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<font size=3><br>
</font><font face="verdana" size=3><b>March 19, 2004</b></font> <br>
<b><a href="#Article1">Uprooting Weeds--An Analysis</a> (Bustan) Devorah
Brous On Israeli Treatment of Bedouin, Unrecognized Villages </b>
<br><br>
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3><a name="Article1"></a>[The
following is an article by activist Deborah Brous published on the
listserve of the organization she heads, "Bustan." Brous'
carefully supported, sharply delineated analysis is a forceful reminder
that militarization and racism structure the views and acts of successive
Israeli administrations inside pre-'67 Israel, and are not exclusive to
Israeli conduct in the Occupied Territories. I see this realization as
vital to a clear understanding of events in Israel-Palestine, and of the
patterns of thought guiding actions and re-actions on the Israeli side.
Brous details part of, and generally outlines, the violent government
campaign to dispossess and forcefully eradicate the pastoral culture of
the Bedouin of the Negev while explaining the motivations and goals
underlying this extended effort. She also touches on the contribution of
this campaign to the ongoing manufacture of an "enemy"
necessary to maintaining a sense of threat and hence a militarized
society, and the very real dangers this process poses to democracy and
state. RM] <br>
<br>
<br><br>
Shalom Aleichem, Salaamu Aleikum<br>
*Spraying Toxic Chemicals on Bedouin Food Crops<br>
*Uprooting Weeds--An Analysis<br>
*****<br>
On Thursday, March 11th, 2004, Bedouin fields were sprayed with
Monsanto's toxic Roundup for the seventh time in 2 years as the Israel
Lands Authority sent a fleet of planes to 'redeem' land near Mitzpe
Ramon, in Abde and in Qatamat, unrecognized villages in the Southern
Negev. In such cases, the State has rendered Bedouin cultivation of
unused desert expanse, illegal. Twice in February, fruit trees (olives
and dates) were uprooted from Bedouin villages, each time some 50 trees.
Below please find an article analyzing this policy of uprooting, and
destroying food crops. [Please help spead the word: Looking for a
publisher. We have photographs.] Bustan is collecting any information on
crop-spraying operations around the world as a tactic to gain state
control over lands.<br>
*****<br>
Uprooting Weeds<br>
*Devorah Brous <br><br>
In spite of Israel's depleted economy, the price of bread has recently
been hiked up. In response, several NGO's are packing trucks with baskets
of bread to distribute among hungry families up north and in
neighborhoods throughout the country, as families can't afford to
purchase bread or flour. Meanwhile, down south in the Negev desert
Israeli authorities are destroying fields of wheat with toxic chemicals.
<br><br>
Zionism is the political process of creating and maintaining a Jewish
majority in the Holy Land. Through the Zionist campaigns of the Jewish
National Fund, Israel's successful settlement project to 'redeem a barren
wasteland' is known worldwide. The process of Judaizing Israel's
landscape is in response to the demographic threat of becoming an ethnic
minority. It involves expanding Jewish territorial control over the
maximum amount of land and breaking Arab territorial contiguity. Today,
Sharon's government is waging a covert war to settle the next frontier by
disrupting one of the country's most heavily concentrated Arab areas: the
Negev. <br><br>
This administrative war involves measures such as house demolitions and
fumigation of food crops in the Bedouin sector to cleanse land that's
been expropriated and reserve it for future Jewish use. While Sharon aims
to 'redeem' lands that are not barren--justifying all activities as vital
for the future of the Jewish State, such measures endanger the vitality
and future of the State, as well as its present. <br><br>
Bleak Background<br>
Most Negev Bedouin fled, or were dispossessed from their lands after the
1948 War. In the early days of statehood the remaining 11,000 Bedouin
were placed under military rule until 1966, and relocated to the already
populated Siyag [reservation][1] into villages that to this day are
unrecognized by the Israeli government. This maneuver enabled the
authorities to expropriate the lands inhabited by Bedouin throughout the
Negev. <br><br>
In the late 1960s, the officials began building the 7 Bedouin Planned
Townships to further sedentarize and contain the Bedouin. Provision of
basic amenities (water, health care, and electricity) was and still is
contingent upon Bedouin relinquishing their land claims. Just less than ½
