2026년 8월 30일 일요일

Israel's Destruction of Its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) Citizens (Part 1 AND Part 2) - YouTube

Israel's Destruction of Its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) Citizens (Part 1 AND Part 2) - YouTube

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Israel's Destruction of Its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) Citizens (Part 1 AND Part 2)
Is It Antisemitic to Tell the Truth?
4,652 views  Nov 11, 2025
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This documentary, an indictment of the "only democracy in the Middle East, " was recorded when I was a Fulbright Fellow -- for a year, as a visual ethnographer to investigate Ethiopian and Russian Jewish immigration to the Jewish state, as well as the indigenous Bedouin -- in Israel, 1992-93.
It documents Israel’s destruction of its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) citizens. These people are formal CITIZENS of Israel, not outsiders of some kind. 

The systemic Israeli mistreatment of the Bedouin was shocking, but it was equally shocking to discover that I could find no one to help me edit and finish the film when I returned to America. This movie cost me $25,000 out of my own pocket. No one, no grant organization, nor any other group, was willing to contribute a nickel to help complete the work from the 100 hours of material I had recorded. 

I have no personal root to the Arab/Israeli conflict. My effort was purely a labor of moral conviction.

The most astounding shock, however, was when I returned to America after the year in Israel, created the movie, alone, as best I could, and discovered that there was no forum in America to show the movie. I went, physically, in person, to various Jewish organizations requesting them to view it. The only such person who was willing to give it a look was a rabbi at a Hillel group at a Midwest university. But he didn’t watch the whole film, only a little, and his sole response was that parts of it seemed “antisemitic.” No one, anywhere, wanted to see it. PBS and other TV venues had zero interest. The only forum this documentary ever had was through Americans for Middle East Understanding, a tiny, ignored organization critical of Israel. A few VHS copies that I created in my living room were sold through them. I even sent the documentary to an Arab film festival in Seattle. A guy from the festival eventually phoned me; he said they loved the film but were afraid to show it for fear that Jews would protest their festival. I am serious. I am not exaggerating. It was then that I realized that the walls of fear and censorship – including self-censorship in the Arab community – rendered my film project hopeless folly. No one dared to platform the ugly side of the Jewish state. I had no choice but to give up, years ago.

I present this movie now, recently digitalized from video -- still with help from no one -- with great sorrow that I failed to be able to aid those individuals within it who pleaded for help. But the injustices – to the Bedouin, and others – go on. The outrageous atrocities in Gaza, and the internet, however, have opened new opportunities for people to be afforded the truth about what Israel really is, beyond the Wall of Propaganda that has for decades enveloped us.

Welcome here, then, as is proclaimed, to the “only democracy” in the Middle East.

(Both Part 1 and Part 2 is presented here, with some space in between.)

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by the producer of the 다큐멘터리 영상 <하바드: 포스트빌과 그 너머 1부 및 2부. ---- 1,000단어 요약 평론

다큐멘터리 영상 및 보고서 <이스라엘의 베두인 시민 파괴(Israel's Destruction of Its Bedouin Citizens)>와 <이스라엘의 베두인: 시(詩)의 종말>은 <하바드: 포스트빌과 그 너머>의 제작자이자 인류학자인 론 켈리(Ron Kelley)가 1992년부터 1993년까지 네게브 사막 현지에서 직접 기록한 이스라엘 내 원주민 베두인(아랍계 무슬림) 공동체의 파괴 실태를 고발한다. 이 기록물은 '중동 유일의 민주주의 국가'를 자처하는 이스라엘이 자국 시민권을 가진 소수민족을 상대로 자행해 온 구조적 배제, 토지 강탈, 환경적 폭력, 문화적 말살 정책을 적나라하게 폭로한다.

<1. 기록의 배경과 은폐된 진실>

풀브라이트 연구원으로 이스라엘에 파견되었던 론 켈리는 에티오피아 및 러시아계 유대인 이민자 연구 이면에 철저히 은폐되어 있던 네게브 베두인의 비극을 목격하였다. 1948년 건국 이전 6만 명 이상이던 네게브 베두인은 전쟁 후 대다수가 추방되었고, 영토 내에 남은 1만 3천여 명은 군정 통제와 법률적 덫에 걸려 조상 대대의 토지를 강탈당했다.

이스라엘 당국은 전통적으로 구두 계약과 관습법에 의존하던 베두인에게 근대적 토지 문서 증명을 요구하며 소유권을 부정했고, 부재자 재산법 등을 적용해 사막 전역을 국유지로 선포했다. 켈리는 100시간이 넘는 영상 기록을 확보하여 미국으로 돌아왔으나, 주류 언론(PBS, ABC)과 유대인 단체, 심지어 일부 아랍계 단체들마저 '반유대주의' 낙인과 사회적 압력을 두려워하여 방영을 외면하는 침묵의 카르텔을 경험했다.

<2. 녹색 순찰대의 국가 폭력과 토지 강탈>

이스라엘 정부가 베두인을 사막에서 몰아내기 위해 전면에 내세운 핵심 기구는 1976년 창설된 준군사 조직 <녹색 순찰대(Green Patrol)>이다. 환경 보호라는 명분을 내걸었으나, 실제 목적은 원주민을 탄압하고 삶의 터전을 파괴하는 데 있었다.

  • 무차별 주택 철거와 공포 조성: 허가받지 않은 건축물이라는 이유로 베두인의 텐트와 가옥을 사전 경고 없이 불도저와 지프로 파괴하였다. 어린아이들은 지프 소리만 들어도 사막으로 도망칠 정도로 극심한 트라우마에 시달렸다.

  • 생계 수단 박탈: 베두인의 유일한 자립 기반인 양과 염소, 낙타 등 가축을 불법 방목을 구실로 강제 압류하거나 사살하였으며, 정착과 안정을 상징하는 올리브 나무 수천 그루를 조직적으로 뽑아냈다.

  • 사법적 차별: 베두인이 이스라엘 법정에 제기한 수천 건의 토지 반환 소송 중 승소한 사례는 단 한 건도 없었으며, 법률은 정의의 실현이 아닌 토지 수탈을 정당화하는 도구로 전락했다.

<3. 강제 정착촌(게토화)과 환경 인종차별>

이스라엘 당국은 사막을 유대인 전용 키부츠, 모샤브, 군사 훈련 기지로 전환하기 위해 베두인을 7개의 인위적인 도시 정착촌(라하트, 텔 셰바 등)으로 강제 이주시켰다.

  • 사회경제적 붕괴와 종속: 농경과 목축이 불가능한 콘크리트 밀집 지역으로 강제 이주된 베두인은 고유의 생활 방식을 잃고 유대인 거주지의 최하층 일용직 저임금 노동자로 전락했다. 일자리 부족과 절망감은 전통 사회에서 볼 수 없던 마약 중독, 범죄, 극심한 부채와 자살을 낳았다.

