Peloni: This is a very important undertaking by the govt, one which has been long ignored. It is essential that enforcement of the law in the Negev be successfully undertaken or this long prized land asset will continue to be squandered to the encroachment of the lawless Bedouin who have no regard for the law or the state.
Multiple vehicles were torched in Negev towns overnight, with police linking the incidents to reprisals following ongoing operations in nearby Bedouin communities.
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN |
Five vehicles were set ablaze on Wednesday in Lehavim in the Negev, in what police are investigating as a retaliatory arson attack linked to escalating tensions in nearby Bedouin communities.
The incident follows another only days ago in the community of Giv’ot Bar, where cars were also attacked. Another town, Mishmar Hanegev, was also the site of an attack on cars. The Israeli police have carried out a number of operations in the Bedouin town of Tarabin al-Sana in response to the incidents.
The attacks on vehicles are being referred to as “price tag” attacks in the Israeli media. This is the same terminology that is used for attacks in the West Bank. However, in the West Bank, the culprits are alleged to be Jewish extremists, whereas in the Negev, the perpetrators are assumed to be Bedouin.These two trends have been growing over the years. However, there seems to be a convergence of the trends, both because of the terminology that is being used and due to reports of how the security establishment sees the challenges in the Bedouin towns of the Negev.
Ynet noted, “Police say arson at a gas station in the Negev town was a reprisal for an ongoing operation in the nearby Bedouin community of Tarabin, warning of tougher measures ahead and calling for Shin Bet involvement.” The issue of increasing protection beyond the local police is part of the trend.The context is that Israeli authorities are trying to crack down on a number of issues of law and order in the Bedouin towns of the Negev. This is called Operation New Order and includes raids in various Bedouin areas, not only in Tarabin but also in Hura, Lakiya, and Tel Sheva.
The Negev – half the land area of Israel
The Negev is a huge area of Israel, largely sparsely populated, that comprises roughly half the land area of the entire country.
Its largest city, Beersheba, was founded in 1900 by the Ottomans on the ruins of an ancient settlement by the same name. With the establishment of the city, the Ottomans attempted to extend law and order, as well as land registration, to the Negev. The policy was largely ineffective, and the mostly nomadic Bedouin tribes in the Negev did not change their lifestyle much despite Ottoman pressures.
There were a half dozen tribes in the Negev at the time. These included the Tarabin and Jabarat in northern Negev, the Tayaha and Jahalin in the northeast and the West Bank, Saidin in the east, the Azazme in the center, and Aheiwat in the south. Most of the Bedouin in this region lived and migrated primarily in the northern Negev.
During the British Mandate, the area changed even more, with some Jewish communities being established during its last years. This was called the “11 Points” plan to settle the Negev so that any partition of the country would leave it in Jewish hands. On the night of October 5 to October 6, 1946, people moved to carve out these 11 small communities, comprising Be’eri near Gaza and Kfar Darom in Gaza, as well as Mishmar HaNegev, Nevatim, Nirim, Urim, Shoval, and others.
Central and southern Negev remained devoid of permanent settlement until after 1948.
The Negev was a blank slate for Israel in the 1950s and 1960s. The Bedouin population was seen as relatively small, some 20,000 people, and concentrated in an area called the Siyagh, to the east and north of Beersheba.
Eventually, the authorities decided to build several planned Bedouin towns: Tel Sheva in 1967, Rahat in 1972, Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom) in 1979, and Ar’ara, Lakiya, Kuseifa, and Hura in 1982. Some of the towns originated with the tribes that lived there: Rahat on the lands of the Tayaha, Shaqib on the lands of the Azazme. Most of the planned towns each house around 20,000 residents, but Rahat has 75,000 or more.
Over the years, approximately 46 unrecognized Bedouin villages have appeared in the Negev, with some 100,000 residents. The state has recognized some of them. Tarabin, for instance, named after the tribe, was founded in 2005. Nevertheless, there are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of dunams in the Negev used by Bedouin without registration or state sanctioning.The government has made attempts to deal with this issue, evicting people from a few sites, such as Al-Araqib. Violence and clashes have often resulted. Price tag attacks have occurred before, even though they were not called by that name. In 2009, for instance, two Bedouin were accused of vandalizing the Avdat site.
The challenge in the Negev is multi-layered. Decades of lawlessness, with tens of thousands of people living off the grid, have led to a sense that the state does not exist there. In some ways, this perpetuates a phenomenon going back hundreds of years.Today, the situation is different. In the 1880s, the Ottomans barely bothered to deal with the Negev. Now, the state wants to assert control. The clashes between police and the inhabitants in Tarabin, where checkpoints, roadblocks, and other methods used in the West Bank are also being utilized in Israel, are not the only challenges.There is also the issue of gun smuggling.This week, numerous M-4 and M-16 style rifles were found in a downed drone that was used for smuggling from Egypt, just one of many drones moving weapons into Israel, fueling a huge rise in gun violence. There have been more murders this year than ever before.
Most of the guns are being used in Arab villages. However, it is clear that having hundreds or thousands of rifles floating around illegally in Israel is eventually going to lead to an explosion in violence.The attempt to restore order in the Negev via New Order could lead to success, but it could also lead to escalation.The more the Negev Bedouin communities are viewed through lenses used to deal with threats in the West Bank, the more a self-fulfilling prophecy may emerge in which the West Bank and the Negev begin to blend into one entity.
While there has been talk of extending Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank in recent years, it is the necessity of extending sovereignty to the Negev that now appears to be the more immediate challenge.
It is unclear whether the Negev will easily return to state control if the cycle of clashes and “price tags” continues.
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