Peacebuilding and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS) Field Study Trip in the Negev
Ramat Hovav/ Wadi el Naam Case Study on Environmental Justice
One of my fellow classmates had just taught me how to crochet only using my fingers and I pulled out the hat I was working on after I got settled in front of the fire. One of the Bedouin women sat down next to me to find out what I was doing. She was Najib's younger sister Hanan and we started to talk about where she lives, her children and why her Hebrew is so good even though she never went to school (her younger sisters do though). I was happy that I had learned how to crochet that day because this was the way to start the connection with Hanan. Najib's mother then told us the story of how she met and married her husband. She showed us the wedding dress she made herself, black silk with beautiful red embroidery, over 40 years ago. She told us to try it on and a few of us did. It was another incredible connection.
This field trip was a great opportunity to really meet and connect with members of a part of Israeli society in which most people don't get to know. Overall, it was a good learning experience, but the people connection is what really made it special and unique.
Miriam Simon is a student in the Fall 2004 Semester at AIES. Miriam Simon received her BA in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton and her MA in history and cultural anthropology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has worked for many years in promoting recycling in Jerusalem. She also enjoys photography, traveling (having been to 36 countries and counting), writing, and sometimes goes river rafting and skydiving.
It’s Thursday, November 25, 2004 and I’m on a bus full of students from around the world in a country everyone thought I was crazy to come to. I’m in Israel and I just spent two days on a fieldtrip to Wadi El Na’am, an unrecognized Bedouin Village in the Negev desert. This was the first time I came face to face with poverty and injustice on a large scale.
I had heard about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) before. A friend of mine from back home in Toronto had spent a semester there. Knowing my background and interest in the environment, she told me to check it out. AIES is a regional center for environmental leadership located near the Jordanian and Egyptian borders. Its main goal is to foster peace through environmental cooperation in the Middle East. After meeting with the Director of Research I accepted an internship position in Public Relations and Development. A week later I moved onto the AIES campus and was able to participate in all aspects of student life, including fieldtrips.
We were told that there are 45 unrecognized Bedouin Villages in Israel like Wadi El Na’am that lack the most rudimentary services such as health care, electricity, sewage systems, and adequate access to water. To make matters worse, Wadi El Na’am is located next to a toxic waste incinerator. While, the Israeli Defense Force has prohibited stationing soldiers near these facilities, nothing is being done to protect Wadi El Na’am from its harmful health impacts. Further, the government refuses to grant them building permits, causing the community to live in constant fear of demolition. This is part of the plan to urbanize the Bedouins and force them to move into concentrated towns that have largely turned into slums and that fail to meet their basic needs and traditional lifestyles.
Many people who travel to Israel visit a Bedouin tent. However, they are shown a “Bedouin Landâ€, a contrived tourist trap that presents a romanticized version of their society. Tourists are never made aware of their struggle for survival and recognition. Wadi El Na’am painted a more accurate picture of Bedouin life that few are exposed to. We slept in their homes made largely of corrugated tin plates and zinc roofs and used their facilities. It didn’t take long to understand the inadequacies they face.
Israel is a nation like no other. Zionists struggled for many years in a hostile environment for a Jewish homeland, a safe haven from persecution, which culminated with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. To overcome the problems that plague the Bedouin communities, Israel needs to move beyond the fear that fueled the Zionism of 50 years ago. A Jewish homeland has been secured. This goal was accomplished. The aim of Zionism today must shift toward securing a stable and democratic society that provides a fair distribution of land and resources to all Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike.
Overwhelmed by what I saw, it became clear that finding a just solution to this crisis would be an enormous and lengthy challenge. Rabbi Michael, who accompanied us on this field trip, left us with a sense of hope by telling us a story of a traveler and his Bedouin guide.
A traveler and his Bedouin guide started their hike in the mountains of Jordan. They climbed the first hill and the traveler asked his guide how long the hike would take. The Bedouin replied ‘I don’t know’. They resumed their hike and after they made their way downhill to one of the valleys the traveler asked again ‘how long will this hike take’ and again the Bedouin replied ‘I don’t know’. After they completed the decent down into the valley and crossed a river the traveler asked for the third time ‘how long will this hike take’ and as before the Bedouin answered ‘I don’t know’. The fourth time the Bedouin was asked about the length of the hike he replied ‘about three hours’. The traveler was shocked and wanted to know why he would not tell him before. The Bedouin responded ‘I had to assess your ability to hike uphill, downhill and in all conditions before I was able to tell you how long the hike would take’.
