Negev Bedouin Research Articles

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

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.

The Capabilities Divide: ICT Adoption and Use among Bedouin in Israel

ABSTRACT The Bedouin community, a subpopulation of the Arab minority in Israel, has been subject to systematic discrimination throughout the state’s history, including in accessibility to digital services. Based on 25 semi-structured, in-depth interviews with Bedouin men and women residing in unrecognised villages – townlets that are not legally designated as municipal entities by the state and therefore lack basic infrastructure – this study asks whether and how the capabilities approach can be used to assess and examine ICT usage among the Bedouin as a marginalised community with distinct needs. The analysis illuminates the tensions and contradictions that characterise their digital experiences and shows that the capabilities approach is particularly apposite for understanding digital exclusion while compensating for the shortcoming of the digital divide framework. The findings uncover the ubiquitous presence of mobile smartphones among Bedouin users as the central enabler of their desired capabilities while pointing out the vital place religion plays in the community members’ decision-making regarding the use of ICTs for the realisation of their desired capabilities.

Role of Grassroots Public Health Leadership in Bedouin Society in Israel in Reducing Health Disparities.

Negev Bedouin settlements suffer from poor infrastructure, and the population's health status is low across all indicators. While it is difficult for Bedouin citizens of Israel to integrate into the Israeli employment market, integrating this population into the health system is far-reaching. The aim of this study is to analyze the barriers and motivational factors experienced by Bedouin doctors to promote public health in the Bedouin community in southern Israel and to examine the perceptions these doctors have around the concept of leadership in a public health setting. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Bedouin doctors from the Negev Bedouin community and analyzed them using thematic analysis. Most interviewees saw themselves as leaders whose role was to improve public health in their community. They stressed the need for health leadership in Negev Bedouin society, and their desire to lead change in the community from within. All interviewees had grown used to a different way of life and a higher standard of living, and as a result, had difficulty returning home. Interviewees presented that trust in the health system is a critical factor for the success of health promotion programs. However, they noted the evolving trends of general mistrust in the government and its institutions that form the infrastructure for mistrust in the health system. Lack of time and workload were barriers to exercising leadership. Interviewees reported their perception of how socioeconomic status, the standard of living, and lack of infrastructure, education, and training affect health outcomes and collaboration potential. This study presents a unique perspective on the views of doctors from the Negev Bedouin population on their involvement with grassroots leadership as a strategy to reduce health disparities in this community.

The significance of Lakiya Negev Bedouin heritage weave – a way of knowing Israel's cultural costume

PurposeThis study aims to analyze how conventional Bedouin weaving techniques have changed through the history of Israel, offering knowledge on the craft’s cultural relevance and historical development among the Bedouin people and how their weaving and embroidery differ based on the three main geographic characteristics. It tries to comprehend the causes of the transition from organic to synthetic materials and the part played by the Lakiya Negev Bedouin Weaving women’s cooperative in maintaining this legacy.Design/methodology/approachThe main goal of this study is to trace the emergence of Bedouin weaving traditions in the Negev Desert using a qualitative research methodology that combines historical analysis and ethnographic investigation. A thorough grasp of the subject’s significance is provided through the data gathering, which consists of interviews, archival research and field observations.FindingsThrough the years, Bedouin weaving techniques have significantly shifted away from using traditional organic materials in favor of synthetic replacements, according to the research. It emphasizes the crucial part played by the Lakiya Negev Bedouin Weaving women’s organization in safeguarding this traditional legacy and giving Bedouin women access to economic prospects.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of the study includes its emphasis on the Negev region and the Israeli Bedouin community, which may not accurately reflect all Bedouin weaving techniques. Greater regional settings may be explored in future studies.Practical implicationsThe investigation emphasizes the value of investing in initiatives for cultural preservation and the empowerment of underprivileged groups through economic possibilities.Social implicationsBy preserving ancient weaving techniques, this research enables Bedouin women in the Negev Desert to maintain their cultural identity and socioeconomic well-being.Originality/valueBy emphasizing the socio-cultural dimensions and the organization’s role in preserving traditional craftsmanship in a changing socio-economic environment, this research presents a unique investigation of the evolution of Bedouin weaving techniques in Israel.

