Israel - Bedouin Villages - Unrecognised

INCOMPLETE NOTES SOURCE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrecognized_Bedouin_villages_in_Israel Bedouin = Arab Bedouin (Arab) = abt 2% of the Israeli pop. = BUT:  unrecognised Bedouin communities = spread on a vast territory / occupy over 10% of Israel Unrecognised Bedouin Villages = built without official permission ineligible for municipal services (eg electrical grid, water mains or garbage collection) cannot elect govt representatives = scattered all over Northern Negev = often adjacent to military fire zones, natural reserves, landfills, etc 1800s, Ottoman Empire Negev = inhabited mostly by semi-nomadic Bedouin tribes 1858 Turks enacted a law: all landowners names must be officially documented = most land in Negev classified as muwat (dead land, wasteland unsuitable for cultivation) = Bedouin did not create a written record of their connection to the land = possibly opposed b/c then subject to Ottoman empire, taxes & military service 1896 = Negev Bedouin lived in almost complete freedom = Turks only marked tribal boundaries | Did not grant "ownership" of tribal territorial lands BRITISH MANDATE British govt = adopted Ottoman land laws = added the mawat land to Land Ordinance to prevent squatting / takeover 1921 British order registration of land by residents Any Bedouin who cultivated & improved mawat land would confirmation of ownership Bedouin never registered NOTE - Sale of Land Recognition by Bedouin (recorded land registry (Tabu)) Bedouin argue: "Turks & British recognized the rights of ownership of land in which they roamed, and this recognition was expressed when the Bedouin sold land to the Zionist movement during the British Mandate, and the sales were recognized and recorded in the land registry (Tabu)." Dr. Yosef Ben-David argues: Turks & British transferred land without intending to recognise rights of ownership: "without the authorities taking into consideration any legal rights the Bedouin had to the land recognized by either government" Other refusal argument: "Jews who dealt with redemption of lands" ie. Jews who bought land in Palestine gave ex gratia [voluntary] funds to the Bedouin for purposes of: rapid registration of Israel lands in the land registry not as legal recognition of ownership of the Bedouin BEDOUIN LAND SALES 1930s to 1948 (est. Israel) 765,000 dunams of land abt 180,000 dunams, sold to JNF representatives abt 45,000 dunams, sold to private Jews abt 545,000 dunams, sold to Arab peasants from the Gaza Strip (mainly) 1948 Arab–Israeli War aftermath: = Negev region becomes territory of newly created Israel Census before & after 1948 Arab-Israeli War = 80% of the Bedouin population left the Negev to areasunder Arab rule Attitudes = ambivalent *considered loyal to new state *some volunteered to serve in IDF *Negev seen as 'hinterland' Policy eventually = Siyagh (Arabic for "the permitted area") = requiring Bedouin to concentrate in an area of 1,100km sq. Post Arab-Israeli 1948 War = all Bedouin remaining under Israeli rule granted Israeli citizenship *But Siyagh region was placed under martial law until 1966 REJECTION OF BEDOUIN CLAIMS Israel relies on the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 / mawat { THUS STATE } 1934 British Mandatory Maps = Bedouin tribe locations shown, but tribe boundaries not marked 1946 British Census = 127,000 in whole of Palestine = 92,000 in Beersheba district 1947 report of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine = est 90,000 Bedouin in Beersheba district Black Goat Law of 1950 prohibiting grazing of goats outside recognized land holding grazing was thereby rendered illegal = the only preceding law frame in the region BEDOUIN SETTLEMENTS Negev Bedouin = only group of Arab citizens of Israel with remaining large-scale hold on land = state officially denies recognition in principle, while recognizing in practice *Illegal Bedouin expansion continues rapidly in all directions occupies spaces that Israel did not know before Be'er Sheva north and east to Be'er Sheva started to settle west of Be'er Sheva {close to Mount Hebron} Dimona | Judean Desert communities spread south to Dimona and towards the Judean Desert Retamim | Revivim large spaces near Retamim and Revivim gettng close to the Gaza Strip Negev 2007 60% in x7 permanent state-planned townships / balance, illegal Central Negev central Negev near Mitzpe Ramon close to the central area Galilee 2011 NORTH - Galilee most formerly illegal villages = regulated & recognized = population of 90,000 Bedouin in the NORTH = few hundred still live in unrecognised villages SOUTH - Galilee = 90,000 residents / unrecognised Bedouin villages = 45% of total Bedouin population Rehovot | Rishon LeZion 2010 66 illegal Bedouin settlements --- 2004 = Approx half of 170,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel (ie 85,000) - reside in 39 villages 2008 = 50,000 illegal buildings in the Negev *abt 1,500 to 2,000 more built every year 2010 = 2,100 separate concentrations in Negev *abt 3–400 constructions each 2011 = Approx 1000 illegal Bedouin concentrations over 64,000 homes *abt 2200-2000 new buildings adding every year 2013 Approx 92 unrecognised villages x59 = Negev rural Bedouin communities not legally recognised / illegal unknown numbers of villages (b/c diff. bodies use diff. definitions re 'village') increase in recognition last decade slow recognition process {some communities} Negev Bedouin claim area 12 times bigger than that of Tel Aviv [Israel Land Administration] --- RECOGNISED TOWNSHIPS (formerly illegal) 1994-2007 = 21 recognised INCOMPLETE NOTES SOURCE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrecognized_Bedouin_villages_in_Israel ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- ꕤ