the Bedouin population (65,000)[2] has agreed to these terms and moved
into Recognized Townships, which today have the lowest socio-economic
ranking in the country. The contiguity of Bedouin land tracts in the
reservation is split by some of the wealthiest Jewish suburbs. Hence, the
gap between Bedouin and their Jewish neighbors is no less than
staggering. <br><br>
Guilty Until Proven Innocent<br>
The land war between the ILA and the Bedouin farmers has now moved inside
the Siyag, in both recognized townships and unrecognized villages, in
attempt to further contain this population, and extricate more Negev
lands from Arab grasp. In many cases, the State has rendered Bedouin
cultivation of unused desert expanse illegal for Bedouin. Land cultivated
with food crops has been poisoned with toxic chemicals seven times over
the past 2 years. Warnings are not issued to Bedouin villagers allowing
them time to clear their children and animals from the vicinity before a
fleet of Israel Land Authority (ILA) planes begin their operation to
'redeem land. The ILA maintains the Bedouin are guilty of trespassing
State land. Their unannounced campaign was initiated in 2002, with toxic
spraying operations occurring at random intervals.<br><br>
ILA/ Green Patrol operations Date Amount of Cultivated Land
Destroyed[3]<br>
Food Crop<br>
1st February 2002 12,000 dunams[4] wheat, barley<br>
2nd March 2nd, 2003 1,000 dunams wheat, barley<br>
3rd April 2nd, 2003 5,000 dunams lentil, barley, wheat fields<br>
4th June 17th, 2003 1,500 dunams melons, wheat, corn<br>
5th Jan. 15th, 2004 4,000 dunams wheat, barley, olive saplings<br>
6th Feb.10th, 2004 3,500 dunams wheat<br>
7th March 11th, 2004 3,500 dunams wheat, barley <br><br>
For the Bedouin tribe of El Turi in the unrecognized village of Al
Araqeeb, some 1,400 dunams of wheat crops were fumigated during the sixth
ILA operation that directly affects their crops. Outrage tears through Al
Araqeeb Village. Salah Abu Midi'an explains, "The spraying attack
was done without giving us any advance notice. With a force of some 150
police, border guards, and green patrol, the planes circled above our
fields at 10:30AM and turned green into yellow." <br><br>
Why is El Turi's land coveted by the state authorities? Two reasons.
First, it seems this land is too close to where the Jewish neighborhoods
near the new settlement 'Giv'ot Bar' will be built and expanded as part
of Sharon's Development Plan. For several years, the El Turi clan has
engaged in the process of substantiating their claims over the now
poisoned land. In an interview with representative Ahmad Abu Midi'an he
stated, "We respect the law. We just want the law to respect
us." Second, El Turi were moved off their lands at Araqeeb village
and into the municipal boundaries of Rahat Township. Due to the
impoverished conditions in the town, in 1995 they gave up and returned to
their lands. According to Dr. Isaac (Yanni) Nevo from the Negev
Coexistence Forum, "The conditions are reprehensible in the
Townships. There is simply no available opportunity for them to develop,
so they are beginning to leave. Perhaps the State is threatened by
Bedouin breaking out of the fence of containment, and evidencing it is
porous." <br><br>
The spokesperson for the ILA, Ortal Tsabar, stated the chemical used to
spray the agricultural fields is Monsanto's Roundup, a toxic defoliant
used to kill weeds. The ILA maintains this herbicide doesn't harm animals
or people; however small organic farmers, health professionals, and
activists world-wide maintain otherwise. The active chemical found in
RoundUp, glyphosate, has been identified as a cancer-causing agent, and a
known hormone-disruptor causing increased birth defects in humans. The
agro-chemical Monsanto Corporation, producer of Roundup, warns
ocnsumers: after spraying on windless days, people and animals are to
avoid the affected area for two weeks. To date, no Bedouin has been
warned to stay off their lands for two weeks following an operation. The
ILA finds it sufficient to bring police and an ambulance, and close the
area off during the operations. Tsabar discloses, "Its only fluid,
not a gas. We take all the necessary precautions."[5] The
indiscriminate wind drifts resulting from aerial application has carried
the defoliant much further than perhaps even the authorities had planned,
subsequently affecting people, fields and third parties in a significant
radius from a spraying site: "Even the mosquitoes and flies around
me died," said Abu Gharibiyya, a Bedouin from a village some 15km
from the spraying last April. Twelve people were subsequently rushed to a
medical clinic near Mitzpe Ramon after the third ILA operation.
