The Sovereignty Movement started a series of premium sovereignty tours for opinion-shapers to expose the harsh reality and loss of governance and sovereignty all over the country. They started yesterday in the Negev.
The Sovereignty Movement, led by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, held the first tour in a series of “Sovereignty on the Way” tours (28.12.21) – a series of premium tours intended for public opinion leaders on the subject of sovereignty and governance throughout the Land.
The first tour was held in the Negev, led by the CEO of Regavim, Meir Deutsch. More than 30 people participated in the tour, from various sectors of activity in Israel: journalists, media people, policy designers, academicians, etc.
The goal of the tours is to become more familiar with matters of sovereignty and governance, to analyze the problems in depth and examine possible solutions and correct policies to restore Israeli governance in the Negev, the Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley.
The participants began the tour in Lehavim, where they met with journalist Akiva Bigman, a resident of Retamin, who has been investigating the complexities of life in the Negev for years, with an emphasis on governance vis-à-vis the Bedouin population.
In his remarks, Bigman emphasized the lack of understanding and the sense of alienation that the Israeli public feels toward the Bedouin population, which leads, on the one hand, to the idea that the country should show them more understanding, but on the other hand, there is a sense of the urgent need for increased enforcement of Israeli law.
In his remarks, Bigman related to the difficulty that the Israeli public has in understanding the Bedouin mentality, which prefers life in a shack or a tent over life in an urban dwelling, despite the difficult conditions. This difficulty leads to the idea that if only the State of Israel knew how to overcome certain obstacles, the Bedouins would come into the cities, but this approach is not feasible. “When you understand that they prefer this life-style, living in shacks, you understand that it is something deeper and more complex, touching on tradition and a different kind of social arrangement”.
Bigman raised the matter of "Chak- al-Arab”, Bedouin law, which governs the Bedouin population and in effect, erases Israeli law and prevents its enforcement. “Their lives are conducted in a parallel system that is not understood or familiar to the authorities. Chak- al-Arab is what governs the territory of the Negev. The state’s law and order exist, but they live a different reality. While we divided the Negev into councils and districts of authority, they divide it differently – according to tribes and clans. This is the reason why some land remains empty - someone else claims ownership over it”.
“As a state, we don’t have much data about the Bedouin population, such as their true socio-economic status. The Central Bureau of Statistics examines recorded incomes and puts them at the bottom of the table, but according to expenses and income, they are in a much higher place because there is “black money”; some of it from crime, and it is impossible to know what is really happening there.”
Bigman also said that “In Rahat, there is highest number of violent acts and the lowest number of property crimes, because people do not call the police for property crimes - they report only when there are casualties. The police come only when there is shooting. No one cooperates with the police even when he is shot at and injured”.
The tour continued to the council of Lakiyya where the participants met with Head of Local Council, Ahmed al-Assad, who explained to the participants the problems that he, as head of the council, must confront and which methods could be used to solve them.
Al-Assad said, among other things, that “We have older residents that were 15-17 years old when the State of Israel was established. In those days, they had to live however they were, and then, suddenly, they came and told them “You have no rights”. They did not interfere with any part of the establishment of the state, but the state forgot about them and did not take care of them. There are people today who live in sub-standard conditions. They have no water, electricity or sewage”.
Al-Assad continued, saying: “The people of Lakia treat you in the hospitals in every area of the south, in the clinics and the HMOs, they work as attorneys. All they ask is to have a plot of land upon which to build a house legally.
The tour continued to a number of other sites in the Bedouin areas, where the participants were exposed to a number of failures, among which are Bedouin legislation in Bedouin courts, which actually determine the outcome, as well as the matter of land ownership claims that prevent the state from distributing the population of Bedouins in organized towns, because they are planned on lands claimed by clans and Bedouin families, and anyone who dares to enter the area with such a state permit will be shot.
Council Head of Omer, Pini Badash, concluded the tour, speaking about the harsh reality of the lack of governance vis-à-vis the phenomenon of “protection”, increasing Bedouin violence, firing all sorts of illegal weapons, the chaos on the roads, etc., phenomena that came to a climax during Operation Guardian of the Walls.
According to Badash, social networks are a key factor in encouraging the phenomenon, sweeping over the young people with ever more terrible and illegal and dangerous acts. On the other hand, he said, there is obvious neglect and authorities’ lack of enforcement and the judges who live in the south impose light sentences on criminals out of fear that they will be harmed. He says that eighty percent of the cases that are opened are closed within a week. Less than five percent are sent to prison for criminals.
He also noted the Palestinianization of the Bedouins in the south and said that “More than forty thousand have Palestinian mothers and they identify as Palestinians, they lead the largest gangs; Ismail Haniyeh’s nephews established “Tanzim Tel Sheva”, and with every military operation in Gaza, mourning tents are set up here because their relatives have been killed. Badash sees the solution as a vital combination of increased enforcement, deterrent punishment and effective policing.
The co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, the initiators of the series of tours, view this tour, the first of the series, as evidence of the severe and almost chaotic situation in the south. But according to them, the awakening public interest and concern about what is happening in the Negev may bring about a desirable change of direction and a restoration of the Zionist vision of settlement, security and sovereignty to its rightful place as well as its realization.