Wadi al-Na'am
Wadi al-Na'am is an
History
After 1948, the new state of Israel declared 85% of the desert "state land". From this point on, all Bedouin habitation and agriculture on this newly established state land was retroactively considered illegal. Negev lands the Bedouin had inhabited upwards of 500 years (but which they had not registered with the Ottoman or British governments; see
In the 1970s, the government began to build urban townships, encouraging the Bedouin to move from dispersed locales through the Siyag, promising services. About half of the Bedouin moved. However, the towns were unplanned, and the Bedouin who moved to them found that there were no economic opportunities in or around the towns. The townships rapidly turned into ghettos rife with crime and drugs. At the same time, the urbanized Bedouin no longer had access to their former grazing lands. Most became dependent on government 'social security' in order to survive.[4]
As the nation developed and extended electricity and water access throughout the Negev, Israeli citizens living in unrecognized villages like Wadi al-Na'am were denied access to national electricity, water, and municipal trash services, The villagers of Wadi al-Na'am came to live under high-voltage electric pylons which provide electricity throughout the northern Negev. Many residents started to use toxic, noisy, expensive generators, out of their own pocket; some use solar power.[1] The Israeli government built the regional water tank and electrical grid station in Wadi al-Na'am, but the residents were denied access.
Ramat Hovav toxic waste facility
In 1979,
Residents began to suffer extreme health concerns as a result of proximity to Ramat Hovav. The village began to endure unusually high rates of miscarriages and children were increasingly born with an array of eye, teeth, joint and respiratory problems, as documented by the Ben Gurion University Center for Women's Health Studies and Promotion as well as by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.[5]
In 2003, the Arab-Jewish environmental justice organization
Today
Wadi al-Na'am is the only unrecognized village that has agreed to move from its current location. However, Wadi el'Na'am residents refuse to move into a government township, saying that the government has failed to show evidence of incorporating the lessons of the urban ghettos built in the 1970s; newly planned townships, like those built in the 1970s, do not feature any business districts, and no permits for Arab-owned industrial zones have been dispensed. Thus due to the lack of economic prospects in urban townships, few of the Bedouin in unrecognized villages (who are still able to maintain a degree of self-sufficiency in the unrecognized villages through illegal grazing and agriculture) see the urban ghetto as a desirable form of settlement.[3] Despite the health hazards of residing in the area, Wadi Na'am village Shaykhs Labad and Ibrahim Abu Afash say they will not agree to move their tribe unless they are offered compensation in the form of suitable land rights. For residents this means an agricultural settlement not dissimilar to that in which Israeli citizens in Moshavim live. However no Arab village in the Negev has received permission from the government for agricultural activities as yet.
Leadership
Ibrahim Abu Afash and Labad Abu Afash are the Shaykhs of Wadi al-Na'am. The two Abu Afash brothers have become advocates for their community, working with Israeli and international human rights advocates to bring unprecedented global attention to the concerns of the unrecognized villages and toxic waste on indigenous lands.[4] Najib Abu Gharbiyeh has also been a longtime spokesperson for the village. Possibly the least well-known of the unrecognized villages before, today it is perhaps the most internationally recognized.[5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
See also
References
- ^ Jerusalem Post: Where Israel ends (22 Oct 2004)
- ^ AFP: Bedouin Struggle for Land in Israel Desert (28 Sep 2007) (as mirrored by NGO Bustan)
- ^ a b Manski, Rebecca. "THE SCENE OF MANY CRIMES: SUFFOCATING SELF-SUBSISTENCE IN THE NEGEV;" News From Within, Vol. XXIV, No. 13, April 2006
- ^ a b Manski, Rebecca. "Bedouin Vilified Among Top 10 Environmental Hazards in Israel;" News From Within, Vol. XXII, No. 11, December 2006
- ^ a b c Naqab Desert Socio-Environmental Timeline Bustan, 2006
- ^ Tal, Alon. Pollution in a Promised Land, (University of California Press, 2002)
External links
- Brous, Devorah. Uprooting Weeds (Bustan, 2004)
- Cook, Jonathan. Making the land without a people" Al-Ahram, Issue No. 705, September 2004
- Cook, Jonathan:”Unwanted Citizens,” Al-Ahram, Jan 10, 2002
- "Off the Map" Human Rights Watch, 2008
- Johal, Am. "Der Ruf nach internationalem Eingreifen im Negev" ZNet, 27.07.2004
- Johal, Am. 'Israel's Bedouin Losing Ground" July 29, 2004
- Manski, Rebecca. "Bedouin Vilified Among Top 10 Environmental Hazards in Israel;" News From Within, Vol. XXII, No. 11, December 2006
- BUSTAN: Resources on Negev Health and Environment
- Worldpress: About the clinic construction at Wadi al-Na'am
- BUSTAN: About the clinic construction at Wadi al-Na'am
- Photos and stories of unrecognized villages, by Tal Adler
- Ramat Hovav Industrial Council (in Hebrew)