  • 환경 오염의 투기장: 디모나 등 유대인 도시에서 배출되는 정화되지 않은 하수('녹색 강')를 베두인 주거지와 초등학교 바로 옆으로 방류했다. 또한 라마트 호바브(Ramat Hovav)에 대규모 살충제 및 유독 화학물질 공장과 폐기물 처리장을 건설하고 독성 폐수를 공중에 분사하여 인근 베두인 주민과 어린이들에게 호흡기 질환, 암, 신장 질환 등 치명적인 건강 위협을 가했다.

  • 극단적인 불평등: 호화로운 수영장과 푸른 잔디를 가꾸는 유대인 정착촌 바로 옆에서, 비인가 마을에 사는 베두인은 전기와 식수 공급마저 차단당한 채 생존의 위협을 견뎌야 했다.

<4. 문화적 박제화와 역사적 흔적의 말살>

이스라엘의 정착민 식민주의는 물리적 축출에 그치지 않고 역사와 기억의 공간까지 조직적으로 지워나갔다.

  • 문화의 박제와 상업화: 공군 창설자이자 베두인 탄압의 주역이었던 조 알론의 이름을 딴 박물관(조 알론 센터)을 지어, 파괴된 베두인의 전통 유물을 관광 상품으로 전시하며 수익을 취하는 모순을 보였다.

  • 묘지 훼손과 조상 부정: 유대인 주택 건설과 인프라 확장을 명분으로 수백 년 된 무슬림 묘지를 파헤쳐 유골을 노출시키고 그 위에 쓰레기를 투기했다. 이는 토지에 대한 베두인의 역사적 연고권을 원천적으로 지우려는 의도적 역사 말살이었다.

  • 정체성 세뇌 교육: 학교 교육 과정에서 아랍과 이슬람의 역사를 검열하고 시오니즘과 유대인 역사를 강제로 주입함으로써 차세대 베두인의 정체성을 해체하려 했다.

<5. 심층 비평 및 종합 평가>

론 켈리의 기록물은 시오니즘이 표방하는 '문명화'와 '사막의 녹지화'라는 신화 이면에 숨겨진 잔혹한 인종차별적 식민성을 폭로한다.

베두인은 외래 침입자가 아니라 사막의 생태계와 조화를 이루며 수 세기를 살아온 정주민이자 엄연한 이스라엘 시민이다. 그러나 국가는 이들을 동등한 권리를 지닌 시민으로 대우하지 않고 토지를 빼앗아야 할 장애물, 혹은 통제와 감시의 대상으로 취급했다. 군사적 탄압, 법적 배제, 환경적 가해를 결합한 이스라엘의 정책은 원주민의 자립 구조를 완전히 해체하고 영적·문화적 죽음을 강요하는 체계적 폭력이다.

더욱이 제작자가 미국 사회에서 겪은 침묵과 외면은 이스라엘의 인권 유린을 비판하는 목소리가 서구 주류 사회에서 어떻게 검열되고 억압받는지를 증명한다. 시적 전통과 명예를 중시하던 유목민의 문화가 파괴되고 사막에 쓰레기와 유독가스가 들어차는 현실은 한 민족의 존엄이 국가 권력에 의해 어떻게 질식당하는지를 보여준다. 이 기록물은 침묵 속에 사라져가는 소수자의 절규를 복원하고, 억압적 지배 체제에 맞서 진실을 증언하는 다큐멘터리 본연의 비판적 역할을 훌륭히 수행하고 있다.


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<Israel’s Destruction of Its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) Citizens>

Ron Kelley — 1,000단어 요약 평론

이 다큐멘터리는 앞서 본 <CHABAD / POSTVILLE AND BEYOND>의 제작자 Ron Kelley가 훨씬 이전에 만든 작품이다. 원래 1992~93년 그가 Fulbright 연구자로 이스라엘 남부 네게브(Negev)에 체류하면서 촬영한 약 120시간의 영상에서 만들어졌으며, 1998년에는 <The Bedouin of Israel>이라는 두 시간짜리 작품으로 소개되었다. Kelley는 사진가이면서 인류학 전공자였고, 처음부터 팔레스타인 문제를 취재하기 위해 이스라엘에 간 것이 아니라 에티오피아계·러시아계 유대인 이민자와 토착 베두인 사회의 변화를 비교 기록하려 했다고 설명한다. 그러나 베두인을 취재하면서 연구의 중심이 완전히 바뀌었다.

2025년에 다시 공개한 영상의 제목은 훨씬 직설적이다.

<Israel’s Destruction of Its Bedouin (Arab Muslim) Citizens>

즉 Kelley가 이 문제를 단순한 ‘빈곤’이나 ‘근대화 과정의 부작용’이 아니라 <한 국가가 자국 시민인 토착집단의 토지·생활양식·문화적 자율성을 체계적으로 파괴하는 과정>으로 이해했음을 보여준다.


1. “베두인이 원하는 것은 자유다”

영화의 출발점은 놀라울 만큼 단순하다.

Kelley가 한 베두인에게 “더 나은 삶이란 무엇인가?”라고 묻자 그는 부나 현대식 주택을 말하지 않는다. 산 위에 천막을 치고 살면서 원하는 때 이동하고, 양을 치고, 가족과 부족 공동체 속에서 사는 것이 더 나은 삶이라고 한다.

“Freedom”이라는 단어가 반복된다.

여기서 베두인이 말하는 자유는 서구적 의미의 선거권이나 개인주의적 자유와 조금 다르다.

<땅 위에서 자기 방식으로 살아갈 자유>

이며 동시에

<dignity and honor — 존엄과 명예>

다.

이것이 이 다큐멘터리 전체의 기준점이다. 이스라엘 정부는 베두인을 ‘근대화’시키고 있다고 주장하지만 Kelley는 반대로 묻는다.

<그 근대화를 당사자가 선택했는가?>

당사자의 동의 없이 토지를 빼앗고 도시로 이주시키고 유목·목축을 불가능하게 만든다면, 그것은 발전인가 아니면 강제적 사회공학인가?


2. 1948년 이후: 토지를 잃은 사람들

Kelley의 역사 서술에 따르면 1948년 이전 네게브에는 약 6만 명 이상의 베두인이 살고 있었다. 전쟁 이후 상당수가 요르단·가자·시나이 등으로 떠났고 약 13,000명이 이스라엘 안에 남았다.

남아 있던 사람들도 상당수가 자신들이 살던 땅에서 다른 지역으로 옮겨졌다.

여기에서 결정적인 문제가 생겼다.

