Negev Bedouin Under Seige

Fred Schlomka
First published by Ynet, January 2008, under the title: Israel's Quiet War

While Ehud Olmert and Abu Mazen were wheeling and dealing at Annapolis, several Israeli government ministries and security agencies were deploying their combined resources in a massive operation aimed at Israel’s southern Negev Desert. While the eyes of the world are on the West Bank and Gaza, Israel is in the middle of a campaign to complete the displacement of Palestinian Arabs who also are Israeli citizens.

The indigenous Bedouin are the target, and their lands are required by the state in order to complete the implementation a master plan for the Negev. The plan relegates the Bedouin to ghetto enclaves while allocating huge swathes of territory for Jewish suburban development and agricultural communities. The Negev is the final frontier inside Israel, the last tract of largely undeveloped land in the state. Israel has virtually completed the dismemberment of Palestinian lands in the center and north of the country, and now is consolidating the ‘Jewish redemption’ of the southern desert.

These Bedouin lands are coveted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) which has published plans to move large numbers of Jews to the Negev. To make way for new JNF communities, the ‘unrecognized’ villages of A-Tir, Um Al-Hiran, and Twail Abu Jarwal were destroyed during 2007 in military-style operations involving large forces of police and soldiers, displacing hundreds of families. The Interior ministry has also sent airborne crop dusters to poison the Bedouin fields with broad-spectrum herbicides. The feared Green Patrol, a paramilitary unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, conducts these operations.

There are over 150,000 Bedouin in the Negev desert, with well-established territorial rights dating back to the Ottoman Era. However immediately after the founding of the state in 1948, the government began to confiscate land and move the Bedouin to ever decreasing areas, while allocating state resources for the development of new Jewish-only towns and agricultural settlements. Although the Bedouin were eventually granted citizenship of Israel, they were under military rule until 1966. Through legislation and various legal mechanisms the state has decreed the Bedouin to be squatters on their own land and thus the courts support the demolition of homes and expulsion of the inhabitants. The JNF, through its ‘Blueprint Negev’ plan, intends to create 25 new towns in the Negev over the coming years, bringing 250,000 new Jewish residents to the region according to its web site. The JNF is also planting forests on Bedouin land, such as the Ambassador Forest on the lands of the Elokbi Tribe north of Be’er Sheva.

Such measures would never be taken against Jewish citizens of Israel, who enjoy the right to live almost anywhere in the country in relative luxury, while the Bedouin are relegated to a pitiful remnant of their patrimony. This institutional racism, supported by the JNF, belies the so-called democracy in Israel and is supported by tax-deductible donations from the USA. Perhaps the Annapolis conference might also have considered the plight of the Bedouin citizens of Israel at a time when they are under siege as acute as the situation of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. The parallels between them are self-evident. Jewish settlements in the West Bank have almost foreclosed the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian State. Israel continues to consolidate its grip though settlement expansion, land confiscations, ‘Jewish-only’ roads, the construction of the Separation Barrier, and the denial of equal access to water for Palestinians. Is it so different in the Negev? Bedouin in ‘unrecognized’ villages receive no government services, are subject to a separate body of law and regulation, have their land confiscated for Jewish settlement, and are generally relegated to the margins of existence.

The Bedouin have a long and proud tradition as a people. During the first decades of the state, they gave allegiance to Israel, sent their sons to the army and expected the respect they deserve. They received none. Instead the state as continued its mission to serve only the interests of Jewish citizens, and as a result few Bedouin serve in the IDF today. The cost might be high. Bedouin leaders have warned that the anger simmering under the surface may erupt, and Israel may face a Bedouin uprising, an Intifada within the state that could destroy what little is left of Jewish democracy. Perhaps it’s time for the State of Israel to become a democracy for the benefit of all its citizens, before it’s too late.

Fred Schlomka is the Administrator of ToursInEnglish.com and a member of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD). He is a 2003 Fellow of the Echoing Green Foundation in recognition of his work in developing equitable and just relationships between Arabs and Jews in Israel.

