Khader Abu Al-Kian (R) and his son walk among the rubble of their family's home which was demolished by Israeli authorities in the village of Atir, one of the dozens of ramshackle Bedouin Arab communities in the Negev desert which are not recognized by the Israeli state, in southern Israel. – Reuters ATIR – Khader Abu Al-Kian's dusty village of Atir has never existed on any official map, and now it is disappearing before his eyes. For decades he and his fellow Arab Bedouins eked out a meagre existence in the Negev desert, largely under the Israeli government's radar. But soaring property costs and a housing crisis are driving a new appetite in Israel for land and development opportunities, and even the harsh Negev looks good. Israel has already invested around $5.6 billion to construct military bases in the Negev and will build 10 new communities there. The Bedouins will have to make way, a plan they say shows that Arabs are second-class citizens in Israel and is a betrayal given their past efforts to help build up the state. The bulldozers have already been through Atir, demolishing homes and orchards, but Abu Al-Kian, 70, refuses to leave. “For 41 years I worked on this land, in the fresh air, for the Ministry of Agriculture and the Jewish National Fund, planting trees and putting out forest fires,” he said, wearing a white scarf on his head cinched with a black cord. “I have citizenship, but they still destroyed my house. Now I have only the shirt on my back. It's like they're saying to me, ‘Just leave and go to hell',” he said, his voice shaking. The majority of Israel's 1.6 million Arab citizens dwell in cities and small towns in the north and center. But 200,000 Bedouins live in the southern desert, half in government-built townships and half in 42 ramshackle “unrecognized” villages without running water, electricity or sanitation. A draft law, which will likely come to a final vote after parliament returns from recess in October, expects to have to move some 40,000 Bedouins from many of the unrecognized villages into the seven townships, although some villages will stay. The “Prawer Plan” will compensate many Bedouin with a combination of land and cash and bring them into “the 21st century” by significantly improving their standard of living, according to a government-sponsored report on the draft. The Israeli position is that developing the region provides an opportunity to address the needs of a long neglected segment of the population. “We are determined to narrow the gap (between the Negev and the rest of the country),” spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mark Regev, told Reuters. “They are citizens of Israel and are entitled to all the opportunities associated with being citizens.” Wadi Na'am, an unrecognized village like Atir, lies down a sunblasted stony track a short drive from the heart of the Negev “wine route,” with leafy Jewish-owned ranches that are popular weekend destinations for wine and cheese tasting. Sitting in his small, concrete home, which a generator-powered fan labours in vain to cool, electrician and village council member Najib Abu Bneiyeh says Israeli policies are alienating the community. Unlike the Arabs of the cities and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, the Bedouin traditionally shied away from political activism and have volunteered in small numbers for Israel's army, gaining renown for using ancient tracking skills to guard Israel's frontiers. — Reuters