베두인의 토지소유는 오랫동안 부족 간 관습과 구두 합의에 의해 인정되어 왔다. 오스만이나 영국 통치 아래에서도 토지를 공식 등록하지 않은 경우가 많았다. 그런데 새 이스라엘 국가는 서면 등기를 요구했다.

더구나 이주 때문에 일정 시점에 토지에 실제 거주하지 않았던 사람들의 토지를 ‘부재자 토지’ 또는 국가토지로 취급할 수 있는 법적 장치가 만들어졌다.

Kelley가 보기에 이것은 Catch-22였다.

<국가가 사람들을 토지에서 이동시킨다 → 사람이 토지에 없으므로 국가가 그 토지를 몰수한다.>

1998년 그의 글은 이 과정을 베두인과 토지의 연결을 끊기 위한 정책이라고 해석한다.

이 다큐멘터리에서 가장 강력한 증언 가운데 하나가 한 노인의 말이다.

이스라엘은 4천 년 전 이 땅이 자기들의 것이라고 주장하면서 돌아왔다. 그런데 자신은 겨우 40여 년 전에 이 땅에서 쫓겨났는데 어떻게 그것을 잊으라고 하느냐고 묻는다.

이 한마디에는 Kelley 다큐멘터리의 역사철학이 응축되어 있다.

<성서적·고대 역사에 근거한 귀환의 기억은 인정하면서, 바로 어제 이곳에서 살았던 사람의 기억은 왜 인정하지 않는가?>


3. 일곱 개의 ‘도시’: 발전인가 강제 정착인가

이스라엘 정부는 네게브 베두인을 Tel Sheva, Rahat, Hura 등 정부가 계획한 여러 도시로 정착시키려 했다.

정부 관점에서 보면 이것은 합리적일 수도 있다.

학교·병원·전기·도로·수도를 공급하려면 흩어져 사는 유목·반유목 인구를 한곳에 집중시키는 편이 효율적이기 때문이다.

그러나 Kelley가 보여주는 결과는 전혀 다르다.

베두인은 넓은 공간에서 목축하며 살던 사람들이었다. 이들을 좁은 도시 주택으로 옮기면서 가축을 기를 토지가 사라지고 전통적 경제기반이 무너졌다.

그 결과 많은 사람이 임금노동에 의존하게 되었다.

영화 속 Rahat에서는 실업, 빈곤, 부채, 마약 중독, 청소년 문제 등이 등장한다. 한 주민은 새로운 삶을 ‘modern life’라고 부르면서도 그것이 가져온 대가를 이야기한다.

Kelley의 비판은 명백하다.

<유목생활을 없애 놓고 경제적 대안을 충분히 제공하지 않았다.>

따라서 이것은 단순한 도시화가 아니라 <경제적 독립을 종속으로 바꾸는 과정>이었다는 것이다.


4. ‘인정되지 않은 마을’이라는 역설

정부 지정 도시에 들어가지 않고 계속 전통적인 지역에서 사는 베두인들은 더욱 어려운 처지에 놓인다.

그들의 마을은 ‘unrecognized villages’, 즉 <미승인 마을>로 취급된다.

정부가 마을을 인정하지 않으므로 건축허가를 받을 수 없다.

그런데 허가 없이 집을 지으면 불법 건축물이 된다.

따라서 이런 구조가 만들어진다.

<허가를 신청한다 → 마을 자체가 인정되지 않았으므로 허가가 나오지 않는다 → 집을 짓는다 → 불법 건축물이 된다 → 철거 명령이 내려진다.>

영화에는 사람들이 직접 자기 집을 부수라는 명령을 받았다는 증언까지 나온다.

1998년 Kelley가 인용한 자료에 따르면 1986년 Markovitch Report는 네게브에 5,994개의 불법 베두인 건축물이 있다고 했고, 1992년에는 그 숫자가 12,489개로 늘어났다.

Kelley에게 이것은 행정적 실패가 아니다.

<법 자체가 특정한 결과를 생산하도록 설계되어 있다>

는 것이 그의 주장이다.


5. Green Patrol — 국가 폭력의 얼굴

영화에서 가장 충격적인 부분 가운데 하나가 <Green Patrol>이다.

1976년 환경보호와 국유지 관리를 명목으로 만들어진 조직인데 Kelley는 실제로 베두인의 가축을 압수하고 집을 철거하며 이동을 제한하는 집행기구로 묘사한다.

영화의 뛰어난 장면은 Kelley가 Green Patrol 대원과 직접 순찰차를 타고 베두인 마을을 방문하는 부분이다.

한 베두인은 친절하게 커피와 차를 내놓고 “모든 것이 좋다”고 말한다. 심지어 이스라엘군 복무 경험을 이야기하고 Likud를 지지하는 듯한 말을 한다.

그런데 바로 옆에는 그 사람의 양 떼 숫자를 감시하는 Green Patrol 대원이 앉아 있다.

이 장면은 단순한 인터뷰보다 훨씬 강력하다.

<권력자가 옆에 앉아 있을 때 약자의 ‘나는 행복합니다’라는 말은 얼마나 자유로운 증언인가?>

Kelley의 인류학적 감각이 가장 돋보이는 장면이다.


6. 가장 잊히지 않는 장면 — 도망가는 아이

다른 곳에서는 집이 철거된 베두인 가족을 찾아간다.

차량이 접근하자 어린아이가 갑자기 사막으로 도망친다.

아이는 Kelley 일행이 또다시 집을 부수러 온 사람이라고 생각했던 것이다.

베두인들은 아이들이 Green Patrol 차량만 보면

“Green Patrol is coming!”

이라고 외치며 숨는다고 증언한다.

1998년 <The Link>의 글에도 바로 이 장면이 사진과 함께 실려 있다. 페이지 6의 영상 스틸은 사막으로 달아나는 아이의 모습을 보여주며, 가족은 아이들이 집 철거와 가축 압수를 반복해서 보면서 공포 속에서 자랐다고 설명한다.

여기에서 영화는 토지정책 분석을 넘어선다.

국가정책이 한 세대의 어린이에게 <국가=공포>라는 기억을 심고 있음을 보여주기 때문이다.


7. 물: 가장 강력한 대비

Kelley의 카메라는 반복해서 물을 찍는다.

유대인 키부츠와 정착촌에는

수영장,
푸른 잔디,
과수원,
관개시설,

이 있다.

바로 근처 베두인 마을에는 수도관조차 없다.

그들은 물을 사서 운반해야 한다.

따라서 영화 속 물은 단순한 생활조건이 아니라 <권력의 시각적 은유>가 된다.