I learned from this story that a good answer takes time. This is especially true for complex issues infused with politics, history and culture. In due course the plight of the Bedouins in Israel will be known to the world and greater efforts will be made to improve their quality of life. This fieldtrip was a small stride in that direction.
Anna Palamarchuk has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Environmental Studies from York University in Toronto. She is currently working as the Public Relations and Development intern at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and participating in the Peacebuilding and Environmental Leadership Seminar.
“Having lived in Israel for 8 years and served in Hatzerim air force base in the Negev, I must have driven past countless Bedouin villages but never really stopped to think what it’s like to live in one or what problems these communities face.
This year as part of our Negev Field trip we stayed in the unrecognized village of Wad El Na’am. Here I was to discover a magical culture something I’ve traveled far around the world to find; yet here it was, right on my doorstep. As we descended from the bus we were immediately rushed off to a big Ramadan feast in Njiib’s tent. I remember clearly the smiling faces of women and children in traditional Bedouin dress, barraging us with welcome hugs and kisses We spent together a magical evening sitting and sharing the simple enjoyments of life our cultures, songs, hobbies, things that connected us as women irrelevant of our cultural differences.
Throughout our stay it was impossible to ignore the absence of paved roads, and water and sewage systems. There was a constant stringent smell hanging over the village; its source being the Ramat Hovav toxic wastes plant just a kilometer away.
By the time we left, I felt enriched and truly privileged to have been invited into these wonderful peoples homes, to have gained a minute but significant glance into their culture, their way of life, its trials and challenges, the discrimination they are exposed to and their fight for justice. I left inspired by the work of those who try to make changes and help the Bedouins achieve a better standard of living, enough to try my self to join in and work towards a better future for all the residents of Israel despite their race or religion.â€
Ilana Meallam is now in her second year of the master’s degree program – her thesis topic is her thesis topic is “The Environmental Dimensions of Informal Development: The Case of Solid Waste in Bedouin Villages in the Negev.â€
Reflections on a field study trip to Wadi Naam and Ramat Hovav by Miriam Simon
One of my fellow classmates had just taught me how to crochet only using my fingers and I pulled out the hat I was working on after I got settled in front of the fire. One of the Bedouin women sat down next to me to find out what I was doing. She was Najib's younger sister Hanan and we started to talk about where she lives, her children and why her Hebrew is so good even though she never went to school (her younger sisters do though). I was happy that I had learned how to crochet that day because this was the way to start the connection with Hanan. Najib's mother then told us the story of how she met and married her husband. She showed us the wedding dress she made herself, black silk with beautiful red embroidery, over 40 years ago. She told us to try it on and a few of us did. It was another incredible connection.
This field trip was a great opportunity to really meet and connect with members of a part of Israeli society in which most people don't get to know. Overall, it was a good learning experience, but the people connection is what really made it special and unique.
Miriam Simon is a student in the Fall 2004 Semester at AIES. Miriam Simon received her BA in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton and her MA in history and cultural anthropology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has worked for many years in promoting recycling in Jerusalem. She also enjoys photography, traveling (having been to 36 countries and counting), writing, and sometimes goes river rafting and skydiving.
Thoughts on Wadi El Na’am by Anna Palamarchuk
It’s Thursday, November 25, 2004 and I’m on a bus full of students from around the world in a country everyone thought I was crazy to come to. I’m in Israel and I just spent two days on a fieldtrip to Wadi El Na’am, an unrecognized Bedouin Village in the Negev desert. This was the first time I came face to face with poverty and injustice on a large scale.
I had heard about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) before. A friend of mine from back home in Toronto had spent a semester there. Knowing my background and interest in the environment, she told me to check it out. AIES is a regional center for environmental leadership located near the Jordanian and Egyptian borders. Its main goal is to foster peace through environmental cooperation in the Middle East. After meeting with the Director of Research I accepted an internship position in Public Relations and Development. A week later I moved onto the AIES campus and was able to participate in all aspects of student life, including fieldtrips.
