HILF, Israel (AP) — Ayoub Rumeihat opened his palms to the sky in prayer as he stood among the tombstones of Bedouins killed in combat while serving the State of Israel.
Finishing the sacred words, he reflected on the remote Mediterranean Sea, a valley full of olive and oak trees where his net has been grazing goats for generations.
Rumeihat says the Bedouins, celebrated by the Israeli army for their wisdom on land, fear the government will now sever their ties with the same piece of land.
Rumeihat and his fellow Bedouins see a plan to turn their land into a saloon as an affront to their service to the country. They say this is in line with measures taken by Israeli nationalist governments opposed to the Arab minority in recent years, which have deepened a sense of estrangement and tested the community’s already fragile ties to the state.
The plan sparked rare protests by Bedouins in Israel’s northern Galilee region, some of the few local Palestinians who embraced the first Jewish settlers before Israel’s creation in 1948. Since then, many have served in the Israeli police and army, fighting other Palestinians.
“We were with you from the beginning,” Rumeihat said, next to a tombstone engraved with a Star of David in honor of a Bedouin tracker who likely died at the hands of a Palestinian. “We are like lemon trees and olive trees. How can you uproot them?”Us?
Palestinian citizens of Israel make up 20 percent of the country’s nine million inhabitants. They have citizenship and can vote, and some succeed in the highest degrees of government and business. through the state. Many Israeli Jews see them as a fifth column of their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Within this same minority are subgroups, such as the Bedouins, who have become more involved in Israeli society through their service in the security forces.
But in recent years, Bedouins have accused Israel of belittling their service with its policies, a 2018 law that defines the country as the geographic region of the Jewish people. The Bedouin and Druze Israelis, either of whom serve in the army, felt that the law was degraded. to second-class citizens.
The network sees the room as another affront. This will put controls in place over their grazing and may limit residents’ housing characteristics in the future.
The Bedouins introduced small weekly demonstrations with Jewish sympathizers in Galilee and also in Jerusalem, in front of the offices of the minister and the Parks and Nature Authority.
The 2,600-acre (1,050-hectare) hall is meant to allow foxes, quails and other animals to move safely through the cityscape of Haifa, the country’s third-largest city. The Bedouin call the lush ravines of the region al-Ghaba, or “forest” in Arabic.
Environmentalists say wildlife corridors, which serve as migration spaces for animals, are a vital component of conservation efforts.
Uri Shanas, a professor of ecology at the University of Haifa-Oranim, said the room is because the surrounding domain is built and the animals, especially the endangered mountain gazelle, want the land bridge.
“The only position that still thrives in the world is in Israel and we are obliged to do so,” he said.
Palestinian citizens of Israel have in the afterlife accused the Israeli government of justifying the confiscation of land under the pretext of environmental protection. In January, Bedouins in southern Israel staged protests against nationalists’ tree planting on disputed land. And defense teams claim that many forests in Israel were planted on the ruins of Palestinian villages emptied on occasions that led to Israel’s creation.
A spokeswoman for the parks authority, Daniela Turgeman, said the salon’s plan evolved with local leaders in the 1980s and studied plants and animals. He said this allowed for controlled grazing and said there were only “a few people who still had objections. “
The Bedouin oppose the omission of the classic land use rights plan and reject any limitation on grazing. They claim personal ownership of some plots and grazing rights in general after settling in the domain about a hundred years ago, buying land, planting olive groves and farms, and construction houses.
They also deny there is prior consultation with the parks authority, which Turgeman said shaped the plan after six recent meetings and “a joint tour” with local leaders.
Guy Alon, an official with Israel’s parks authority, told Israel’s Channel 13 in July that the hall would benefit Jews and Arabs by respecting property rights and achieving ecological balance.
For “the Bedouins who come and say ‘we open spaces,’ the nature reserve gives just that,” he said. “Those who ask us to let them graze on the ground, we respect that,” he said.
After the plan, 3 Bedouin villages filed an objection, accusing the hall of ignoring Bedouin private property. The Haifa District Planning Committee rejected this objection and an appeal is being heard.
“Nature has already been used as a political tool over and over again, so for other people there is no trust,” said Myssana Morany, a lawyer with the Arab legal rights organization Adalah, which filed the objection on behalf of the residents.
She said the parks authority has treated Bedouins more than other citizens, giving examples in the vicinity of its plans to integrate nature reserves with existing farms and other types of land use.
Environmental claims ring hollow to villagers who see the ongoing structure in nearby Jewish villages as more ecologically disruptive than grazing goats and olive groves.
Fatima Khaldi, 73, sitting in her gigantic family home in the village of Khawaldeh, said local wisdom would protect the land more than any outdoor experience. “Their purpose is to take us and destroy our heritage. “
Mustafa Rumeihat, 70, a remote relative of Rumeihat, said he feared his grandchildren would inherit family ties to the land.
“I see myself dying of despair,” he said as he stepped down from his pen of two dozen goats. “When my son asks me questions about the land, I may not be able to answer him. “
Your tax-deductible donation to The Columbian’s community-funded journalism program will contribute to more local information on key issues including homelessness, housing, transportation and the environment.
Local journalism wants your help. It is a component of a healthy network and a healthy democracy.