특히 Omар(Omar)라는 유대인 공동체와 바로 옆 베두인 마을을 대비시키는 장면은 매우 효과적이다. 한쪽에는 아름다운 정원과 수도시설이 있고, 불과 가까운 거리에 사는 베두인은 식수조차 어렵게 확보한다.

Kelley가 말하려는 것은 분명하다.

<사막이 물이 없어서 황량한 것이 아니다. 누가 물에 접근할 수 있는가가 정치적으로 결정되어 있다.>


8. Ramat Hovav — 환경정의의 문제

아마 영화에서 가장 심각한 부분은 Ramat Hovav 화학산업단지와 폐기물 처리시설이다.

베두인 거주지역 가까이에 독성 화학물질 처리시설이 있고, 악취와 오염수가 발생한다.

Kelley는 오염된 지하수에서 물을 길어 올리는 한 베두인 여성을 본 의사가 관계자에게 문제를 제기했을 때 돌아온 말이라고 다음 증언을 기록한다.

<“Don’t worry. She’s just a Bedouin.”>

1998년 그의 글에서는 희귀 암 발생 가능성, 화학물질 누출 때 가까운 군부대는 대피시켰으면서 베두인 학교에는 경보가 전달되지 않았다는 증언도 나온다.

오늘날의 용어로 보면 이것은 전형적인 <environmental racism / environmental injustice> 문제다.

위험한 시설은 정치적으로 힘없는 사람들이 사는 지역으로 몰리고, 피해를 입는 주민들은 정책결정 과정에서 배제된다.

이 부분은 영화 제작 후 30년이 지난 지금도 상당히 현대적인 문제의식을 가진다.


9. 문화가 파괴된 뒤 관광상품이 된다

Kelley는 더욱 미묘한 모순을 포착한다.

이스라엘 사회가 베두인의 전통적 생활방식을 ‘낙후’로 취급하여 사라지게 하면서도 관광산업에서는 바로 그 ‘전통적 베두인’을 상품으로 판매한다는 것이다.

관광객들은 카메라를 들고 텐트로 들어가 베두인을 촬영한다.

베두인 문화의 예절상 남성이 가족 텐트에 접근할 때 지켜야 할 절차가 있는데도 관광객들은 이를 거의 무시한다.

더욱 아이러니하게도 대표적인 베두인 박물관인 Joe Alon Center는 베두인이 아니라 유대인 키부츠가 운영한다.

Kelley는 이것을 매우 신랄하게 표현한다.

<살아 있는 문화를 파괴한 뒤 그 문화의 잔해를 박물관에 진열한다.>

이 부분은 식민주의 연구에서 말하는 <museumization of indigenous culture>와 정확히 겹친다.


10. “Poetry died when Israel came”

1998년 글의 제목이 <The End of Poetry>인 이유도 여기에 있다.

Kelley가 만난 Sheikh Audeh Jaber Abu Srihan은 전통적인 ghassida 시가 더 이상 전승되지 않는다고 말한다. 전통 악기 rababa를 젊은이들이 부끄러워하고 옛 시를 알던 노인들이 죽으면서 문화 기억 자체가 사라져간다.

그리고 그는 말한다.

<“Poetry died when the state of Israel came.”>

이는 문자 그대로 이스라엘 때문에 모든 베두인 시가 사라졌다는 학술적 명제가 아니다.

Kelley에게 그것은 <문화적 죽음의 은유>다.

토지를 잃으면 목축이 사라지고,
목축이 사라지면 생활리듬이 사라지고,
생활이 사라지면 음악과 시와 기억도 사라진다.

즉 문화는 박물관에 보관되는 개별 물건들의 집합이 아니다.

<문화는 특정한 땅에서 특정한 방식으로 살아가는 관계 전체>라는 것이 이 영화의 가장 깊은 인류학적 통찰이다.


11. 이 작품의 강점과 한계

이 작품의 가장 큰 강점은 Kelley가 이론으로 시작하지 않는다는 것이다.

집 철거,
가축 몰수,
물,
쓰레기,
화학공장,
학교,
묘지,
아이들의 두려움,

같은 구체적인 것을 카메라에 담는다.

1998년 <The Link>에 실린 사진들도 그래서 강렬하다. 페이지 12에는 베두인 묘지가 쓰레기장처럼 사용되는 모습이, 페이지 13에는 훼손된 묘지와 노출된 유골 이야기가 나온다. 살아 있는 사람뿐 아니라 <죽은 사람의 공간마저 지배당한다>는 그의 주장을 시각적으로 전달한다.

그러나 Kelley의 약점도 분명하다.

그의 언어는 때때로 지나치게 단정적이다.

“genocide”, “terrorist activities”, “destroy a people” 같은 표현은 강력하지만 각각 엄밀한 국제법적 개념과 일치하는지 따로 검증해야 한다. 환경오염이나 질병에 관한 일부 사례도 익명의 증언이나 개인 경험에 의존한다.

따라서 이 영화는 <중립적 행정정책 보고서>로 읽기보다 <현장에서 목격한 부정의를 고발하는 참여적 민족지(engaged ethnography)>로 읽는 편이 정확하다.

그렇게 읽으면 오히려 작품의 힘과 한계가 동시에 명확해진다.


12. <Postville>과 함께 보면 더 흥미로운 Kelley

앞서 본 <CHABAD / POSTVILLE AND BEYOND>와 이 작품을 함께 보면 Ron Kelley의 일관된 관심이 보인다.

그가 특별히 ‘유대교’를 공격하려는 사람이라고만 읽으면 두 작품의 핵심을 놓친다.

두 영화에서 반복되는 질문은 오히려 이것이다.

<강력한 공동체가 자기보다 훨씬 약한 외부자를 어떻게 대하는가?>

포스트빌에서는

<종교공동체·기업주 → 과테말라·멕시코 이주노동자>이고,

네게브에서는

<국가·토지행정·정착촌 → 토착 베두인>이다.

그리고 두 작품 모두 동일한 패턴을 발견한다.

<법적으로는 정상적인 제도 → 실제로는 비대칭적인 권력 → 약자의 의존 → 저항하기 어려운 구조 → 지배집단의 도덕적 자기정당화>라는 구조다.

그래서 Kelley에게 가장 중요한 대상은 사실 ‘이스라엘’이나 ‘하바드’ 자체라기보다 <권력을 가진 집단의 자기기만>이라고 보는 편이 더 정확하다.


최종 평가

이 작품은 1990년대 초의 다큐멘터리이므로 오늘날 네게브 베두인의 현재 상황을 그대로 설명하는 자료로 사용할 수는 없다. 그러나 <이스라엘의 베두인 정책이 어떠한 역사적 기억과 경험을 만들어왔는가>를 이해하는 1차 기록으로서는 매우 가치가 크다.