To learn more about the plight of the Bedouin consider taking the Bedouin Reality Tour.

Justice Tourism

Imtaiz Muqbil- Bangkok Post

Hundreds of Thai Christians heading for pilgrimage to the Holy Land are being exposed to "propaganda travels that further sway international opinion away from the hard facts of Israeli occupation," church leaders say.

Speaking at a consultation of church-backed tourism watchdog groups in Chiang Mai last week, Dr Prawate Khidarn, general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), called on the Christian pilgrims not to be taken in by only the Israeli side of the story as they travel around the Holy Land.

"Many Thais are visiting the Holy Land these days," he said. "There are only a few Thai travel companies organising these trips, and the packages all have to be approved in advance by the Israeli authorities before they grant a visa."

Dr Prawate was commenting after a presentation by Mr Ranjan Solomon of the Goa-based non-governmental organisation Alternatives in which he said: "Travel through the occupied territories can have a salutatory effect on anyone provided it is not a trip under an Israeli tourism package."

The roughly 20 groups represented at the consultation expressed indignation that the only invitee who could not make it to the meeting was Rami Kassis, a Christian and Director of Alternative Tourism Group, Palestine. He was not able to attend because he had been unable to get the necessary Israeli exit permits.

And yet, Mr Solomon pointed out, thousands of Israelis travel freely to many parts of the world while the Palestinians are deprived of these rights by the occupying power.

An Indian who once headed the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism office in Thailand, Mr Solomon says he has visited the Holy Land on these "staged propaganda trips" and been shocked at the one-sided lies he was told about the situation in the occupied territories.

Now, he said, "the Israelis don't give me a visa anymore."

However, he added, why should those who want to go only to Palestine have to apply for a visa at the Israeli embassy in the first place?

"Palestine could quite easily get up to three million tourists annually, if the Israeli authorities do not close the borders," he said.

"Tourism experts suggest that destinations like Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem could eventually be a gateway for the international community to enter into encounters with the Palestinians and form independent opinions about the real nature of the Arab-Israeli conflict and actually promote heightened solidarity with the Palestinian people."

He added, "News of the occupation is rarely disseminated through established media outlets. It can only pass from those courageous people who risk being 'justice tourists', and who choose pilgrimage as it must really be - the search for truth.

"People committed to peace and freedom based on justice need to continue the visit, learn, and carry the message themselves back to their homes whether in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, USA, Canada, Australia, or just about anywhere from where travellers launch out as pilgrims to The Holy Land."

In a powerful presentation, Mr Solomon noted that citizens of some Western countries who do not need a visa want to "visit Palestine as a matter of solidarity (in order) to witness first and foremost the brutal consequences of the Israeli military Occupation."

"Yet, a growing number of solidarity tourists are actually stopped upon arrival and turned back or held back and harassed. Only some are allowed immediate entry. The rest are taken away by airport authorities as suspected 'security threats.'

"Strangely, several of these are people in their 60s and 70s. It's hard to believe that Israeli authorities see these people as violent individuals. A more plausible explanation is that they are held because their purpose for coming to Israel was to further expose to the world the truth behind the occupation."

According to Mr Solomon, "Israel has also frequently denied entry to and deported an increasing number of peace activists and humanitarian workers for fear that they are aiding the occupied Palestinian population.

"Such people are often interrogated, with extensive body searches and luggage inspection before they are finally allowed entry."

He said that with the "ongoing construction of the apartheid wall, denounced by the International Court of Justice as contrary to international law, the Palestinian people are experiencing yet another layer of tyranny.

"While the Israeli government claims the wall is for security purposes, it serves nothing more than to drown out the Palestinian cry for justice and independence behind concrete slabs and ominous watchtowers.

"What the wall really does is to restrict fair and appropriate levels of access for Palestinians to a normal life. Visitors who come to protest the insanity and inhumanity of the wall are, they say, getting the message: 'Israel does not want you. Your very existence is a threat to our state. We do not want to hear or see you. Leave."'

