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Discrimination at the top: Bedouins are good to die for Israel's security but not good enough citizens!

By: Elias Zananiri*

"The Bedouin are good enough to fight and to die, but they're not good enough to be citizens," said Talab Al Sane', the Bedouin member of Israel's Knesset upon hearing of the attack by Hamas militants in which four Israeli soldiers were killed late last week near the Egyptian-Israeli border. Sane', a leading member of the Arab Democratic Party, was not referring to the specific death of the four soldiers as much as he was referring to years-long discrimination that the repeated Israeli governments have practiced against the Arabs in Israel, even against those who serve in the Israeli army.

There are Arab Bedouins who serve in the army not because of self-convictions as much as a result of family influence. Their parents and grandparents have already served in the Israeli army in the past. Their children and grandchildren feel they do better by following their footsteps. But the attack on Kerem Shalom outpost of the Israeli army near the borders has again spotlighted the crisis under which Arabs in Israel live.

"The Bedouins are the army's black sheep," added Sane' noting that once a Bedouin soldier finishes his military service, he returns back to his village to see how his family and his community are badly treated by the Israeli authorities. According to latest statistics, there are approximately 70,000 Bedouins who all live in unrecognized villages inside Israel. Living in an unrecognized village, explained Sane', is exactly like living in the middle of nowhere where you receive neither water, nor electricity or municipal services. In his words, why would a Bedouin give the best years of his life serving the Israeli army when the Israeli government and society insist on treating him as an alien, a stranger or even a persona non grata. According to Sane', not even a single dollar has been allocated for the Bedouins in Israel's state budget for this year. He ridiculed statements by Israeli officials who speak of covenant of blood between Jews and Bedouins in Israel and said that this is "a complete lie, a real fraud. It is just a lip service."

The Hamas attack on the army outpost close to the Egyptian-Israeli borders had again refreshed the question of treatment Arabs in Israel receive by various governments. The death of the four soldiers, three Bedouins and one Christian from Haifa, was seen by relatives of other soldiers as a chance to urge their relatives and friends to quit their military service. Even before the attack, the attitude of Arabs serving in the Israeli army has witnessed a major change, mainly throughout the past year of the Palestinian uprising.

Statistics released recently by the Israeli army showed that only 140 Bedouins have enlisted in the army service in the year 2001 as opposed to more than 300 in the previous year. The motivation of those soldiers dropped, certainly because of the ongoing confrontation between the Palestinians and Israel but also because of the maltreatment they receive from the authorities and the injustice they feel being done to them, to their families and to their communities.

A senior army source admitted over the weekend that the situation among the Bedouins "is on the verge of an explosion" and demanded that action be taken soon to prevent a major upheaval among the Bedouin community. The source said that Bedouins serving in the army are not proud anymore of this service and that they do not dare return to their villages in army uniform. Those soldiers who return home for a weekend or holiday change their military uniforms just before they enter their villages because they want to avoid being seen in army uniforms, the source said.

Soldiers of the same unit from which the four were killed, named as the Desert Patrol Unit, said they wanted the state to treat them like equals in the army as well as in their civilian life after their discharge. Some of those soldiers even said they received phone calls from members of their families urging them to quit the military service and return home. The Israeli army is currently planning a new drive to draft soldiers into the Desert Patrol Unit out of concern that the harsh blow the unit suffered could lead to its collapse.

One soldier who lives in the village of Tu'ran in the Galilee said he felt being a part of a minor community in his village. "We endure insults and attacks from people in our village but we do not give up. We want to keep on. But it hurts us that we are still asked to show our identity cards everywhere, even when we are dressed in army uniform. It is insulting and offensive not to be treated as equals among equals."

One of the reasons Arabs serving in the Israeli army feel a minor community among their own is the ongoing uprising in the Palestinian territories. Arabs living in those villages and communities have spoken openly against the Israeli army operations in the Palestinian territories and in many cases even strongly condemned a certain set of operations, mainly assassination of Palestinian activists. As a result of these sentiments, Arabs serving in the Israeli army started to feel alienated in their own villages. They started to leave their weapons back at base and return home without military uniforms. Some of those soldiers even felt so lonely, being disconnected from their families and villages, and headed to a special organization in Israel that looks after lone soldiers, or soldiers without families. This organization mainly handles problems of soldiers who migrate into Israel from other countries, but without their families.

"Now of all times, we are very hopeful that the Palestinians and the Israelis will move towards peace," said Hassan Al Haib, chairman of the Forum of Bedouin Local Authorities in Israel. Al Haib, himself a reserve lt. Colonel in the Israeli army, is also head of the local council of Zarzir. In his eulogy of the soldiers who were killed in the attack he said that the path of negotiations "must be followed to bring peace and quiet."

Al Haib strongly criticized the neglect of the Bedouin sector by the Israeli government and called for the immediate cessation of all forms of discrimination and deprivation against the Bedouins. "We give 100 percent and get back zero percent. The establishment should wake up and do something for us." He added that before the last elections, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then a Likud candidate for the post, visited him at his house in the village and promised to make the Bedouins equal to all Israeli citizens. "That did not happen,' he said.

The death of the four soldiers, moreover, brought serious charges against the Israeli military not from the usual opponents of the government but unexpectedly from within Sharon's Likud Party. Ayyoub Kar'a, a Druze Knesset member, demanded that a committee be established to examine the chain of events that led to the killing of the four soldiers saying that the incident reflected a "criminal negligence" on the part of the military. He claimed that he had warned in the past against the dangers inherent in a prolonged stay of military forces, such as the Bedouin battalion, in one place.

http://www.amin.org/eng/elias_zanani...jan/jan13.html




Para jump





Krav Maga trainings





A "berret march"





During an exersize






During an operation





About to jump





About to jump





In the air



IDF "Desert Rangers" battalion , where Bedouins , Cherkess and Arabs serve .