Lutz Pits (Photo: Walla! Editorial Board, Ziv Reinstein)
Few times are you able to stand up to a myth that has been built up over many, many years, a myth that has such a powerful impact on the discourse and worldview of decision makers, and blow it up with a single pin without leaving anything of it. It seems to me that this is exactly what the fascinating new report compiled by the Regavim movement does, to the legends that have been running around here for generations about the history of the Bedouins in the Negev, about the "villages" they established in the distant past, and about the justice that requires leaving them in the huge spaces where they sit and continue to build illegally.
For several decades, various left-wing organizations, various committees, experts, and vocal activists from Bedouin society have been basing the discourse on the question "What do we do with the large Bedouin diaspora in the Negev?" on one central basis: throughout the Negev, they say, there are 46 "historic villages." These "villages" have been here, for the most part, since before the establishment of the state. Therefore, there is moral justification for their demand to legalize them where they are located today, and to declare them legal settlements with all that this implies. After all, with all due respect to the State of Israel, which was established in 1948, it is not fair to take a village that has been on its land for hundreds of years and erase it.
Even the committee established by the government, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Goldberg, a committee that examined the issue of Bedouin settlement in the Negev, adopted this narrative, based on claims made to it by activists and organizations. "Today, there are approximately 46 villages that are unrecognized," the committee wrote in its final report, alongside a list of those "villages" that it attached to its published document, a list prepared by the Council for the Unrecognized Villages and submitted to the committee by Bimkom.
And actually, why 46? Why not 52 or 88 or 400? Good question. Soon enough, when it seems that there are neither 46 villages nor 36 villages, and that everything is one big invention, we will understand that this is an ingenious marketing move conceived by someone at some point. In other words, whoever decided to try to convince the State of Israel that it owes a moral debt to people who grew up historically in ancient villages, chose 46 points on the map and decided that it would be right to focus on them, rather than hundreds and thousands of identical concentrations of illegal homes. Why? It is probably easier, strategically, to sell the need to recognize a few dozen communities that have no beginning and no end, no known borders, and it is not clear what distinguishes them from the building concentrations around them – instead of talking about 2,000 such concentrations.
Whoever decided to convince the State of Israel that it has a moral debt to people who grew up historically in ancient villages chose 46 points on the map and decided it would be right to focus on them. Lehavim Junction (Photo: Reuven Castro)
But let's first go to the bottom line found in a comprehensive study conducted by Regavim: there are not 46 villages, these "villages" have no history, and almost all the stories about the Bedouin rural settlement in ancient times are fiction with nothing behind it. For decades, a group with political interests has succeeded in fooling an entire country with its government, its authorities and its committees, and selling to all of them a Bedouin folktale that never existed. How did Regavim manage to prove this? We'll get to that shortly. First a little background.
As of 2022, according to Regavim's report, based on Population Authority data, 292,180 Bedouin live in the Negev. More than 23,11 of them live in the seven towns established in the distant past. Another 2003,2006 live in the 84 villages approved between 20 and 200, all but one of which used to be illegal clusters laundered by the state. The rest, an estimated 66,600 people, live in the diaspora, that is, in countless illegal clusters – of two structures, 11 structures, or 46 structures – scattered throughout the area. These clusters can include, as mentioned, between a few buildings and hundreds of buildings, and in total there are about 45,<> of them, all illegal, covering a huge area of about <>,<> square kilometers, an area several times larger than the area of Tel Aviv.
Eleven of those <> communities were whitewashed two decades ago. Ten of them (the last being Tarabin, which, unlike others, was built in a new, empty area) were a glorious failure of thought. Instead of planning new settlements, the state adopted the Bedouin's stories about their history in the places where they live, and so that it would not have to ask them to move, it marked a blue line around them that contained huge areas, declared recognition of this historic "village" as a new settlement, and from that moment began a crazy race of construction within the new legal area. This new construction, on a huge scale, completely illegal, severely stalled the new settlements, and put sticks in the wheels of the possibility of planning them properly, with infrastructure and services.