BEDOUIN POETRY AS AN ART OF MEMORY. THE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE PRESENT AND THE PAST IN THE POLITICAL POETRY OF THE NEGEV BEDOUIN

Bedouin poetry has yet to be explored in the context of memory studies, let alone the poetry of the Negev Bedouin. This article, based on a corpus of hundreds of poems documented between the mid-1940s and late-1980s, reviews excerpts from ten political verses composed by Negev Bedouin poets. These verses attest to the power of Bedouin poetry to evoke – at times in just a word or two – a wide range of meanings, a historical depth that may be submersed in a few expressions, and the ways in which these expressions activate memories of the past to communicate something of significance about the present. This article was published open access under a CC BY-NC 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

Mental health literacy as a barrier and facilitator for service use: Qualitative inquiry among Palestinian Bedouins in Israel.

Mental health literacy (MHL) has been related to health behaviors and outcomes. However, studies examining MHL as a barrier and facilitator to service use are limited, especially among minority groups. This study examined MHL as a barrier and facilitator to mental health service use among the Palestinian Bedouin minority in Israel. Twenty-five Bedouins (15 women) from southern Israel participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The participants were recruited by publishing an ad on social media about the study, then through a snowball technique. The data were analyzed thematically using ATLAS.ti.9, and the intercoder reliability was 92%. We identified four major themes in the interviews: (1) MHL as a barrier to service use, due to lack of knowledge about professionals in the field, mental health services, or reasons and risk factors for mental health problems; (2) traditional attitudes that acted as barriers to service use, including a preference for informal treatment, a lack of faith in mental health treatment, aversion to discussing private feelings, and the perception that mental health is a luxury; (3) MHL as a facilitator to service use by enabling accurate identification of mental distress and suggesting practical avenues for seeking help; and (4) ways to improve MHL that should be culturally sensitive and under the government agencies' responsibility. Interventions aimed at increasing the use of mental health services among Bedouins and reducing racial/ethnic disparities should increase knowledge in culturally adapted ways, especially regarding professionals and services, and change negative attitudes such as mental health treatment as ineffective or bonus.

“The modesty guard” reflected in online comments in mainstream news sites

PurposeAt times, a traditional minority group that opposes a change in the patriarchal structure is violent toward women who wish to adopt modern lifestyles. This study aims to examine online comments regarding a shooting at a café in an Arab-Bedouin city in Israel, where women were employed as servers. The event was framed in Israeli media as an act of backlash by young men, who call themselves “The Modesty Guard.”Design/methodology/approachIn this qualitative study, the authors collected 916 online comments that were published on five main online news sites. A thematic and rhetorical analysis of online comments was conducted.FindingsThe findings uncovered five main themes: the expression of support for Bedouin women; ideas for dealing with the Modesty Guard; blaming Bedouin tradition for the shooting; comparison of the violent behavior to a parallel phenomenon among Charedim; and criticism of the lack of treatment by Israeli security forces. The responses reflected a supportive stance toward Arab-Bedouin women, who were open to progress. Conflict discourse, however, expressed alienation and increased social-national schism between the Jewish majority and Arab-Bedouin minority groups in Israel.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the backlash phenomenon in Negev Bedouin society. Moreover, it exposes the lack of significant supportive actions and a lack of understanding of the deep processes unfolding in this traditional society.

Bedouin mothers' sense of authentic inner compass as a parenting resource: Relations with autonomy-supportive parenting and adolescents' well-being.

Sense of authentic inner compass (AIC) is the feeling that one knows what is important to oneself because one has values, aspirations, and goals with which one deeply identifies. Past research demonstrated the benefits of AIC, but there is no published research on parental dispositions promoting youth AIC. To increase knowledge of this issue, we examined whether mothers' sense of AIC is associated with a corresponding sense of AIC in their children, and explored autonomy-supportive child-rearing practices that may serve as pathways linking mothers' AIC with adolescents' AIC and subsequent well-being. We examined a Bedouin Israeli sample because it represents a fairly patriarchal, autonomy-eschewing, context, where the benefits of mothers' authenticity and autonomy-support are not obvious. One hundred and thirty-six mothers (Mean age = 44.33, SD = 5.22) and their children (Mean age = 13.79, SD = 0.45; 60% females) participated in a study conducted in June 2019. SEM analyses supported a model where mothers' sense of firm AIC was linked with adolescents' sense of firm AIC via adolescents' experience of their mothers as using the practices of inherent value demonstration and fostering inner valuing. Adolescent reported AIC in turn was associated with adolescents reported vitality and low levels of depressive symptoms. Mothers' AIC was associated with minimal use of conditional regard, which was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Results suggest that mothers' AIC may be an important parenting resource, enabling mothers to convincingly demonstrate their values, as well as foster children's attunement to their authentic preferences, even in patriarchal-hierarchical contexts.

