Expulsion and return: the Via Dolorosa of the Gdērāt al-Ṣāneʿ tribal group as reflected in two poems by a Negev Bedouin poet

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the poetic expressions of a traumatic event experienced by poet Ibrāhīm Abū Ṣyām of the Gdērāt al-Ṣāneʿ tribal group, which was expelled in 1952 from al-Lgiyyeh in the northern Negev to the southern West Bank. Forty days later the tribe was returned to Israel, but not to the area from which it had been expelled. Instead, it was resettled in the eastern Negev. The article presents two poems that tell of this expulsion and return, examining them in their diverse contexts and interpreting their subtle symbolism by drawing on the history and culture of the Negev Bedouin.