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In the Negev desert in January , violent clashes broke out between Bedouin Arab villagers and Israeli police after the Israeli government planted thousands of trees on land the Bedouins consider their own. The incident threatened to topple the fragile government coalition, which depends on the support of an Israeli Arab party. The crisis is being mediated but is yet another example of the anger many Bedouins in Israel carry. Linda Gradstein and Ricki Rosen report from the Negev Bedouin village of Al-Zarnuq
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptISRAEL BEDOUINS
HEADLINE: Israeli Bedouins Push for Recognition of Their Villages
TEASER: About 60,000 villagers live without basic infrastructure
PUBLISHED AT: 2/16/2022 at 8:15am
BYLINE: Linda Gradstein
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Al-Zarnuq, Israel
VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricki Rosen
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: DLJ
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA, AFP, REUTERS, AP, Courtesy KNESSET TV
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _x_
TRT: 2:56
VID APPROVED BY: Holly Franko
TYPE: TVPKG
UPDATES: On Web page, please post camera credit for Ricki Rosen))
((INTRO))
[[In the Negev desert in January , violent clashes broke out between Bedouin Arab villagers and Israeli police after the Israeli government planted thousands of trees on land the Bedouins consider their own. The incident threatened to topple the fragile government coalition, which depends on the support of an Israeli Arab party. The crisis is being mediated but is yet another example of the anger many Bedouins in Israel carry. Linda Gradstein and Ricki Rosen report from the Negev Bedouin village of Al-Zarnuq.]]
((NARRATOR))
The clashes between Bedouin Arab villagers and Israeli police were the most violent in years. The government said they were merely planting trees on land that belongs to the
state of Israel. But the Bedouins said the move was a land grab, designed to take even more of their tribal land.
Today there are about 300,000 Bedouin Arabs living in the Negev desert in southern Israel. About 60,000 of them live in 35 villages which are called “unrecognized.”
((FOR RADIO: Sultan Abu Obeid, himself a Bedouin who works for the New Israel Fund which campaigns for recognition of these villages, explains what it means to be unrecognized.))
((Sultan Abu Obeid, New Israel Fund, Male (in Hebrew, NEEDS VOICEOVER), VOA))
“These villages existed even before 1948, but the government does not see them as villages. They are not on the map according to the state. It’s like they don’t exist. That means there are no services, no local council, no roads, no water, no electricity.”
((NARRATOR))
About 6,000 Bedouins live in the unrecognized village of Al-Zarnuq, most from the same extended family which has lived here for at least five generations.
((Um Muhammed, Bedouin Villager (Female (in Arabic NEEDS VOICEOVER), VOA))
“The situation is difficult here. We don’t have running water. For electricity we just have solar panels, there’s no infrastructure like sewage lines. When it rains there’s so much mud that the children can’t go to school.”
((NARRATOR))
Since the entire village is considered illegal, Israeli bulldozers have repeatedly demolished homes here.
((FOR RADIO: Amir Abu Kwedar grew up in al-Zarnuq and is a Bedouin right activist))
((Amir Abu Kwedar, Bedouin activist, Male (in English), VOA))
“Those are actually the remains, the rubbles, of one of the demolished houses, my brother’s house, actually. It was demolished in 2018. This is actually as a result of the Israeli policy of demolishing Bedouin houses in the so-called unrecognized community. We’ve witnessed more than 3,000 house demolitions in the last year. So this is one of the really painful images we can see in our communities.”
((Mandatory cg: Knesset TV))
((NARRATOR))
For the first time in history, the current Israeli government coalition includes an Arab party led by Mansour Abbas. He promised to improve Bedouin living conditions, including legalization of the 35 unrecognized villages.
Recently the government voted to recognize three of them but wants to demolish others, including Al-Zarnuq. The policy of all previous Israeli governments has been to resettle Bedouins in state-built towns. But most Bedouins say they will not give up their claims to rural lands.
((FOR RADIO: ACTIVISTS LIKE ADAN AL-HJOOJ SAYS THEY WILL NEVER GIVE UP CLAIMS TO THEIR LAND))
((Adan Al-Hjooj, Bedouin Youth Activist, Female (in English), VOA))
“The problems of the unrecognized villages, the basic problems, are that we are not being given human rights. So, under multiple U.N. laws, human rights are water, shelter, electricity. And under other ones actually, democratic countries have to recognize the ownership of the indigenous people over the land.”
((Mandatory cg: Knesset TV))
((NARRATOR))
The political fight between the Bedouins and their supporters and detractors in the government goes on.
Linda Gradstein for VOA News, Al-Zarnuq, Israel
NewsML Media TopicsConflict, War and Peace, Disaster, Accident and Emergency Incident, Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateFebruary 16, 2022 17:25 EST
BylineLinda Gradstein
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
