Bedouin prof at Ben-Gurion voices optimism in talk here
Friday, August 2, 2002 | bySTEVEN NEUMAN
Education is the key to bringing one of Israel's most impoverished minority, the Bedouin, to an acceptable economic level, according to Ismail Abu Saad.
The first Israeli Bedouin to obtain a Ph.D., the Ben-Gurion University professor said it is the responsibility of the Bedouin community to exercise its right to an education and the responsibility of the Israeli government to help bring jobs to the Negev region.
"They're Israeli citizens, they're loyal to the state, they're a peaceful community, and yet the gap is so huge," he said during a recent talk at the Jewish Community Federation building in San Francisco.
A semi-nomadic band of tribes practicing a traditional lifestyle, Bedouin remain in their own communities, mostly in the Negev, where they comprise about one-fourth of the region's population. A sparsely populated area in southern Israel, the Negev holds just 8 percent of the state's population but 60 percent of its land mass.
Bedouin have the highest unemployment rate of any ethnic community in Israel, according to Saad, and fewer than 50 percent graduate from high school.
"It's improving," added Saad, whose talk was sponsored by American Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. "About six years ago the dropout rate was around 73 percent. This number in a modern high-tech state is unheard of."
The creation of Israel in 1948 had little impact on the way the Bedouin lived on the land. In the 1960s and '70s, however, the Israeli government tried to move them into seven specially constructed towns.
"After the lifting of the military administration of the war [of 1967], the community had direct contact with the Jewish community. They saw a lot of things that are not part of their culture, like schools," he said.
"Also, the new system is completely different [to them]. To have an ID which was never part of the culture before, to have to sign papers, to have to open an account in the bank…The whole way of life was completely different."
Saad suggested that resettlement plans were unsuccessful because the Israeli government failed to consult Bedouin leadership. Though the settlements are widely considered a failure, the government is still pushing for the tribespeople to move in.
"They built the towns but they failed to create the economic infrastructure needed to create stable jobs in these new towns," he said. "They also didn't make these towns attractive to people living other places than the Negev, so you got a lot of social problems."
Today fewer than 60 percent of the Bedouin reside in these towns, while the rest continue to live a nomadic existence or inhabit unrecognized shantytowns with no services. Many refuse to move to the government settlements in fear of poverty.
"They say, 'I'm living outside, why should I move to the town and lose this income?'" said Saad. Those who do move to the towns not only lose their ability to raise flocks of sheep, but also must pay for basic services, such as electricity and water.
Poverty and drug abuse are at an all-time high among the Bedouin in these settlements, he noted.
"The question is how can we solve these huge problems. Education is the key, and that answer is not only for the Bedouin people but for people all over the world."
Stephan Krieger, regional chair of American Associates of Ben-Gurion University, introduced Saad as "the Abraham Lincoln story of Israel."
"Not exactly crossing the snowfields to get an education, but I think crossing the desert is hard enough," he said.
Saad is the eldest of 10 children, all of whom graduated from high school.
"My parents were behind [my education] and that made a big difference," he said. His father worked as a truck driver for some Jewish families, and "saw the life of the families; the kids went to school, and after school they went to college.
"My parents always said that's what we want you to do."