특히 이 작품의 가장 중요한 질문은 ‘베두인이 가난한가?’가 아니다.

<누가 그들의 미래를 결정할 권리를 가지고 있는가?>이다.

정부가 현대식 주택을 제공하고 학교를 짓는 것만으로 정의가 실현되는 것은 아니다. 땅을 어떻게 사용할 것인지, 어디에서 살 것인지, 어떤 경제생활을 할 것인지, 자신의 역사를 자녀에게 어떻게 가르칠 것인지에 대해 당사자가 결정권을 잃는다면, 물질적 ‘발전’ 자체가 지배의 방식이 될 수 있다.

그래서 영화 첫머리의 한 단어가 결국 마지막까지 남는다. <Freedom.>

Kelley의 베두인 다큐멘터리는 결국 <토지를 둘러싼 영화>이면서 동시에 <자기 삶을 스스로 결정할 권리에 관한 영화>다.

그리고 그것이 30년이 지난 지금도 이 작품을 단순한 과거의 기록으로만 볼 수 없게 만드는 이유다.

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0:2828 secondsfor centuries. The Beton have been a tribal people who had lived in the harsh deserts of Arabia. Early western explorers and adventurers usually
0:3636 secondsdescribed them as exotic wanderers of romantic expanses or as warlike savages.
0:4242 secondsIn Bedawin society, relation to the land has always been intimate, the source of personal honor and identity, as well as
0:4949 secondssurvival itself. Traditionally nomadic, the rise of nation states in modern times has forced them everywhere into
0:5656 secondsvarying degrees of restriction and settlement. This story concerns the thousands of Bon Arab Muslims in the
1:031 minute, 3 secondsnegative desert who one day in 1948 found themselves and their homeland part of the new Jewish state of Israel.
1:231 minute, 23 seconds[music]
1:301 minute, 30 secondsI want to know.
1:511 minute, 51 seconds[music]
1:581 minute, 58 seconds[music]
2:012 minutes, 1 secondHello.
2:332 minutes, 33 secondsWhat is a better one? The better are those people who rely on themselves independence.
2:392 minutes, 39 secondsThe better just live at the top of that nearby hill for example and they must be free.
2:462 minutes, 46 secondsIf they don't like that place there then they just fold up the tent and they move someplace else. Freedom. The betteran
2:522 minutes, 52 secondslike freedom. They never seek luxury just freedom.
3:043 minutes, 4 secondsWhat is the most important thing in your life as a better one?
3:093 minutes, 9 secondsTo breathe the fresh air and to live like this. It's absolute freedom. I don't need money. What is freedom?
3:173 minutes, 17 secondsNothing is more free than living on top of a hill with a tent. You look down in front and all you see is space.
3:283 minutes, 28 secondsHere a woman goes out and gathers some wood, starts a fire and makes a pot of tea.
3:393 minutes, 39 secondsAnd there is our donkey space. This is the life I like. Do you see anything hidden here? Everything is open.
3:493 minutes, 49 secondsSpace.
3:503 minutes, 50 secondsEven when I die, I've already told my family, if you can leave the grave open, don't close it. Their
3:593 minutes, 59 secondsidea of freedom is very different from modern because it's not uh some kind of irresponsible
4:074 minutes, 7 secondsdo as you please state or you can jump and run and shout.
4:154 minutes, 15 secondsTheir idea of freedom is simply allowing them to take their way of life to the full and it's their way of life is totally
4:234 minutes, 23 secondsbinding. There's to the modern eyes there's absolutely no freedom there.
4:294 minutes, 29 secondsThey are hardworking. The women have to graze from early in the morning to late in the evening. They are bound by
4:364 minutes, 36 secondscostumes costumes the veil of the women.
4:454 minutes, 45 secondsThey are very strict rules of behavior and everything is a fixed
4:524 minutes, 52 secondsstructure of life. So a modern person would not call this freedom. However, for them freedom is the fulfillment of
5:015 minutes, 1 secondtheir thing, their destiny, their quality.
5:065 minutes, 6 secondsAnd if they are allowed to take this and to do it, they're happy. And if you ask any of the elders who still exist
5:145 minutes, 14 secondsaround, ask them, what's the most important thing for the B? What's the future of the building? They always give you this one word
5:235 minutes, 23 secondswhich means in modern terms it's a translation. Yeah means freedom. It's not very accurate.
5:325 minutes, 32 secondsIt's not a political freedom. It's not a democratic freedom. It's not do as you please freedom. It's just a freedom to be villainous.
5:435 minutes, 43 secondsSo shut up.
5:455 minutes, 45 secondsThe Bedawin's freedom is his dignity and honor. Once the Bedawin is amongst his family and tribe outside in space, this
5:535 minutes, 53 secondsis dignity. This is honor and at the end freedom.
6:006 minutesNo question that the foundation of the state of of Israel was a matter of great justice.
6:086 minutes, 8 secondsGreat justice to the Jewish people.
6:126 minutes, 12 secondsNevertheless, while founding and while building the this state,
6:196 minutes, 19 secondsmany people were hurt. Many people you can say while doing this just cause this just thing, many people were hurt injustically.
6:286 minutes, 28 secondsOne of the great group of people, one of the big group of people, the biggest group of people that were hurt
6:356 minutes, 35 secondsand exterminated and were the bad ones.
6:456 minutes, 45 secondsThis land has not been cultivated. We were here up to 1951 when the Israeli army drove us out. We used to cultivate
6:536 minutes, 53 secondsit. They forbid us from using it under the pretense that it had become a military zone. [clears throat] Listen to this trick. They claimed it was a military zone till 1965.
7:047 minutes, 4 secondsAfter that, they declared it abandoned land so they could have it. Look at the tricks they play. Israel says they want
7:127 minutes, 12 secondsto live here on equal terms with justice. That they are a democratic country.
7:177 minutes, 17 secondsWhere is it? Israel came from someplace else and violated land that was already inhabited in a very ugly manner. Israel
7:257 minutes, 25 secondsis the one that created the occupation of the land, the abuse of the land.
7:307 minutes, 30 secondsIsrael created all these big problems. I could take you anywhere here, left or right. This is my land. I have such a
7:387 minutes, 38 secondsfeeling for my land. Look at my house ahead. Oh, my house. How many nights did I sleep in you? In the name of the
7:467 minutes, 46 secondsmerciful God, my home. Only God can bring us back to our land. They wouldn't even let us take our tools out of here.
7:557 minutes, 55 secondsI remember it was October of 1950. They pulled our things out and destroyed our house.
8:028 minutes, 2 secondsIsrael claims that 4,000 years ago it had this land. They've come back to it.
8:068 minutes, 6 secondsI was shown off my land only 40 years ago. How can I forget?
8:118 minutes, 11 secondsWhat did they expect me to feel? How can I forget it?
8:198 minutes, 19 secondsThis is it.
8:278 minutes, 27 secondsThey came to us and said we had to leave the land. We said no, we won't be intimidated. We will stay on our land.
8:368 minutes, 36 secondsBy force, they deported us. They burned the tents, our homes. How old were you then?