Mr Solomon called on Christian pilgrims to become "justice tourists" and not buy the lies perpetuated by the Israelis and parroted by the international media that seek to "portray the Palestinian as vile and violent and the Israeli as victim."

"Israel has succeeded in representing itself as the perpetual victim and ensures that it does everything to disallow people to think with an analytical and fair mind about the occupation - often described as oppression unparalleled in history," Mr Solomon said.

He said it was important to motivate the churches and especially Christian pilgrims so that they better understand how the so-called "war on terror" rhetoric is used to "give visitors false fears about security in Palestinian territories."

At the same time, "an important focus should be to reach the harsh truth of the occupation to those countries who give economic and political assistance to Israel.

"Equally important is the need to mobilise the international community in the form of civil society voices who will speak with courage and conviction as to isolate Israel until it relents and hands justice to the Palestinians," he commented.

This can lead to a new form of "Justice Tourism" which can crack the Israeli monopoly on Christian pilgrimages and create "a viable alternative to this situation by promoting human encounter and breaking the silence in order to lead to political awareness, personal transformation of the visited and visitor and contributing to a just peace through advocacy and political action," Mr Solomon said.

Palestine Guidebooks Review

Copyright The Middle East Journal, Vol. 59, No. 4, Autumn 2005, Pp 699-700.

"Palestine and Palestinians: Guidebook", Alternative Tourism Group, Beit Sahour, 2005, ISBN 9950-319-01-03, 435 pp., $32.

"Palestine: A guide", By Mariam Shahin, Photography by George Azar, Interlink Publishing, Northampton, Massachusetts, 2005, ISBN 1-56656-557-X, 500 pp., $27.95.

Reviewed by Mazin B. Qumsiyeh

The late Professor Edward Said explained how colonial perceptions guide much of the literature written “about” other people (usually described as exotic or inferior). Western readers are led to selective historiography (ignoring 5 thousand years of history), romantic illusions, distorted images, and/or even outright racist characterization. My own memories of life in Palestine include encounters with American and European tourists carefully “shepherded” by Israeli tour guides. Their books and pamphlets included titles little relevant to a Palestinian teenager (e.g. “Israel: A guidebook”, “In the footsteps of Jesus” , and “A guidebook/travel guide to the Holy Land”). Little has changed some thirty years later. I went to our local B&N bookstore and found literature that openly “guides” visitors to a static (and imaginary) “Holy Land” whose natives are little mentioned and whose only redeeming value is as setting for (usually distorted) versions of the Old and New Testament events told from a perspective supportive of political Zionism. Since none of these books are written by the native Palestinians, readers are led to a fabricated image of a deserted “Holy Land” with selected historical sites: the Temple Mount, Masada, the Western Wall, Church of the Sepulcher, etc. Most of these authors being politically motivated discard the majority of Palestinian history (Canaanite, Philistine, Islamic) and ignore Palestinians thus boosting the myth of a desert made green by Zionist settlers. Two newly published books now shatter these illusions and bring English readers closer to the real, dynamic, living, and fertile Palestine. This is the Palestine that the current inhabitants and the displaced Palestinians love. It is also the country that readers of those two books will appreciate and fall in love with.

Published by the Alternative Tourism Group (ATG), the first book is titled “Palestine and Palestinians: Guidebook” (hereafter ATG Guidebook). ATG authors Sabri Giroud and others distilled their experiences gained over many years of providing reality tours. The French version appeared in 2003 and the English version in 2005. Carol Scheller-Doyle and Walid Shomali provided the English translation and the text was edited and updated by Angela Godfrey and Jawad Musleh.

The book is organized into two parts: a) Introduction into the land, people, history, and current status, and b) “Itineraries” that basically provide classic guidebook information on various parts of Palestine. The first three chapters in the introductory part set the stage by covering Landscape (with subsections on Geography, Fauna and Flora, and Climate), History, and “Population & Society” (Identity, Palestinian Refugees, Society, Education, Economy). Chapter 4 of this part deals with culture including arts and food (including sample recipes). Chapter 5 and 6 describe the ramification of colonization/occupation of Palestine (including the segregation walls and barriers) on travel, accommodation, and access. Throughout the book, the political situation is dealt with realistically; neither creating excessive fear from a visitor nor glossing over the reality of occupation and colonization.

