The boycott, divest, sanctions (BDS) movement is using the challenges faced by
the country’s Beduin population to justify cutting off support for the Jewish
National Fund.
During a recent three-week trip to Israel, Jordan and the
West Bank, I spent a lot of time meeting with Beduin and organizations involved
in Beduin issues. The bottom line is that the Beduin have very serious and
legitimate concerns – best addressed by engagement, not boycotts.
A quick
disclaimer. I traveled to Israel as the volunteer chair of the Friends of the
Arava Institute. The Arava Institute is the premier environmental studies
program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to
cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges.
Together,
faculty and students are advancing a critical common goal – a sustainable future
for the region’s human and natural resources. The Arava Institute receives
support for scholarships for Arab and Jewish students, and funding for
infrastructure from the JNF. I also just joined the JNF board for the Washington
metropolitan area.
More than 200,000 Beduin live in the Negev, and due to
land restrictions are, for the most part, no longer nomadic. Like similar groups
in Australia, Africa and Canada, the Beduin are victims of discrimination,
poverty, environmental degradation and the challenge of adopting to modern
society. The difficult political situation in the Middle East has contributed to
their problems.
Israel, Jordan and the PA have programs for Beduin; none
goes far enough. On an international level the UN maintains a Forum on
Indigenous Issues in which the Beduin participate.
Dr. Alon Tal, founder
of the Arava Institute, a professor at Ben-Gurion University and a member of the
JNF Board of Directors, is a vocal advocate for the Beduin, and set up some of
my meetings. I also met with Beduin and volunteers supporting them who are not
working with JNF.
Tal and I visited the Beduin community of Rahat, where
we met with Deputy Mayor Ahmed Amerani. Rahat is an early community built by
Israel to encourage Beduin to settle down. Many mistakes were made in the early
development process, and the community is still plagued by high unemployment,
limited educational opportunities and poor transportation.
Amerani showed
me the only playground in the community, donated by JNF, and the
greenbelt/recreation area under construction by it. These are small steps and
much more is required before a real change can be felt, but Amerani is
optimistic.
I ALSO met with Dr. Muhammad Alnabari, mayor of Hura, and
Muhammad Abd, education adviser to Project Wadi Attir. Hura shares the same
challenges as Rahat but, with support from the JNF and other organizations, the
community is developing the Wadi Attir project to use sustainable agricultural
methods in order to develop and process modern crops and traditional medicinal
plants used by Beduin. Based on Beduin cultural values, the project will provide
good jobs, protect the environment and develop a reproducible model for
change-related initiatives.
Alnabari believes that change is possible
through “dialogue, not begging.”
I also learned that the JNF partners
with Beduin tribes in the Beersheba area, enabling them to graze their herds in
the local forests, thus controlling underbrush while providing natural
fertilizer.
Communities off the grid have more serious issues – no
running water, electricity or municipal services. Thanks to support from the
Irmgard Baum Estate, the Beverly Foundation and the Friends of the Arava
Institute in the US, the Arava Institute has launched a biogas project developed
by alumni Ilana Meallem, Mazen Zoabi and Yair Teller in Susia (an unrecognized
Palestinian village in Area C of the West Bank). Bio-digesters are using animal
manure and grey water (used for washing and cleaning) to generate methane for
cooling, lighting and electricity generation. With a grant from USAID, the Arava
Institute hopes to expand this project into the Beduin communities of Israel and
Jordan.
Through the years, the JNF has supported the Arava Institute’s
alumi and research programs, which provided the infrastructure for the biogas
program.
While some Beduin are starting to receive badly needed services,
others live in unrecognized villages. Such villages are built without permits or
legal standing, and are therefore subject to destruction by the government. As
you would expect, these legal issues are complex, involving Ottoman Empire land
rights, British Mandate rules and current government policies. Beduin I met in
these communities are angry and distrustful of the government.
Two
Beduin-centered NGOs, the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and
Development and the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, work with these
communities, and educated me on their concerns, and arranged for me to tour some
of these villages.
Overall I found the Beduin I met to be warm,
hospitable and deeply concerned about their future. I sincerely hope that the
country will do more for them and other minorities. The ongoing policy of
destroying houses in unrecognized villages may have a legal basis, but is
clearly leading to an increase in the frustration and alienation.
In
addition to the moral dilemmas these policies create, they cannot possibly serve
Israel’s own best interests. The JNF’s reputation and ability to effect positive
change would be enhanced by a decision not to plant trees on lands that are in
dispute with the Beduin, many of which are still under discussions in the
courts.
I believe boycotts only add to polarization and strengthen those
on the Right who claim the world is against Israel no matter what it does. It
must fulfill its commitments to providing services to minority
residents.
The JNF and other NGOs must work harder to provide more
services in a culturally sensitive way, and the Beduin themselves must do their
part.
The writer chairs the Friends of the Arava Institute.