<br><br>
The burden of proof rests on the Bedouin to evidence land title were
they've cultivated-otherwise, it is trespassed State land. This is no
small task. If Bedouin landholders are given the opportunity to defend
their land claims in court, this is an exceptionally rigorous, and
expensive process, and not likely to occur before the State has fumigated
crops. If land has not been adjudicated, why is the State using
irreversible measures to penalize without proving their case inside a
court of law? <br><br>
Weeds<br>
What are the implications of spraying cultivated fields with toxic
defoliant? When a news article about the ILA planes spraying Bedouin
fields with toxic chemicals is sandwiched into a dense page in the
newspaper; this policy appears an isolated event. For the scorekeepers
that watch ethnic conflict like a sports competition, spraying an
estimated 30,000 dunams of food crops at random intervals has no dramatic
death tolls; therefore, it has no chance of making headlines. One sprays
toxins in gardens to weed out unruly growth. It is becoming increasingly
indisputable that this is how the government relates to the Bedouin.
<br><br>
Zionists fear becoming a demographic minority in Israel, this is
predicted as early as 2010.[6] Israel is eager to limit the
population growth of the Bedouin (which is significantly greater than the
Jewish population).[7] The mechanisms Israeli planners and policy
makers use to address this fear are familiar both inside Israel and in
the Occupied Territories (OT): the aim is to control the maximum amount
of land for future Jewish use, and girdle Arabs in the minimum amount of
territory. The latter involves breaking up contiguous Arab land holdings
with a Jewish presence. It is this mindset that engineers rampant house
demolitions, crop destruction, land confiscation, and unequal allocation
of resources. It is this mindset that is often overlooked when striving
to understand the causal roots of the conflict. <br><br>
Crop spraying is merely one part of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Negev
Development Plan to counter the demographic threat in the Negev (where
25% of the population is non-Jewish). The Plan is a comprehensive
strategy to relocate some 76,000 Bedouin of the unrecognized villages
from their cultivated and inhabited Negev land and condense them into 5
government Planned Townships within a 5-year timeframe. The vacated land
will then be converted into new Jewish neighborhoods and dozens of new
heavily subsidized single-family farms[8] designed 'to prevent Bedouin
encroachment.' The Plan's $250 million budget will fund lawyers to defend
state land claims, to run ILA aerial patrols, and to fund police and
paramilitary unit operations of the notorious Green Patrol in the
destruction of Bedouin crops and homes. There is no viable
timeframe/budget for constructing new Bedouin neighborhoods. New Jewish
settlements continue to sprout. <br><br>
Sharon's Plan was formulated without any input by the Bedouin and is not
acceptable to their representatives. Although it is toted as a way to
adjudicate land disputes between Bedouin and the government, it seems
more like just another untimely settlement project. <br><br>
The Culture of Agriculture is Uprooted<br>
Due to strict land laws; discriminatory water allocation policies; and
fierce competition from subsidized ranchers, agri-businesses, and
large-scale monoculture farming of the kibbutzim, most Bedouin farmers
have been deprived of their productive capacity and moved off their
fields - into wage labor. Occasionally, Bedouin still plant fields for
sustenance, but their traditional agrarian society has largely been
displaced and pauperized. For some villagers, planting is a landholding
tactic aimed at resisting land seizure, an active form of protest wherein
groves serve as de facto title to the land. This is widely referred to in
Arabic as 'sumud' or cleaving to the land, a concept stemming from Torah
and often cited today among ultra-nationalist religious settlers. [Since
Ottoman times, planting an alienated field is a tactic used to protect
land by demonstrating continuous cultivation. All land left uncultivated
was traditionally subject to expropriation by government authorities.]
For others, planting is an attempt to reclaim some form of economic
independence. Once crops are poisoned, plants are killed and food
security for many Bedouin families is lost, whereby devastating their
already feeble local economy, endangering their health, and the health of
Israel's civil society. <br><br>
Manufacturing an Urban Proletariat<br>
"We should transform the Bedouin into an urban proletariat in
industry, services, construction and agriculture. 88% of the Israeli
population is not farmers, let the Bedouin be like them. Indeed, this
will be a radical move, which means that the Bedouin would not live on
his land with his herds, but would become an urban person who comes home
in the afternoon and puts his slippers on. The children would go to
school with their hair properly combed. This would be a revolution, but
it may be fixed within two generations. Without coercion but with
government direction... this phenomenon of the Bedouins will
disappear." --Moshe Dayan, Ha'aretz interview 31/7/63 <br><br>
While the Israeli government is intent on further containing the Bedouin
population to transform it into an 'urban proletariat' -- this is against
their will. Many shepherds and farmers object to being pushed into
cramped Townships--subjected to herding their livestock underneath their
apartment, and growing lentils from a window sill on the 3rd floor.
