New article..most of us know no more of the Bedouin then that pictured in the movie "Lawrence of Arabia ", or other such venues, at least i don't.
A idea of Sheiks in white robes, riding camels , horses, carrying those long muskets and wearing swords..grazing their flocks as they moved from one area of a desert to another in search of subsistence for their animals, living in those large tents..in a way , a romantic mysterious type of life style..big on culture and habits..
It seems there is some other reality however..in Israel at least according to this article
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english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/06/20116238174269364.html-----------------------------------------------------------
[Click on link to read the article]
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Opinion
Israel: No Place for Bedouin
Bedouin living in the Negev desert often lack even basic services, something Israel appears to promote
Jillian Kestler-DAmours
29 Jun 2011 11:34
Bedouin Arabs living in the Negev desert are being forced off their grazing lands into towns and villages that lack clean water, sanitation, electricity, and other basic services [GALLO/GETTY]
"Ibrahim al-Atrash lifts the cover to a large, copper water tank. "Rust," he says, pointing to the discolored rim. Moments later, one of al-Atrash's children fills a pink, plastic jug with water that slowly trickles out from the container's spout.
This is how the al-Atrash family – and the over 4,500 residents of al-Atrash, a so-called "unrecognized" Bedouin village in the Israeli Negev (Naqab) desert, which is named after the tribe – gets water: through a series of pipes connecting individual tanks to a central water system over 5 kilometers away.
"We don't have any options. We're obliged to drink from the containers and it's not healthy. It causes a lot of health problems because sometimes there are holes in the pipe, water pressure issues, and lots of things," says Ibrahim, who heads the al-Atrash village council.
Ibrahim explains that it cost him nearly 50,000 Israel sheckels (approximately US$14,500) to dig up the land in order to hook his pipes up to the water system. Despite the investment, the system is far from perfect; the water freezes in the winter and is boiling hot in the summer, water pressure is low and often there isn't enough water to satisfy an entire family's needs.
"We don't have water here to drink. It's hot here [in the Negev]. The minimum thing is to give us water so that our children can drink," he says.
Today, nearly half of the entire Bedouin population in the Negev – approximately 80,000 people – lives in 45 Bedouin villages that are unrecognized by the Israeli government. Despite being Israeli citizens, the state views the Bedouin residents of these villages as illegal squatters and does not provide them with basic services or infrastructure, including electricity, water, sewage systems, roads, schools or hospitals.
On June 5, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled on an appeal filed five years ago on behalf of 128 Bedouin families living in six different unrecognized villages, including al-Atrash, who asked to be connected to the area's water distribution network.
The court ruled that three villages – Gatamat, Umm el-Hieran, and Tel Arad – must be provided with an unspecified "minimum access to water" but rejected in part the claims of three other villages – al-Atrash, Tel al-Maleh, and Tla' Rashid – since it stated that these villages already had reasonable access to water.
While the court stated that the right to water is a constitutional right for all Israeli citizens, including the Bedouins, "because it stems directly from the constitutional right to life and the right to dignity and equality," it failed to specify what constitutes a fair minimum of water for the villages the state deems illegal.
Further, its ultimate conclusion dangerously adopted the official Israeli solution with regards to the so-called Bedouin "problem" – that the Bedouins of the unrecognized Negev villages should be moved into government-planned townships"