8:438 minutes, 43 secondsI was about 19. People started picking up their possessions. They pulled kids out of their mother's arms. When I was picking up some of my things, one of
8:528 minutes, 52 secondsthem slapped me in the face. I still remember that slap. I will never forget it. I was trying to see if we could go to Jordan.
9:019 minutes, 1 secondWho hit you? a soldier.
9:049 minutes, 4 secondsIf you saw him again after all these years, would you recognize him?
9:089 minutes, 8 secondsWell, I consider that all the Israeli soldiers slap me.
9:219 minutes, 21 secondsThey came early in the morning. They went around the bin. At that time, it was an army patrol. But they had no
9:289 minutes, 28 secondsbusiness with our land, this area, or any dark dunes around here. They had nothing to do with this place. They didn't even know anything about our
9:369 minutes, 36 secondsland. But they kept coming back later with women and children and started cutting up things and doing a lot.
9:439 minutes, 43 secondsEventually, they started telling us it was their land. What is your claim to this land?
9:519 minutes, 51 secondsWe did not go to their land. This is our land, the land we know. And we didn't come from anywhere else. We didn't know
9:589 minutes, 58 secondsabout trains, airports, cars. All I remember since we were babies is this land here. We didn't go anywhere else.
10:0610 minutes, 6 secondsWe didn't come from anywhere else. This is the truth. We only have this land. In the name of God, this is the truth. The
10:1310 minutes, 13 secondstruth. We didn't even know there was a country around us. We only know our land here. Over the years, the Jewish
10:2110 minutes, 21 secondsgovernment has evicted or pressured off the land about half of its 90,000 Bedawin citizens in southern Israel to make room for Jewish settlements and
10:2910 minutes, 29 secondsmilitary exercise areas. The remaining half bitterly resist surrendering claims to their ancestral land. They're all
10:3710 minutes, 37 secondsscheduled for eventual eviction today. They are supposed to come and
10:4810 minutes, 48 secondsevict us. I don't know when. They will dump us somewhere like rubbish. Today. I don't know what to do.
10:5710 minutes, 57 secondsIt's 11:00. Are you expecting them?
11:0011 minutesThey are supposed to come anytime. But I hope God stops their evil deeds. But they might come today.
11:0811 minutes, 8 secondsIt's possible. Maybe. We don't know for sure. Anytime. Look, look. I'm not
11:1511 minutes, 15 secondsagainst any government. I just know I have my own land and I have the papers to the land from the British era and
11:2211 minutes, 22 secondsfrom Israel. Where should I go and who should I talk to? I'm a widow. I'm helpless. I don't know what's happening.
11:3111 minutes, 31 secondsWhat can I do? I'm a woman who can't do much. I'm feeling terrible. I haven't
11:3711 minutes, 37 secondsbeen able to eat for the last 5 days. I was supposed to go to the doctor, but I can't go because I'm so worried. I'm
11:4611 minutes, 46 secondslooking for someone to help me. All I have is God. I pray that he helps me.
11:5211 minutes, 52 secondsGod is there. He's the only one I can rely on. I can only make a living from this land.
11:5911 minutes, 59 secondsThe Israeli police organization most responsible for controlling the Bedon is called the Green Patrol. Officially created to protect the environment.
12:0712 minutes, 7 secondsOfficers drive jeeps across the desert, enforcing a range of laws designed to constrict the bedin lifestyle and cut their roots to the land. The Green
12:1612 minutes, 16 secondsPatrol's harshness and brutality is legendary amongst the Bedawin and well documented in the Israeli mainstream press.
12:2412 minutes, 24 secondsThey think in a way of uh they can be terrible. The Green Patrol can be terrible. Let's not deal with them.
12:3112 minutes, 31 secondsThat's the way they think. I mean they they still uh there is a huge difference between what the green patrol used to be and what they they are now.
12:4212 minutes, 42 secondsBut uh the the reason that we can be uh so nice today,
12:5012 minutes, 50 secondsso nice in depend what you call nice.
12:5712 minutes, 57 secondsBut the reason for this is that there used to be uh very tough. I would say very very tough.
13:0513 minutes, 5 secondsYou can even see in the the newspaper the difference between what they used to be and what they are now. But uh I can
13:1313 minutes, 13 secondsassure you that there was uh very very tough and uh the way to uh to force the
13:2013 minutes, 20 secondslaw was not always in in the legitimate legal way.
13:2813 minutes, 28 secondsThe law is not an essence. The law is a tool, an
13:3413 minutes, 34 secondsinstrument. And it is an instrument to
13:4113 minutes, 41 secondsto arrange and to to make some uh political decisions to take them out. You understand?
13:5013 minutes, 50 secondsAnd the main uh legal problem is a political problem. The only owner of land in the negv will be the state of
14:0014 minutesIsrael and no one but the state of fisel or those who are coming from the state of the fisel which is mainly Jewish
14:0814 minutes, 8 secondskibbutim or whatever once once that's the idea the the law is only a technique
14:1614 minutes, 16 secondsyou won't find the green patrol in Tel Aiv you won't find did on any Jewish settlement in Israel.
14:2614 minutes, 26 secondsYou'll find them only in the bedins the [ __ ] patrol. The grim patrol it's
14:3414 minutes, 34 secondssomething against the bed. Not against the Jewish not against other. It's not
14:4214 minutes, 42 secondsthey don't care even what Jewish they do. This the policy that is special against
14:4914 minutes, 49 secondslike if you say in America you make special police against black people.
14:5614 minutes, 56 secondsIt's impossible.
14:5814 minutes, 58 secondsOne of the things that got me morally upset was uh at first when uh I first met the people of the green patrol I was
15:0615 minutes, 6 secondsso disgusted by their posture. was like a third world fascist police form.
15:2115 minutes, 21 secondsDo you know what happens on Monday? There will be a search. Who comes to search you?
15:2915 minutes, 29 secondsHuh? The green patrol.
15:3715 minutes, 37 secondsWhat will they do to you? They will destroy our home. Why?
15:4515 minutes, 45 secondsI don't know. When they come, do you get scared? Yes. Why do you get afraid?
15:5415 minutes, 54 secondsI'm afraid of the Jews. When they come, what do you do?
16:0316 minutes, 3 secondsI sit next to my mother.
16:0816 minutes, 8 secondsYou sit next to your mother because you're afraid. No, I'm not afraid.
16:1316 minutes, 13 secondsYou just said you were afraid of the Jews.
16:1616 minutes, 16 secondsI'm not afraid when I'm next to my mother. Deport me from here.