Healthcare providers’ insights on enhancing health literacy and access for Arab Bedouin in Israel

Abstract Background The Arab Bedouin minority is considered as one of the most vulnerable populations in Israel due to socio-cultural factors that affect their healthcare utilization patterns. This study investigates continuity of care and health literacy within the Bedouin community, aiming to identify gaps and barriers to healthcare services (HS) utilization for Bedouins, as perceived by healthcare providers serving this community. Methods A qualitative study was conducted June 2019 and January 2022, involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with 32 healthcare providers from community health centers/clinics in Bedouin villages and towns in Southern Israel, as well as Soroka Medical Center. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data, and trustworthiness was ensured through audit, reflexivity, and peer debriefing. Results Healthcare providers identified factors that hinder HS utilization and the absence of various healthcare options for Bedouin patients. Interviews revealed discontinuity in treatment due to insufficient health literacy and unaffordability of medications. Additionally, many Bedouins choose to forgo or delay their visits to the community health services and visit the Emergency Department directly, because of physical, cultural, and gender barriers. Elderly Bedouins are a particularly vulnerable subgroup, susceptible to complications from chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Conclusions This study highlights the necessity of targeted interventions to improve healthcare access for Bedouin minority population, particularly tailoring HS to elderly subgroups. Potential interventions comprise health education programs designed to enhance health literacy, address medication affordability, and confront cultural and gender barriers obstructing access to primary care services. These findings hold implications for public health policies and initiatives addressing healthcare disparities among minority groups worldwide. Key messages • Health literacy is a key barrier for the Bedouin minority in Israel, with global implications for addressing healthcare disparities in minority groups. • Targeted interventions, like health education programs, are needed to improve healthcare access for Bedouin minority, especially the elderly subgroup.

Hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia syndrome caused by biallelic SLC25A36 mutation.

Hyperinsulinism/hyperammonemia (HI/HA) syndrome has been known to be caused by dominant gain-of-function mutations in GLUD1, encoding the mitochondrial enzyme glutamate dehydrogenase. Pathogenic GLUD1 mutations enhance enzymatic activity by reducing its sensitivity to allosteric inhibition by GTP. Two recent independent studies showed that a similar HI/HA phenotype can be caused by biallelic mutations in SLC25A36, encoding pyrimidine nucleotide carrier 2 (PNC2), a mitochondrial nucleotide carrier that transports pyrimidine and guanine nucleotides across the inner mitochondrial membrane: one study reported a single case caused by a homozygous truncating mutation in SLC25A36 resulting in lack of expression of SLC25A36 in patients' fibroblasts. A second study described two siblings with a splice site mutation in SLC25A36, causing reduction of mitochondrial GTP content, putatively leading to hyperactivation of glutamate dehydrogenase. In an independent study, through combined linkage analysis and exome sequencing, we demonstrate in four individuals of two Bedouin Israeli related families the same disease-causing SLC25A36 (NM_018155.3) c.284 + 3A > T homozygous splice-site mutation found in the two siblings. We demonstrate that the mutation, while causing skipping of exon 3, does not abrogate expression of mRNA and protein of the mutant SLC25A36 in patients' blood and fibroblasts. Affected individuals had hyperinsulinism, hyperammonemia, borderline low birth weight, tonic-clonic seizures commencing around 6months of age, yet normal intellect and no significant other morbidities. Chronic constipation, hypothyroidism, and developmental delay previously described in a single patient were not found. We thus verify that biallelic SLC25A36 mutations indeed cause HI/HA syndrome and clearly delineate the disease phenotype.

Fertility Decline in Bedouin Society in the Negev, Israel, in the Early 21st Century

Abstract: At the end of the 20th century, the recorded total fertility of the Bedouin in Israel was over 10 children per woman, one of the highest levels ever recorded in human history. In the first decade of the present century, fertility declined by almost 50% and has since stabilized. This article examines how fertility decline is related to other social changes: the rise in living standards, in education and paid work, especially for women; the move to urban dwelling, beside the continuation of life in the unrecognized villages; the permeation of new aspirations and lifestyles, but also the reality of living on the margins of Israeli society and the ongoing confrontations with the institutions of the Jewish State. The analysis is based on a representative sample of 491 married women aged 18 to 52 from the towns and unrecognized villages in the Negev, drawn from a socio-economic survey of the Arab population in Israel conducted by the Galilee Society in 2007. Controlling for age, the main effects on fertility were of post-secondary education, a non-traditional lifestyle, and confrontations with the State (negative) and standards of living (positive). These effects have brought about a change in the age at marriage and at first birth, which are he proximate, but not the only, determinants of the number of children born.

