Bedouin leaders fire back at the minister who dared to challenge their right to marry several women.
By Shimon Cohen and Gil Ronen, INN
Leaders of the Negev Bedouin fired back immediately Sunday at Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir (Yisrael Beytenu), who called Sunday for an end to polygamy in the Bedouin sector. Shamir, who heads the Committee onRegulation of Bedouin Settlement, told a Bedouin group that he is considering reviving a plan proposed in the past to place limits on Bedouin marriage.
MK Taleb Abu Arar (Raam-Taal) responded by saying that he is not surprised by Shamir’s words. He referred to them as “extremist statements that exposed the true face of minister Shamir, who has been charged withimproving the life of the Bedouin.”
Abu Arar added that “it appears that Shamir stands behind previous statements that see the Bedouin as a demographic and security threat, and if he truly believes in these ideas then his failure is guaranteed.”
The MK – a Bedouin who belongs to the southern section of the Islamic movement in Israel – explained that “only a few days ago, Minister Shamir said in the media that the destruction of homes [in the Bedouin sector] is an immoral act and we expected after this that he would stop the demolitions, and attempt to find solutions for the lack of housing for the young couples – until this anti-democratic proposal to limit Bedouin births came up. It seems that this is the purpose for which he was appointed, and he is adding fuel to the fire.”
Shamir, elaborated Abu Arar, “must operate in a trustworthy way and with a clean heart in order to allow youths to build homes in order to live in, and to take into account natural population growth.”
The Chairman of the Committee for Unrecognized Villages, Atia al-Assem, told the newspaper Maariv that “the matter or procreation is a personal one and no one can force the Bedouin not to bring children into the world, when the Jews have the mitzvah of ‘go forth and multiply.’”
“We know that the goal of the state, which adopts the policy of home demolitions, is to prevent the Bedouin from marrying and establishing families, which is an elementary right. Unfortunately, many Bedouin grew older and did not marry because of this policy.”
Polygamy is common among Bedouin, and is considered a key factor in the population growth of the community. The official Bedouin population in the Negev is now about 200,000, but it has the highest rate of growth of any population anywhere in the world – doubling every 15 years.
@ yamit82:
Nope; no polygamy in my family. Why would you assume that?
Found a new word, have you?
That other obnoxious crank picks up on yours — and return the favor.
You’re damned-near as pitiful as he.
And what, pray tell, would constitute ‘evidence,’ in your rigorously disciplined and conscientiously scholarly view?
Au contraire, made out of common sense, clear-sightedness, extended insight on history, and simple observation.
What of it?
No shit, Sherlock. And your point would be. . . ? (There
was a point, right?)
So phuqing what?
— The history of polygamy (to say nothing of the sociology & anthropology of it)is rife w/ instances of the phenomena I’ve described.
The Ottoman monarchy is recent enough to provide LOADS of evidence. Moreover, the narratives of Jacob’s family in both Genesis and the Midrash contain classic examples of precisely the anguish, the intrigues, and the tragedy I described.
Oh, you “think” so, do you?
Okay, where’s YOUR ‘evidence’ for that?
Indeed, where’s your evidence for the notion that you “think” at
all?
Objection. Begging the question. Assumes facts not in evidence.
You have YET to establish that anything I’ve said (let alone, this particular assertion) constitutes ‘projection.’
Motion to strike.
Sustained.
How would you know that?
You couldn’t possibly know enough people to make such an assertion with a straight face.
That all you got today, Genius?
dweller Said:
projecting from personal experience???
More Psychobabble from Mr. D again with no evidence of support and seems to be made out of whole cloth. I have lived with and near the Bedouin for almost the last 30 years. These are tribal societies and there is no evidence in the description dweller always uses to show he is correct.
I think dweller has his own personal devils to fight and his personal projections should not be taken at face value as his values are his alone and apply to none except possibly himself.
Who’s telling them they can’t “bring children into the world?”
This is a straw man.
It’s polygamy — not procreation — that’s up for outlawing.
As well it should be.
NOBODY suffers more from it than the children
— who end up having to share the personal attentions of one father with 20 or more other kids
— all-the-while being an integral party, from the earliest age, to the intrigues of their respective mothers’ schemings & jockeyings for position w/ their shared husband.
It sucks
— and it should go.
Won’t be possible to eliminate it overnight, but it can’t happen at all till they make a start.
http://mobile.myjewishlearning.com/israel/Contemporary_Life/Society_and_Religious_Issues/Arab-Israelis/The_Bedouin.shtml
Okee dokey… Let’s see….
Naaah!
This IS insane (mind you, it appears that Israel is in good company, since practically every western country that has a musloid population, these are de facto welfare recipients [another for of jizyiah… 🙁 ]