16:2616 minutes, 26 secondsThey can only deport me if they come and slaughter me, finish me totally, slay us all here at one time.
16:3516 minutes, 35 secondsThat's how they can deport us.
16:3816 minutes, 38 secondsI'm about to die soon. Where am I to be buried? What is this?
16:4516 minutes, 45 secondsI'm not against this country. We're not against anything.
16:5016 minutes, 50 secondsEnough is enough. If they killed us all here, at least we'd be buried here. We die here.
16:5916 minutes, 59 secondsThe Green Patrol has destroyed everything we have. They want to evict us. But it is better to die here.
17:0817 minutes, 8 secondsHere.
17:1717 minutes, 17 secondsMy wife is gone. I don't know where she is. After we got this eviction notice from the Green Patrol, she just
17:2517 minutes, 25 secondsdisappeared. And I don't know where she went. When did the Green Patrol come here?
17:3317 minutes, 33 secondsThey came on Wednesday and then she went away and I don't know where she is.
17:4117 minutes, 41 secondsAren't you worried about her?
17:4317 minutes, 43 secondsYes. But what can I do? It's the whole government. What can I do against the whole government? She's afraid of the government. She's afraid.
18:0018 minutesThe bedawin's dignity in Israel has been desecrated. First, there is no freedom here. Second, there is continuous fear.
18:1118 minutes, 11 secondsWhat do you mean by fear?
18:1418 minutes, 14 secondsFear. Fear. If you come and seize my sheep, my livelihood, I'm afraid of you.
18:2118 minutes, 21 secondsI can't overcome you. If I could, I wouldn't be afraid. But they are much stronger than us. We are bedawin. We
18:3018 minutes, 30 secondsdon't have guns or anything. They have everything.
18:4218 minutes, 42 secondsThey have never shot anyone. But they do things worse than that. Actually, the bad one would rather be shot than endure the humiliations the green patrol
18:5018 minutes, 50 secondsperpetuates upon them. They come to the shepherdesses and beat them. They scare children. They go to women when they have water containers on their donkeys
18:5818 minutes, 58 secondsand pour it all out. Often they catch women gathering firewood and burn it before them. It happened to my mother.
19:0519 minutes, 5 secondsThey met her east of Kabuch Mashab. They took the wood she had collected and burned it before her. When they come to the tents, they chop the ropes and the
19:1319 minutes, 13 secondstent collapses or they tie them to their jeeps and pull them down. A better one I know who served in the Israeli army came home on a holiday to find his tent torn
19:2219 minutes, 22 secondsdown and his children without shelter.
19:3619 minutes, 36 secondssheep from me. They took them and they put them in quarantine.
19:4119 minutes, 41 secondsThey gave me $8,000 for them and said, "You deserve nothing more. That's it." They took the entire source of
19:4819 minutes, 48 secondslivelihood for me, my wife, and my children.
19:5219 minutes, 52 seconds250 animals were confiscated and I was given a minor amount of money. My sole source of living was stolen from us. I'm
20:0120 minutes, 1 secondonly a bedin. I don't have a jet to fight them. Who can I complain to? Did you go to a lawyer?
20:1020 minutes, 10 secondsWhy should I go to a lawyer? A lawyer is one of them. The judge is one of them.
20:1520 minutes, 15 secondsThey're all the same. Everyone knows this. This is how they pay us back after we serve them in their army.
20:2620 minutes, 26 secondsMy brother Farhan and I were coming back home. We were riding on the donkey and a green patrol jeep came up to us. The men
20:3520 minutes, 35 secondsin the jeep asked us if we wanted to sell the donkey, but we said no. So, they told us to get off it. A man took
20:4220 minutes, 42 secondsit and told us to tell our father to go to Beer Shiva and claimed the animal there. A few minutes later, we heard
20:5020 minutes, 50 secondsshots and looked back and we saw that they had killed it.
20:5820 minutes, 58 secondsAs long as we are living in a tent, even if the green patrol comes here, We will maintain our dignity and offer
21:0721 minutes, 7 secondsthem our hospitality because he would be considered a guest when he comes here.
21:1421 minutes, 14 secondsEven if someone collaborates with the Green Patrol once he's here, he's a guest.
21:2121 minutes, 21 secondsWe are bedins. We cannot insult a guest. That's why there's a tent for guests.
21:2821 minutes, 28 secondsEven if someone spies on us here, he's a guest and he must be respected.
21:3421 minutes, 34 secondsIt's very important what to deal with the bedwinds to come from a power position. First of all, they appreciate it and uh the way to help them is to
21:4321 minutes, 43 secondscome from a power uh uh position.
21:4821 minutes, 48 secondsAnd uh I mean the the reason that we can sit here now and and drink coffee and uh
21:5621 minutes, 56 secondstalks in this kind of friendship is because that
22:0322 minutes, 3 secondsthey know that that sometimes I I I should force the law and and and be quite tough with them and uh that's
22:1222 minutes, 12 secondsthe only way that you can actually help them if you come from a power position.
22:1622 minutes, 16 secondsThey know that that uh the one who in charge to force the rules that dealing with them and I'm talking about the
22:2522 minutes, 25 secondsships I'm talking about the land uh it's me and uh they know that if if if we if
22:3222 minutes, 32 secondsthey will uh make any problem they know the way we we do
22:4622 minutes, 46 secondsThey came with the trucks about 9 or 9:30 in the morning. We were out with our sheep away from the tents. When we
22:5622 minutes, 56 secondssaw the masses of Border Patrol police and Green Patrol members pulling the tents down, we said, "What's going on?"
23:0423 minutes, 4 secondsA lot of people had been out with their sheep. Some of the homes were empty.
23:0923 minutes, 9 secondsPeople had gone to places far in the north looking for pasture land. No one imagined such behavior. We often rent
23:1823 minutes, 18 secondsfields from the Jews. We go north with the sheep. We rent for a time and when that time o is over, they drive us out
23:2623 minutes, 26 secondseven if the grass is still high. They came here with cars and trucks. They put our tents on the trucks and took them
23:3423 minutes, 34 secondsaway. Then they cut the ropes with knives. Were there children here?
23:4023 minutes, 40 secondsYeah, there were children. They just threw them out in the sun. There were eight army cars and five trucks. On Tuesday, three trucks came. And on
23:4923 minutes, 49 secondsWednesday, the rest. I can't tell you how many police came here. We can't resist the government. We don't have
23:5623 minutes, 56 secondsguns. We don't have anything. We're simple people. We fight them with money.
