We hear about the Palestinians, but what about the Bedouins of Israel?

Well here's a piece on them.

MIDEAST: Not Even the Desert Is Home Any More

Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, Bedouin communities in the Negev desert have been under siege. Yet as home demolitions and Israeli military attacks in the occupied Palestinian territories grab headlines, some in the Bedouin communities inside Israel say their situation is comparable -- if not sometimes worse -- than that in Gaza and the West Bank.

They live in villages without paved roads, water, electricity, denied simple community support as healthcare and schools. For many they're are not even recognised as villages - despite having up to 4000 residents. They are all Israeli citizens, but treated worse than the Palestinians of Gaza. Contrary to them they never done any sabotage, terror, let alone instigated any Intifadha.

At about 10.30pm every night, al-Menm tells IPS, Israeli forces lock the entrance to the village, effectively imprisoning the approximately 4,000 residents inside until guards unlock the gate in the morning.

Menm describes this act as collective punishment of the villagers for not leaving the land. "We are citizens of the state of Israel, and this is how they treat us. We pay taxes, we vote, and yet we don't have running water or electricity, and they have not provided our community with schools or any services."

It's obvious why the Israelies want them to abandon the land, to which they've been indiginous since times forgotten. They want their land. Even though it's only about 2 percent of the Israeli part of the Negev desert they occupy. So they get harassed without reason, terrorized in any possible way by the Israeli State.

What happened recently in Taweel abu Jabral is a regular occurrence across the Bedouin villages in the Negev. Three weeks ago, Menm tells IPS, hundreds of Israeli police and security services came with dogs, bulldozers and weapons during a home demolition operation. "There is violence almost on a daily basis. They come and harass us. What can we do against them? How do we protect ourselves, as citizens of the state? Does this look like the democracy of the Middle East that they talk about?"

Why do they want their land?

East of the Israeli town of Beersheba lies the unrecognised village of Wadi Niyam. An acrid, stinging smell permeates this area, where hundreds of tin-walled shanty huts perch on the stubby, dry hillsides. Sawalha tells IPS that 17 chemical plants were built west of this village in the 1970s in an area called Ramat Hovav. North of the village, an enormous electricity plant emits an audible hum, and to the south, Israel has built several military industrial parks.

For polluting industries they want it, but most of all for secret millitary instalations, labs, developing and testing facilities. The core is probably they don't want any non-jews to witness what goes on in the area. If they cannot bully them out, they can kill them out.

"The Israeli Ministry of Health confessed to the people that this area is very polluted and toxic," Abu Affash tells IPS. "We suffer from serious cancer problems to the simplest illnesses. Nearly all of the children here have asthma. The women have regular miscarriages. We have skin problems, such as rashes and lesions, eye diseases, stomach problems, nauseous reactions to the toxic smells.

I think this is a very important report, because -as far as I know- there have never been put much spotlight on how Isreal treat their minorities except for the Palistinians.

Right now in Brussel negociations is held in EU regie to impose a boycott on Israel, similar to the one imposed on South Africa some 40 years ago. It did lead to the intended result. I sincerely hope they'll impose it. Problem is the US will never follow such a boycott, and the Zionists and Neo-cons might have blown up the whole world before it shows effects.




[edit on 5-9-2007 by khunmoon]

thanks for pointing this out. i've heard about the bedouins and their problems before, but i had no idea it was this intense. yet another crime that a country isn't being held accountable for because the one superpower in the world gives them special treatment.

After searching the web for half a day on reports about the situation of the Bedouins, I've only been able to find this BBC feature.

It's worth watching.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by khunmoon
After searching the web for half a day on reports about the situation of the Bedouins, I've only been able to find this BBC feature.

It's worth watching.

news.bbc.co.uk...

thank you, i'll get right on that when i'm less occupied.

it's really sad that nobody is replying to this...