Below is very, very basic information about the Negev, focused on the issues of concern to BUSTAN, followed by resources for you to learn more about the region, including may reports written by BUSTAN over the years.
The Negev(Naquab)
The Negev (Naqab in Arabic), the desert region in southern Israel, makes up 60% of Israel's land, but only 8% of Israel's population live here, approximately 379,000 Jews and 160,000 Bedouin.
85% of the Negev is used by the Israeli Army for training purposes and is thus off-limits. Additionally, Israel’s largest toxic waste dump, Ramat Hovav, is near Beersheva, the main city of the Negev, and right next to the unrecognized village of Wadi Na'am. Since its opening in 1979, it has had a history of leakages, overflows, and failures.
The whole area is a rocky desert, but there are actually five ecological zones, with the northern zone the most fertile.
The Bedouin of the Negev
Approximately 160,000 Bedouins in the Negev live in a combination of “unrecognized� villages and “development� towns. In the 45 unrecognized villages where approximately half the Bedouin live, the residents live in conditions vastly inferior to other Israeli citizens, including not being able to build permanent structures, no running water, no sewage service, no connection to electricity, inferior roads, and severely limited healthcare and education. They are also under constant threat of home demolitions by the Israeli government. The unrecognized villages have organized themselves into the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages (RCUV) to fight together for recognition and equal services.
In recent years nine Bedouin villages have been “recognized� by the Israeli government and now make up the Abu Basma regional council. However, they still lack the basic services of Jewish Israeli municipalities.
The remaining portion of the Bedouin population live in seven development towns that have some of the lowest socio-economic indicators in the country. Additionally, these townships have the lowest municipal budgets in Israel, lower water allotments than their Jewish neighbors, inadequate sewage infrastructure, interior roads, and links to public transportation (which limits accessibility to labor markets and educational opportunities), and a lack of public facilities like banks, post offices, and libraries.
The Bedouin first appeared in the Negev 7,000 years ago and are the longest running continuing residents of the region. In the war of 1948, most Bedouin fled or were expelled, with only 11,000 remaining. From 1948-1966 the Bedouin lived under Israeli military rule and were restricted to a reservation-like “Siyag� (fence) in the northeastern, least fertile part of the Negev that makes up only 10% of the region. Former Bedouin lands were appropriated by the state.
Bedouins have a strong tradition as agriculturalists, although opportunities were severely limited in the first years of Israel's statehood. As the Bedouin population have been urbanized and sedentarized by Israeli government policies, they have moved from status as producers to consumers. This has been particularly devastating for Bedouin women, whose traditional power and status in the community as producers of food has been undermined.
Similarly, employment opportunities as even semi-skilled laborers were curtailed until recently. Adva found that Bedouin residents of the Negev have unemployment rates of 34.7% (compared to 11.6% for Jewish residents of the region). Due to the lack of infrastructure, there are limited economic opportunities within Bedouin communities. Although they are among the poorest localities in Israel, the Bedouin communities do not have “Development Area A� status, which would offer tax breaks to investors.
In addition to the environmental hazards of inadequate water and sewage treatment, Bedouin communities face additional hazards due to Romat Hovav, located in the heart of Bedouin communities, which consists of 17 chemical factories and the national toxic waste dump site, to which 70,000 tons of waste are shipped annually. (Israel Union of Concerned Scientists). The Health Ministry found highly elevated rates of cancer in the region and theorized that Ramat Hovav is the culprit (Haaretz, October 9, 2007). Rates of miscarriage, asthma, sleep apnea and birth defects are also elevated in Bedouin communities (UN OCHA, November 2007).
Development Politics
Israel's policies toward the Bedouin have been based around demographic concerns and land usage policies. The state has consistently tried to increase Jewish settlement of the Negev at the expense of Bedouin people. For example, Israel continues to hold the provision of basic services such as water, sewage, and electricity, which are their rights as citizens, as a trade off for Bedouin giving up their land rights.
The newest manifestation of these policies is “Blueprint Negev,� the Jewish National Fund's $600 million development plan to bring an additional 250,000 people (especially targeting Jews from English speaking countries) into the Negev by 2013. The plan prioritizes new services and infrastructure for new immigrants over improving basic services for the people who already live here.
Further Reading
Off the Map: Land and Housing Rights Violations in Israel's Unrecognized Bedouin Villages by Human Rights Watch, April 2008
Adalah special reports on JNF Development Policy
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel has various reports:
--The Arab Bedouins of the Naquab/Negev Desert of Israel (2006)
--Water Discipline—Water, the State, and Unrecognized Villages (2006)
--Home Demolitions and Psycological Trauma (2006)
--Water Equals Life: Ensuring the Right to Water (2005)
(any of the above may be downloaded by clicking on the link to PHR above)
BUSTAN Reports:
--Chapter in Chaim v'Sviva's annual Environmental Injustice report of 2007, “The Nature of Environmental Injustice in Bedouin Urban Townships: The End of Self-Subsistence� by Rebecca Manski
--Chapter in the book International Perspectives on Indigenous Education, 2004, “The Uprooting: Education Void of Indigenous “Location Specific� Knowledge Among Negev Bedouin Arabs in Southern Israel� by Devorah Brous
--From News from Within, Alternative Information Center, February 2006, Self-Distraction from the Environmental Crisis: Bedouin Vilified as on of the Top 10 Environmental Hazards in Israel, by Rebecca Manski
--From News from Within, Alternative Information Center, October 2006 A Desert Mirage: The Rising Role of American Money in Negev Development�by Rebecca Manski (short version), or the full Bustan background paper (long version)
--Bustan Backgrounder: Negev Oil Shale
--Bustan Backgrounder: The Bedouin as Worker-Nomad