When is an academic degree the best vocational education? Bedouin professionals reflect on their life choices

ABSTRACT We test Foster’s enduring assertion that “the best vocational education is an academic degree” by examining a case study of Israeli Bedouin women and men, young professionals who shared with us their personal stories of their parents taking them out of their local separate but equal schools and moving them to the majority schooling system. The narratives we collected enabled us to follow the education journey of Bedouin children whose achievements are attributable not to institutional initiatives but to grassroot alternatives where parents and their children secured their own vocational future. We outline the professional journey of 16 men and women who moved to a Kibbutz school, mastered the majority language, matriculated, and confidently acquired academic degrees. Their narratives attest to professionalization and self-fulfillment but also awareness of the context of their upbringing and the daily pressures to sustain their social equilibrium. These young professionals fashioned themselves in the interstices between identities, developing both a hunger to participate in the global marketplace and loyalty to the local. Ending up holding jobs that contributed to their own society, and refusing to perform stereotypically minoritized vocational identities, they achieved the kinds of lives they have reason to value. Compelled to honor their journeys, we conclude that our case study corroborates Foster’s finding that the best vocational education is an academic degree, as reflected in professional achievement and enhanced opportunities for social mobility.

"I wanted to be a bride, not a wife": Accounts of child marriage in the Bedouin community in Israel.

This article presents a qualitative study of the experience of child marriage among Bedouin in Israel. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a convenience sample of 17 young Bedouin women, aged 17-21, who were married between the ages of 12-17. The interviewees' descriptions indicate that child marriage is a powerful cultural practice that has evolved into a "natural" and "obvious" tool for supervising girls and women. All the interviewees reported domestic violence, despair, and reported suicide attempts as a response to their existential suffering in their marriage and as an act of daily resistance to a powerful and oppressive cultural practice. These findings raise challenges in the case of global mental health interventions since these interventions not only require cultural sensitivity to avoid the constraint of Western psychiatric diagnoses and classifications, but also more critical thinking about the interactions between global and local, universalist and culturalist perspectives.

Negev Bedouin daḥīyah Songs: Celebrating Brotherhood Above War and Love

Negev Bedouin daḥīyah Songs: Celebrating Brotherhood Above War and Love

Bedouin society in northern Israel, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria and its social, cultural and leadership systems

This paper aims to identify the nature of the life of the Bedouin community in northern Israel and some of their customs and social behaviors, the Bedouin leadership systems, and the professions they undertake to secure their living requirements, most notably herding and agriculture. The Arab Bedouin of Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been subject to a series of human rights violations, including forced displacement, since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. They have been classified as a ‘security threat’ and branded as ‘squatters’ on state lands. Successive Israeli governments have sought to expropriate their land and concentrate them into townships. The Israeli authorities refuse to recognize them as an indigenous group and thereby withhold from them the full range of rights provided to indigenous people under international laws. Though forced displacements are not necessarily illegal, they are if they are arbitrary or discriminatory. Bedouin in Israel’s Negev desert live in some of the poorest conditions in Israel, deprived of basic rights, including the right to water, shelter and education. They live with the constant threat of eviction and home demolitions, under enormously stressful conditions that have a serious effect on their health and well-being.

Settler colonial regulation of bigamous marriage across the Israeli/Palestinian border

ABSTRACT This article examines how settler colonial states selectively enforce the law to pursue the goals of land acquisition and demographic control, focusing on Israel’s response to cross-border polygamy as practiced by Bedouins in Israel. Based on archival research and extensive textual analysis of policy debates within the Israeli authorities during the 1980s, it uncovers the selective enforcement of bigamy laws in cases involving Palestinian women, also exploring how the state manipulates ‘security’ and ‘demographic’ concerns. These manipulations are a manifestation of state power, which is applied similarly to all Palestinians across the Israeli/Palestinian border.