Unfortunately, this lesson has not been learned, and in recent years activity has continued to train three additional communities: Rahma, Hashem Zane and Abda. The Bennett-Lapid government also included in the coalition agreements an explicit commitment to the Ra'am party that these communities would be recognized within <> days of the formation of the government.
292,<> Bedouin live in the Negev. The Bedouin market in Be'er Sheva, a day before it closed (Photo: Liron Moldovan)
One last word in this chapter, of the background. To date, in all the proceedings in which the Bedouin have tried to convince the courts of their historic ownership of land in the Negev, they have failed. Time after time, stories that they tried to sell to the state about their historical rights in one place or another turned out to be lies. The claim that the Turks and the British recognized their ownership of the land was also rejected.
Therefore, once the legal battle has proved hopeless, all that remains is the attempt to win through the battle for the narrative. The narrative that tells about these "historic villages," stories that will provide justification for their takeover of land in the Negev, that will teach about their rights to the land and explain the need to establish new settlements for them in places they say they have lived on for generations. According to this narrative, most of the "villages" in question existed here before the state, and a minority have been in place since the 1945s, when their inhabitants were transferred to them by the state from elsewhere.
In any case, the Regavim movement acquired historical aerial photographs of all the locations of the "unrecognized villages" that appear in the Goldberg Commission report, photographs taken over the Negev over many years, from 2018 to 46. Yona Admoni (Koblenz) and Lior Shamo located the exact location of each of the 500 "villages" marked on the map of the "Council of Unrecognized Villages", those "villages" whose historical story is promoted by the Bedouin and organizations that support their narrative, extended the test margin <> meters to each side to create a wide circle of inspection with a diameter of one kilometer around each "village", and examined exactly what happened in this place over the years.
Well, it turns out that even before and after the establishment of the state, the Bedouin, just as we have always learned, lived a nomadic life. In some of these villages, these aerial photographs show nothing. Just an empty hill that someone decided to grow stories on. In another part you can see a tent or two, which over the years moved with the pasture or the agricultural season that has passed, to another place. And the bottom line: no villages, no history and no plaster. A story that never existed, and which deserves to be blown up once and for all.
This does not mean, as we noted, that there were no Bedouins here in the past. That doesn't mean they didn't wander from place to place here. That doesn't mean they didn't grow wheat or graze their flocks, once here and there. But between this and the need to treat them as having had a "village," as having led a "village" life, and as someone who was expelled from this "village" by the evil State of Israel and therefore must now recognize it, there is a long way to go.
Bottom line: no villages, no history and no plaster. A story that never existed, and which deserves to be blown up once and for all. Bedouins in Jordan (Photo: Surfers' Photos, Nadav Peretz)
New "old village"
Here are some examples. The "village" of a-Za'arourah is located east of the town of Kseifeh. According to the website of the Negev Coexistence Forum – a left-wing NGO that leads the struggle for recognition of the "unrecognized villages" and whose website is "maintained with financial assistance from the European Union as part of a joint project with Adalah" – this village was founded before the establishment of the state. In the area itself, where Bedouins now live illegally, there is a sign that proclaims: "Al Za'arura - founded in the Ottoman period." But the aerial photographs reveal that this is one big scramble. An aerial photograph taken in 1945 shows the place completely empty. Another aerial photograph, from 1963, also reveals a completely clean area. In 1984, 32 illegal structures were seen there, and in 2018, 155 structures. Not "before the establishment of the state" and not "Ottoman period."
Another example. The "village" of al-Ghara lies between Kseifeh and Tel Sheva and is paved with residential clusters. According to the website of the Coexistence Forum, it is "an ancient village, founded before the establishment of the state." According to a position paper by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), "the village is a historic village that has existed, according to its residents, for about 300 years." And the facts? In 1945 there were 4 tents. In 1963, nothing was visible on the ground, not in the kilometer-diameter circle where Regavim's examination focused, nor outside it. In 1994, 9 illegal structures were observed there. In 2018, there were already 184 of them.
