flocks. They travel with a supply of
water and with temporary shelters,
such as tents, tethered to form shacks.
The Bedouin of northern Israel are
mixed tribes of Negev Bedouin who
have relocated with their animals and
Syrian Bedouin.
A limited number of Bedouin live
in the central part of the country.
According to research, they either
broke from traditional tribes to lead an
urban life or followed their animals to
the area.
The government recognizes seven
official Bedouin villages in the Negev:
Rahat (population 45,000, accord-
ing to the estimates of Ben-Gurion
University researchers); Tel Sheva
(population 12,000); Segev Shalom
(6,500); Hura (10,000); Lakiya
(8,000); Keseifa (10,000); and Aro'er
(12,000).
The average Bedouin family has 11
children, down several years ago from
16.2 children per household. Polygamy
was a traditional part of Bedouin cul-
ture but was outlawed by Israel.
Since the establishment of modern
Israel as a nation in 1948, Bedouin
have fought for the right to own land.
Because of the Bedouin's semi-nomad-
ic lifestyle, their historical "ownership"
of the land came from spoken agree-
ments with the Ottoman Empire. Few
Bedouin felt the need to get land titles
in writing.
When Israel was reborn in 1948, the
land went to the Jewish people.
A Bedouin woman walks through the back streets of Tel Sheva in traditional garb
despite soaring desert temperatures. The mountain of garbage towers three times
her height and is a reminder of government services allocated but not delivered.
Marcy J. Levinson is a staff writer for our
Jewish Renaissance Media sister paper, the
Atlanta Jewish Times.