The birth of a poetry of political criticism: the transformation that took place in the political verses of the Negev Bedouin at the close of the Ottoman period

ABSTRACT The poetic heritage of the Negev Bedouin is rich and varied. Particularly captivating are their political verses, which are as old as the nomads themselves. The collection of poems recorded by Sasson Bar-Zvi, former officer of the military government, includes many political verses composed in the 20th century through which runs an unmistakable strand of protest and rebuke. This article seeks to examine the moment when a note of criticism first made an appearance in the political poetry of the Negev Bedouin. We will try to characterize the period in which this note appeared and the historical processes that led to its emergence. We will focus on the growing involvement of the Ottomans in the second half of the 19th century in the internal struggles of the Bedouin, an involvement that eventually led to the founding of a city at the border between the three major Bedouin confederations inhabiting the Negev at that time. At the centre of this study lies the poem that we identify—for now at least—as the first poem of criticism; we will analyse it and the information we have about it, then formulate hypotheses regarding the date, motivations, and circumstances of its composition.

Methodological aspects of differentiation of hyperostosis frontalis interna based on computed tomography of the skulls

Hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI) is a pathological condition characterized by bilateral thickening of the in-ner surface of the frontal bone. HFI is often an incidental finding during routine clinical examinations of patients by computed tomography. The etiology of the condition is currently unknown, but HFI commonly appears with a number of metabolic disorders and hormonal dysfunctions. According to studies, hyperostosis frontalis interna is more common in women than in men. Frequency of HFI is increasing in the modern population. In this study, 195 CT scans of mature individuals of various sex and ages were analyzed using the Amira 2020.1 software: 145 CT scans of skulls from from the collections of the Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Moscow State University and 50 CT scans of Israeli Bedouins from the Institute's exchange collection (with the University of Tel-Aviv, Israel). Nine cases of hyperostosis frontalis interna (5 in males and 4 in females) were found among the analyzed scans. A three-step algorithm for identifying HFI was generated, as well as criteria for distinguishing hyperostosis frontalis interna from other endocranial bony overgrowths. The integrity of the skull, the condition of the frontal bone and other skull bones should be evaluated to exclude diffuse pathological changes which are morphologically close to HFI. Also a researcher should pay attention to the localization of the growths, their boundaries and prevalence. The condition of the diploe and endocranial plate of the frontal bone should be evaluated and compared it with other layers in other bones of the skull on 2D slices. Evaluation of the relief of the internal surface of the frontal bone should be performed on 2D slices in different sections. The patho-logy should be distinguished using data of localization, prevalence, involvement of other bone structures of the skull, as well as the condition of the diploe and inner surface of the frontal bone. The method can be useful for a comparative study using morphological and radiological criteria, which will help to exclude doubtful cases during analyzing pathology on paleoanthropological material.

‘Our forest-our home’: leisure and tourism among the Bedouin minority in southern Israel

ABSTRACT This article examines leisure and in-country tourism patterns of a Bedouin minority population in a semi-arid desert in southern Israel. This study is the first of its kind to focus on an Israeli minority’s outdoor recreational activities in forests using extensive quantitative and qualitative methods conducted among the Negev Bedouins in 2019–2020. The findings indicate that alongside the community’s integration into the Jewish majority, manifestations of self-segregation and alienation were also present. The study demonstrates the forest’s unique role as an ‘enabling space’, neutral and free from internal cultural, traditional, and social constraints. New internal processes and trends were observed in the minority society, which had not yet been revealed. These include the empowerment of marginalised groups and the formation of a gap between Bedouins who settled in cities and those living in rural areas. Moreover, the study points to the trend of adaptation of the Bedouin society to the majority society’s leisure patterns, along with physical closeness between the majority and the minority during recreation. The research contributes to the broader study of leisure activities by identifying and analysing trends and social processes among a particular ethnic minority group.

Coping strategies and depression among Bedouin mothers raising an adolescent with a developmental disability.

Many studies have examined the coping strategies and depression of mothers of children with disabilities, but most have involved Western families and only a few refer to unique and traditional cultures. The main goal of the current study was to assess depression among Bedouin Israeli mothers raising children with developmental disability (DD) and how it is linked to their coping strategies. The study included a sample of 95 Bedouin mothers of adolescents with and without DD in Israel. Self-report measures of CES-D and Brief Cope were used to measure depression and coping strategies. Findings revealed an alarmingly high prevalence of severe depression among Bedouin mothers, especially among those raising a child with DD. Mothers raising a child with a developmental disability tended to use avoidant coping more often, while the use of active coping strategies did not differ between the two groups. Adaptivity of planning and behavioral disengagement was found to be context dependent. Findings underscore the vulnerability of Bedouin mothers living in Israel, and particularly Bedouin mothers raising a child with a DD which are a double jeopardy group.