Bir al-Mashash lies north of Ar'ara in the Negev. According to the Coexistence Forum's website, "the villagers have been living on their lands, over which they claim ownership, since before the establishment of the state in 1948." And what in reality? According to aerial photographs in 1945, there was nothing there. In the next photograph, in 1962, two tents were seen there. A similar story exists in the village of Sawin, north of the town of 'Arara in the Negev. According to the website of the Coexistence Forum, "the village has been in place since before the establishment of the state." Aerial photographs reveal that in 1945 there were no buildings in the area, while in 1962 there were only 4 tents in the area.
Khashm Zana, east of the town of Segev Shalom, was supposed to be recognized, according to the coalition agreement of the Bennett-Lapid government. According to the Coexistence Forum's website, the village "existed prior to the establishment of the State of Israel." According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), it is "a historic village that has existed for generations." And what do the aerial photographs say? A photograph from 1945 found nothing there. So is a photograph from 1956. In 1986, 14 buildings are visible. Five years ago, there were already 148 there.
Sometimes an "ancient and historic village" is no more than a few tents. Preparatory work for JNF plantings near Bedouin villages in the Negev (Photo: Walla!, None)
Khirbet al-Watan lies south of the town of Hura. According to the website of the Coexistence Forum, the village was "founded before the establishment of the state." Aerial photographs reveal that there was no village there – not before the establishment of the State of Israel or even after its establishment. In 1945 there were 3 tents far apart. 17 years later, in 1962, there was only one tent. In 1995, 11 illegal structures were seen. In 2018, there were already 127 buildings there.
The Bedouin village of al-Arakib (Photo: Uri Lenz)
The fraudulent symbol Arakib
One of the most interesting villages in this context is Arakib, which has been turned into a symbol by a long list of left-wing organizations. The website of the Coexistence Forum states that "until the state began repeated demolitions of the village in 2010, about 400 residents lived there," that "there are ancient cisterns in the village area, a cemetery established in 1914," and that the village "was established during the Ottoman period."
Representatives of the al-Okbi family, who claimed ownership of the lands in Arakib, waged a long legal campaign to prove these claims, and suffered a painful defeat. The court accepted the opinion of expert Prof. Ruth Karek, who testified that until the end of World War I in 1918 there were no permanent settlements in the area and that the plots stood deserted and uncultivated, and preferred it to the opinion of the expert on behalf of the al-Okbi family, Professor Oren Yiftahel, who claimed that the tribe established settlements on the plots and cultivated them from time immemorial.
Prof. Yiftahel, it is important to know, has been very active for many years in efforts to help the Bedouin population prove its claims regarding its history and that of Bedouin villages in the Negev. Prof. Yiftahal's conduct, the court ruled, left an uncomfortable feeling and damaged his credibility. He relied on sources without reading them, tendentiously cited some of the sources on which he was based, and ignored sources that did not support the conclusion he sought to present. "It must be determined that although the Al-Okbi tribe wandered in the area of the plots and used them at certain times for parking, grazing and seasonal agriculture," Justice Esther Hayut ruled, "there was no permanent settlement of the tribe in the plots at the time the Ottoman Land Law (1858) was enacted, and not even afterwards,"
the aerial photographs analyzed by Regavim further disintegrate the claims of the Bedouin in the area and the associations that support them. Let's start with the local cemetery, which according to the stories has been there since 1914. Aerial photographs from 1945 and 1954 do not identify any such cemetery there. It was first seen, in its early stages, only in 1965.
