The Desert Fathers
During the last few weeks, I had the opportunity to spend some time with the Bedouin’s living in the land of Israel. Israel’s Bedouin citizens – a minority within the Arab minority are a fascinating group of nomadic Arab’s that live in tents and other basic housing all throughout Israel and the Middle East. My experience with the Bedouin people was up close and personal and I was treated with gracious hospitality. The Bedouin’s face many challenges in their daily lives. Today they are faced with transitioning from the nomadic lifestyle and traditions they have always known to a more settled existence called urbanization. With urbanization comes increased poverty and crime. Bedouin’s do enjoy a couple of conditions inside of Israel that are not available to other Bedouin’s outside of Israel; namely welfare from the Israeli and global governments and land ownership. The Bedouin population in Israel numbers around 170,000 people, with the majority in the southern deserts of Israel and the remaining in Northern Israel. The Bedouin’s presently engage in two land offenses in Israel which are illegal building and illegal grazing in protected areas. The Bedouins are by and large herders and livestock owners. One can see stark differences between the Bedouin in the Northern and Southern regions. The Northern Bedouin’s are extremely loyal to the state of Israel while the Southern Bedouin’s are ambivalent in their attitude towards the state. A few weeks before I arrived in the southern region close to the Arava Desert a Bedouin took a live missile which had failed to detonate from one of the Israeli shooting ranges with the hopes of selling it to the Palestinians. During transport the missile exploded in the bed of his truck killing him. I learned from the particular group of Bedouin’s he came from that the motivation to do this was based more on the need to make money that any strong feelings he had for or against the Israeli government.
Today the Bedouin people are being asked to change from the nomadic lifestyle they have always known and the culture and way of life that goes with it to a more permanent existence in or around cities. With it, they leave behind the freedom of movement for a way of life which brings much uncertainty. It seems times as well as sand shifts.
