5315 x 3543 px | 45 x 30 cm | 17,7 x 11,8 inches | 300dpi
Aufnahmedatum:
21. April 2009
Ort:
El Araqeeb, Negev desert, Israel
Weitere Informationen:
Bedouins are a Palestinian Arab minority in Israel. They live mostly in the Negev desert where since the Ottoman empire they have made the shift from nomadic to settled lifestyle. Upon the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 they opted to take Israeli citizenship, in order to be able to remain on their ancestral lands. Soon after independence, Israel declared all of the Negev desert 'state land', effectively leaving the Bedouin tribes settled there homeless. The only choices given to the Bedouins were either to move to an area in the northern Negev known as the Sayig - a reservation type area that remained under military rule until the 1960s - or later to one of six towns developed for Bedouins near Beer Sheva. These six Bedouin towns still lack today basic infrastructure that is easily made available to neighbouring Jewish settlements and farms. There are around 170.000 Bedouins in the Negev desert. Only about 45% have chosen to live in these towns while the majority still lives in unrecognized villages all over the Negev that do not exist on any official maps. If the official settlements are a shadow of the towns planned for Jewish citizens, the villages are often closer to refugee camps or slums. They lack running water, electricity, roads, schools, clinics and any other service that is considered basic. Families in these unrecognized villages also have to live with the constant threat of house demolition or crop destruction at the hands of Israel's Green Patrol. Bedouins incessantly bring their claims to their land to the attention of the Courts of Justice in Israel but are rarely given the chance to live where they have always lived - and from where they were moved by the Army and the government through lies and trickery. Their situation closely mirrors the battles for justice fought by the American Indians at the beginning of the 19th century. Many civil groups have been formed to bring the plight of the Bedouins to the attention of the Israeli public.