Beyond being morally reprehensible for supporters of Israel to justify
poisoning food crops or financing a program to dispossess Arab citizens
and supplant Jewish settlers and entrepreneurs in their place, such acts
are politically untenable--particularly during the heat of the current
Intifada, and economically prohibitive in a time of massive welfare cuts
and Israel's current budget crisis. This flagrantly discriminatory policy
making will have an irreversible impact: Israel will have uprooted a
culture and manufactured itself a new urban proletariat. <br><br>
Unfortunately, indigenous land confiscation by government or corporate
interests is a not a new phenomenon occurring to marginalized groups with
little or no access to basic resources. But it may be a new phenomenon
for Zionists who finance Israel's massive efforts to work the Holy Land
and 'make the barren desert bloom' in politically strategic areas that
are inhabited, and cultivated. <br><br>
It has been frequently stated that Israel has enough external problems
without making enemies of its own citizens. Policies of toxic aerial
spraying, house and mosque demolition, land confiscation, and unequal
distribution of resources to Israel's Arab citizens brings into question
of the integrity of Israel's democracy. This is not a democratic garden
in the dry desert of Middle East dictatorships, it is an ethnocratic
government uprooting the connection between non-Jews and 'our Holy Land,'
under the rubric of Zionism. Israel can now boast about learning from the
Americans how to weed out our gardens of indigenous growth. <br><br>
If the funds raised for the implementation of the Sharon Plan are
redirected into proactive government measures to provide urgently needed
health services and education--to counteract disease, poverty, drug
abuse, and alienation among Bedouin, a crash may be avoided. Then, the
Bedouin minority may eventually be recognized as full Israeli citizens
with equal rights--not just our exoticized 'nomads' that serve in the
IDF, a fifth column posing a threat to Israel's hegemony over State
Lands. <br><br>
To bolster democracy we should all be aware what the euphemism 'redeeming
barren land' involves in the OT and inside Israel--and not just the
hostile reaction such politicized policies generate. The impetus is on
the public to read between the lines of the short articles on the back
pages of the news, and wake-up before the alarm of an internal Intifada
instigates serious unrest in the Negev. <br><br>
<a href="mailto:devorah@bustan.org.il">devorah@bustan.org.il</a>
<a href="http://www.bustan.org.il/" eudora="autourl">http://www.bustan.org.il/</a>
<br><br>
<br>
*Devorah holds Masters degrees in Israel Studies and Conflict Resolution. An Israeli American, she is the founder and director of Bustan, an environmental justice NGO. She successfully spearheads planting and rebuilding campaigns, forging ties between Jews and Arabs to plant groves, and most recently to eco-build a solar powered medical clinic in Wadi el Na'am, unrecognized village #32, in the Negev. <br><br>
[1]The Siyag is some 2% of the northern Negev, located between Beer Sheva, Arad and Dimona. Most Recognized Townships and Unrecognized Villages are located inside this reservation.<br>
[2] Statistic extracted from the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages (RCUV), 2003. <a href="http://ga3.org/ct/KpaFtK51KBhY/">http://www.arabhra.org/rcuv</a>.<br>
[3] Adalah and Bustan estimate 30,000 dunams in total. Interview with Salem Abu Midian. All village and farmer names are available upon request.<br>
[4] Four dunams are equivalent to one acre.<br>
[5] The legality of such operations will be examined in Israel's High Court in the coming months as a coalition of organizations represented by Adalah is prosecuting the ILA.<br>
[6] Professor Sergio Della Pergola, an Israeli demographer as referenced in Jerusalem Report, 10/20/03, p.5. However, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, as of September 2003, Jews account for nearly 77% of the population of Israel.<br>
[7] The Bedouin death rate is also significantly higher than among Jewish citizens.<br>
[8] One of PM Ariel Sharon's more provocative land holdings is such a farm, the 5,000 dunam large Sycamore Farm in the Negev. <br><br>
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