I think it was a good idea to include, throughout the book, selected Palestinian poems and short biographies of influential Palestinians (e.g. political leaders like Yasser Arafat and Mustapha Ali Al-Zabri, famed cartoonist Naji Al-Ali, and intellectuals like Hanan Ashrawi and Khalil Sakakini). Considering the scope of this book, I found very few mistakes; mostly things to be picked up by a good copy editor (e.g. on p. 27 Herod was given title of King on 40 BC not 40 AD and other minor spelling and typographical errors). Most of the photographs in the book are B&W and have no captions although their placement and nearby text can reveals what they are about. The book ends with a glossary and recommended books and websites.

The second book is by Mariam Shahin titled simply “Palestine: A Guide”. The text is a lighter reading than the ATG Guidebook and is lavishly illustrated by stunning color photographs from award winning photographer George Azar. The first part of the book succinctly covers history, people, geography, nature, culture, and politics of Palestine. The next three parts cover Northern Palestine (11 main locations/cities), Central Palestine (6) and Southern Palestine (7). Appendix I includes travel information (contacts for key organizations, museums, hotels, restaurants, car rentals, and travel agencies). Appendix II includes resources on refugees (Majority of Palestinians now) and Appendix III includes list of relevant UN Agencies. The book concludes with an index to places (Appendix IV)

Both books include very good maps and other graphics and are reasonably priced. The ATG Guidebook uses boxes and set-apart sections not found in Shahin’s book. Yet, both have good layout and design. Shahin’s book is a general introduction with superior contemporary photography and the AGT Guidebook provides a detailed and thorough text with a wide spectrum of photographs and images both contemporary and historical. Thus, the two books complement each other in many ways. The meticulous texts masterfully lay out the organic connections between land, people, and history. I highly recommend buying both books to read, enjoy, and give to others as a unique and fresh perspective very different from the guidebooks authored by non-natives.

These books help visitors move away from archeological tourism to a more encompassing cultural, environmental, solidarity, and contemporary tourism. But the non-traveler citizen also should read them. Citizens in the US especially need to know the reality about this crucial part of the world because we pay billions of our taxes to support Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians (with 0.1% of the world population, Israel gets 30% of US foreign aid). Our government also provides Israel with diplomatic immunity (e.g. US veto was used 35 times at the UN Security Council to protect Israel from having to apply International law and human rights). Finally our corporate mainstream media does a very poor job of informing us of what is really going on. Books thus provide an alternative source. Indeed, millions around the world are learning of the deception of the old colonial narratives. They want to know more and they want to act. These two guides will become a gold standard for both actual and virtual visitors to Palestine. They will also become an indispensable educational tool for human rights and peace activists.

Dr. Qumsiyeh served on the faculty at Duke and Yale Universities. He is a cofounder of AcademicsForJustice.org and author of “Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle”.

Alternative Tourism Group

ATG Alternative Tourism Group and Study Center is a Palestinian NGO based in Beit Sahour specializing in tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture, and politics of the Holy Land. The organization focuses on Fair Trade in Tourism to support the local community and to offer fact-finding tourists (Academics, Journalists, Church Delegations, Individuals, etc.) an intensive humanitarian tour through Palestine and the Region.

Established in 1995, ATG operates according to the tenets of justice tourism, that is, tourism that holds as its central goals the creation of economic opportunities for the local community, positive cultural exchange between guest and host through one-on-one interaction, the protection of the environment, and political/historical education.

ATG works to encourage all tourism operators to abandon exploitive mass tourism and to adopt practices that positively affect the host population. Through these methods, ATG seeks to promote a positive image of Palestine and its people and to contribute to establishment of a just peace in the area.

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