We were told that there are 45 unrecognized Bedouin Villages in Israel like Wadi El Na’am that lack the most rudimentary services such as health care, electricity, sewage systems, and adequate access to water. To make matters worse, Wadi El Na’am is located next to a toxic waste incinerator. While, the Israeli Defense Force has prohibited stationing soldiers near these facilities, nothing is being done to protect Wadi El Na’am from its harmful health impacts. Further, the government refuses to grant them building permits, causing the community to live in constant fear of demolition. This is part of the plan to urbanize the Bedouins and force them to move into concentrated towns that have largely turned into slums and that fail to meet their basic needs and traditional lifestyles.
Many people who travel to Israel visit a Bedouin tent. However, they are shown a “Bedouin Landâ€, a contrived tourist trap that presents a romanticized version of their society. Tourists are never made aware of their struggle for survival and recognition. Wadi El Na’am painted a more accurate picture of Bedouin life that few are exposed to. We slept in their homes made largely of corrugated tin plates and zinc roofs and used their facilities. It didn’t take long to understand the inadequacies they face.
Israel is a nation like no other. Zionists struggled for many years in a hostile environment for a Jewish homeland, a safe haven from persecution, which culminated with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. To overcome the problems that plague the Bedouin communities, Israel needs to move beyond the fear that fueled the Zionism of 50 years ago. A Jewish homeland has been secured. This goal was accomplished. The aim of Zionism today must shift toward securing a stable and democratic society that provides a fair distribution of land and resources to all Israeli citizens, Jews and Arabs alike.
Overwhelmed by what I saw, it became clear that finding a just solution to this crisis would be an enormous and lengthy challenge. Rabbi Michael, who accompanied us on this field trip, left us with a sense of hope by telling us a story of a traveler and his Bedouin guide.
A traveler and his Bedouin guide started their hike in the mountains of Jordan. They climbed the first hill and the traveler asked his guide how long the hike would take. The Bedouin replied ‘I don’t know’. They resumed their hike and after they made their way downhill to one of the valleys the traveler asked again ‘how long will this hike take’ and again the Bedouin replied ‘I don’t know’. After they completed the decent down into the valley and crossed a river the traveler asked for the third time ‘how long will this hike take’ and as before the Bedouin answered ‘I don’t know’. The fourth time the Bedouin was asked about the length of the hike he replied ‘about three hours’. The traveler was shocked and wanted to know why he would not tell him before. The Bedouin responded ‘I had to assess your ability to hike uphill, downhill and in all conditions before I was able to tell you how long the hike would take’.
I learned from this story that a good answer takes time. This is especially true for complex issues infused with politics, history and culture. In due course the plight of the Bedouins in Israel will be known to the world and greater efforts will be made to improve their quality of life. This fieldtrip was a small stride in that direction.
Anna Palamarchuk has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Environmental Studies from York University in Toronto. She is currently working as the Public Relations and Development intern at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and participating in the Peacebuilding and Environmental Leadership Seminar.
A Visit to Wadi El Naam – November 2003 by Ilana Meallem
“Having lived in Israel for 8 years and served in Hatzerim air force base in the Negev, I must have driven past countless Bedouin villages but never really stopped to think what it’s like to live in one or what problems these communities face.
This year as part of our Negev Field trip we stayed in the unrecognized village of Wad El Na’am. Here I was to discover a magical culture something I’ve traveled far around the world to find; yet here it was, right on my doorstep. As we descended from the bus we were immediately rushed off to a big Ramadan feast in Njiib’s tent. I remember clearly the smiling faces of women and children in traditional Bedouin dress, barraging us with welcome hugs and kisses We spent together a magical evening sitting and sharing the simple enjoyments of life our cultures, songs, hobbies, things that connected us as women irrelevant of our cultural differences.
Throughout our stay it was impossible to ignore the absence of paved roads, and water and sewage systems. There was a constant stringent smell hanging over the village; its source being the Ramat Hovav toxic wastes plant just a kilometer away.
By the time we left, I felt enriched and truly privileged to have been invited into these wonderful peoples homes, to have gained a minute but significant glance into their culture, their way of life, its trials and challenges, the discrimination they are exposed to and their fight for justice. I left inspired by the work of those who try to make changes and help the Bedouins achieve a better standard of living, enough to try my self to join in and work towards a better future for all the residents of Israel despite their race or religion.â€
Ilana Meallam is now in her second year of the master’s degree program – her thesis topic is her thesis topic is “The Environmental Dimensions of Informal Development: The Case of Solid Waste in Bedouin Villages in the Negev.â€