"There was no permanent settlement of the Al-Okbi tribe in the plots of land," Supreme Court President Esther Hayut (Photo: Flash 90, Avshalom Shouni)
But not only a cemetery was not in Arkiv. In 1945 there were 2 tents. In 1965 there was nothing. In 1976, there were only two illegal structures there. I have been to Arakiv several times. I spent the night the place was first evacuated there. Representatives of a thousand and one left-wing organizations were there - from local NGOs to Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity. From the stories that were told there about the village that has existed there for generations and about the terrible State of Israel that is destroying it - a book could have been written. It's amazing to see how much reality shatters all of this in one fell swoop.
And here's another story. The "village" of al-Hardware lies north of the town of Kseifeh and south of Makhul. The whole area has many clusters. According to the website of the Coexistence Forum, "the residents of the village have lived there for hundreds of years, before the establishment of the state." And what do the facts say? In 1945 - 0 attendance. In 1963, seven tents, all but one of which were no longer visible in the following aerial photograph. In 1995 there were 22 buildings. In 2018 - 304 buildings.
This is the case in these "villages." So in others. Regavim's detailed report shatters this myth, village after village, legend after legend, aerial photograph after aerial photograph. In other words: there are no "villages", no "history", no "46".
And again we will clarify, because this is important. The "46 Historic Villages" narrative is featured in countless documents submitted to the authorities over the years. The Goldberg Commission heard quite a few testimonies about these "historic villages." Regavim cites, for example, a letter sent in the past by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Bimkom to members of the Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs ahead of a discussion on a bill to regulate Bedouin settlement in the Negev. The letter talks about those 46 villages and explains that "the vast majority of these villages existed before the establishment of the State of Israel."
From the stories that were told there about the village that has existed there for generations and about the terrible State of Israel that is destroying it - a book could have been written. Police forces evacuate the Bedouin community of al-Arakib, June 2014 (Photo: Walla! NEWS, Negev Coexistence Forum)
The EU-funded "Master Plan for Recognition of Unrecognized Villages in the Negev" submitted in 2012 by Bimkom explains that "recognizing villages in their current location is preferable to current government plans based on the transfer of tens of thousands of people, because it is based on the villages' strong historical connection to their lands and place of residence."
Does the European Union, which has put money on this project, know the truth? Vague. What is clear is that EU officials insured themselves and made sure that the plan was highlighted with a line stating that "the positions in this publication do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union." So why is the EU funding something it hasn't checked?
What does need to be done? To settle the Bedouin in the diaspora in planned, regulated communities with infrastructure, such as those located on state land. They deserve it. It comes to the country. Demonstration by the Bedouin sector against police brutality, December 2021 (Photo: Walla!, Yanir Yagna)
A few concluding remarks
Past experience shows, as noted, that the initiative to legalize existing "villages" based on the stories of the past told by their residents not only has no historical justification, it causes great practical damage. The idea of taking a large pile of illegal structures built on a large area of land, without order and without planning logic, declaring them a legal settlement and trying to retroactively clothe infrastructure on them – is doomed to failure. Moreover, both recent history and aerial photographs show that as soon as the state begins to ponder the thought of legalizing such an illegal cluster, it pushes masses of Bedouin to hurry and build illegally within what are planned to be the boundaries of the new settlement, causing a great mess and even greater construction criminality.
There is a great battle for hearts and minds here. A political group supported by foreign foundations and the European Union has been trying for many years to inculcate a narrative here that has no arms or legs. Israeli governments and authorities have taken this narrative seriously and taken it into account. A series of illegal Bedouin outposts were legalized and laundered, along with large-scale land allocated to them, where according to their story their ancient settlement was located, a story that turns out to have no basis in reality. This madness must be stopped. This ship must be turned.
What does need to be done? To settle the Bedouin in the diaspora in planned, regulated communities with infrastructure, such as those located on state land. They deserve it. It comes to the country. It can succeed only in parallel with the harsh enforcement of every illegal structure that is built. As long as the State of Israel continues to provide healthcare, education and transportation services to those who chose to flagrantly violate its laws and settle in the middle of nowhere, and allow them a good life without paying taxes, municipal taxes and levies, there is no logical reason for anything to change.
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