The Standing Together movement placed the first protective shelters in unrecognized villages in the Negev last week.
In the span of a week during June, 2025, a funding campaign for the shelters had raised more than NIS 500,000 through small donations from thousands of citizens.
So far, 10 shelters have been purchased with the funds collected. Three of them were placed in the villages of Bir al-Hamam, Abu Tarash, and Al-Ruways.
According to the latest report by the State Comptroller from January 2025, one-third (3.2 million) of Israel’s citizens live without standard protective shelters.
According to the report, the most acute situation is in the Bedouin communities, where 165,000 residents live exposed to rocket fire without any protection at all. When alarms sound in these communities, residents have to crouch down on the ground with no protection.
The Standing Together movement is a progressive grassroots movement organizing Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel to come together for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. Known for its purple branding, it is the largest Arab-Jewish grassroots movement in the country. Standing Together first became active in 2015.
“Once again, it has been proven that these people [Israeli citizens] are better than their leadership. Citizens in Israel are very concerned about the abandonment of residents of the unrecognized villages and their lack of protection. The lack of protection for hundreds of thousands of residents is abandonment of the highest order,” the organization stated.
“For decades, we have been warned about rocket fire on Israel, yet the government has done nothing to ensure the safety of its citizens. Our government is disconnected, boasting about endless bombings in Iran while people on the home front live with no protection from the war.”
Bedouin, Arab villages face bureaucratic roadblocks to safety
The conditions of Bedouin villages recognized by the state are often indistinguishable from those that aren’t. For example, Abu Talool was officially recognized two years ago by the state, but still lacks protection for its residents.
According to Attia Alasam, a resident of Abu Talool, some residents have tried to build safe rooms for themselves, only to see authorities demolish the structures for lacking permits. Requests for permits have fallen on deaf ears, he alleged.
It is no better for Arab villages. According to official statistics from the Home Front Command, only 37 of Israel’s 11,775 public shelters are located in Arab localities. Eight of those are non-operational.
The issue extends as far as east Jerusalem, where the number of public shelters stands at just one, according to Bimkom-Planners for Planning Rights.
The Israel Religious Action Center, the Council for Unrecognized Villages, and other groups petitioned the High Court of Justice in August 2024, demanding protection for Arab localities, particularly the Bedouin community.
However, the High Court ruled that it could not compel the state to provide protection, ruling that it was up to local municipalities and individuals.
According to the January State Comptroller report, there is currently no government body handling the issue of these communities' safety.