Displacing a people

We read a lot about Israel's actions, directly and indirect, against both the Arabs living in Israel and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Now, Israel continues its rampage against the Bedouin's in the Negev. In The Guardian's Comment is Free, writer Talab El Sana, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset from the Negev region, explains what the Israelis propose in relation to the Bedouin communities in the Negev.

"In my travels I have seen how far awareness of the Palestinian issue has spread – in contrast to the misery of my constituents, the Bedouin of the Negev. Just last month the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to relocate up to 30,000 Bedouin from unrecognised villages in the Negev. On Thursday a national strike is planned in Israeli Arab areas in protest at this move.

The Bedouin are the indigenous owner-occupiers of the Negev – they have been there for thousands of years. Since 1948 Israel has built dozens of Jewish towns, villages, kibbutzim and farms while pushing the Bedouin into ever smaller enclaves. In Rahat, for example, there are 52,000 Bedouin living on 21,000 acres, while the regional council of Bnei-Shimon covers 440,000 acres and is home to just 6,000 Jews.

When Beersheba was occupied by the Israeli army in 1948, 90% of the Palestinian population of the Negev were deported – mainly to Jordan and Gaza. Although Israel claims that the Negev was just desert, British aerial photos from 1945 show that all residential areas in the Beersheba district were farmed.

It is estimated that 200,000 Bedouin remain in the Negev today, concentrated adjacent to the Israel-Jordan border. Israeli governments have recognised only a few Arab villages in the Negev, even though many were established before the state of Israel. The first to get recognition was Tel Sheva in 1968, followed by the approval of Arab residential areas in seven districts."

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