24:0124 minutes, 1 secondWe hire their lawyers and the judges are theirs, too. Our dispute over the land goes through money channels. The only source of income we have is our sheep.
24:1224 minutes, 12 secondsWe've had to sell our wives jewelry. The lawyers are theirs. The judges are theirs. Do you trust them?
24:1924 minutes, 19 secondsI don't. But what choice do I have?
24:2724 minutes, 27 secondsThey came last Tuesday and the Wednesday before.
24:3124 minutes, 31 secondsThey left the children without a roof and women without food and only the clothing they wore. They took everything.
24:4024 minutes, 40 secondsThe children were very afraid. They scattered in hiding all over the area and we had to search a long time for them.
24:4924 minutes, 49 secondsWe were raised on this land.
24:5924 minutes, 59 secondsNow we don't feel safe at night. We don't know what's going to happen at any minute. We hide the children's blankets
25:0625 minutes, 6 secondsnow so if they come and take everything again, at least the children can keep warm.
25:1225 minutes, 12 secondsIf you look now for those blankets, you won't find them. We hide them far from here. Even this rug beneath you, we just brought from hiding for you as guests.
25:2225 minutes, 22 secondsThey seize them and throw them away.
25:2525 minutes, 25 secondsWhenever we hear noises, we become frightened.
25:2925 minutes, 29 secondsEveryone looks wearily outside. Maybe their jeeps have come. It's as if there was a blood feud between them and us.
25:4325 minutes, 43 secondsIn the far past, there used to be Israeli military role. The first time we bet when we're beaten was then. Our fathers grew into fear under their rule.
25:5425 minutes, 54 secondsWe grew up in a climate of fear. And now our children face it, too. Go to any child here, even 5 years old. When he
26:0226 minutes, 2 secondssees a jeep approaching, he panics and starts shouting, "The Green Patrol is coming." Why is he hiding?
26:1626 minutes, 16 secondsHe's afraid. He was raised in fear. The Green Patrol keeps scaring them all the time. Whenever they see a kid here, they
26:2326 minutes, 23 secondsstop their jeeps and beat them. The children also know the livestock they are hurting is likely to be confiscated.
26:3026 minutes, 30 secondsOur homes are also demolished. Now he's going to hide in the desert where no one can find him. Even if you look for him in your car, you won't find him. It's fear.
26:4026 minutes, 40 secondsDoes he think we're Jews?
26:4226 minutes, 42 secondsOf course. He thinks you're the Green Patrol.
26:5626 minutes, 56 seconds3 days after the Bedon you have just seen were forcibly evicted off their ancestral lands 1 half mile away Kibutraim one of the many Jewish
27:0427 minutes, 4 secondssettlements built on confiscated Bedawin land celebrated their 10th anniversary day and night with movies dancing feasts and songs written for the occasion.
27:1927 minutes, 19 seconds[music]
27:2227 minutes, 22 seconds[singing] We are
27:2427 minutes, 24 seconds[music]
27:3127 minutes, 31 secondshappy. [music]
27:3627 minutes, 36 seconds[music]
27:3827 minutes, 38 seconds[singing]
27:4027 minutes, 40 secondsOriginally,
27:4327 minutes, 43 seconds[music]
27:5027 minutes, 50 seconds[music]
27:5227 minutes, 52 seconds[singing]
27:5627 minutes, 56 seconds[music]
27:5927 minutes, 59 secondsthere were just eight people and the area was deserted. Later, a few more people arrived who didn't know exactly
28:0728 minutes, 7 secondswhat they were looking for. They simply wanted to try something new in their lives. People from [music] different parts of the country tried to build
28:1528 minutes, 15 secondssomething shared, something common. And the people donated money and there was something [music] founded. We call it a kaput.
28:2728 minutes, 27 seconds[music]
28:3428 minutes, 34 secondsOffering the better no choices or input into their own their own future. In the 1970s, Israeli authorities began creating towns to concentrate them.
28:4228 minutes, 42 secondsToday, there are seven such segregated Bedawin urban areas. For the past 20 years, Israeli planners have continued to enforce a policy of economic and
28:5128 minutes, 51 secondssocial strangulation as well as eviction to push the unwilling Bedawin into these towns so that the Arab desert becomes Jewish.
28:5928 minutes, 59 secondsNo, reservations is not exactly the right thing. I think township is the the most fitting to them because the indeed these are these are
29:0929 minutes, 9 secondsurban like settlements with no agriculture and no employment
29:1829 minutes, 18 secondsdormitories even if they are not explicitly stated as meant to be such but in Israel you
29:2729 minutes, 27 secondsdon't state everything that you are intending to do the purpose of this town really to to have the bedin as a cheap labor for the
29:3629 minutes, 36 secondsneighboring Jewish towns. The the government doesn't plan these town to be self-sufficient. There is no planning for industrial estate. There is no
29:4429 minutes, 44 secondsplanning for anything. It's just a hotel. It's nothing to be they haven't
29:5229 minutes, 52 secondsgive a thought about. Nobody asked the bed, do you want? They planned it. They made the decision. They made everything.
30:0030 minutesAnd then they forced the bed to do it with all the means that you maybe came across.
30:1330 minutes, 13 secondsThere's not a single bedin who went to these townships of his own free will. It was because the policy of harassing them
30:2230 minutes, 22 secondseverywhere, tearing down their houses, stealing their lands. Where can he find shelter? They persuade people, okay, you
30:3130 minutes, 31 secondswant a good lifestyle, go and buy a piece of land in town. We'll give you facilities there. Israel is very good in
30:3930 minutes, 39 secondspropaganda. The propaganda says, "We want to improve the bedin situation and
30:4630 minutes, 46 secondsspeed up the pace of modernization while it's actually chasing him, confiscating his land, demolishing his home, seizing
30:5530 minutes, 55 secondshis animals. He doesn't have the space even to put his feet. So where can he go but the town there's no way out.
31:0631 minutes, 6 secondsThey give them one dunam which is a quarter of an acre piece of land in the village and sometimes some help towards
31:1431 minutes, 14 secondsbuilding a house and they give up their land which might constitute of a thousand dunam
31:2131 minutes, 21 secondsor 5,000 dunam or 50 And when they sign up, a strate tragedy
31:3031 minutes, 30 secondsstarts because when they sign up, they assign also a death sign to their way of life.
31:3931 minutes, 39 secondsCuz moving out of the tent and out of the nomad way of life is really a spiritual death for them.
31:4731 minutes, 47 secondsAnd they all tell us how horrible it is for the people who has have taken this step.
31:5631 minutes, 56 secondsAnd they tell us about suicides. They tell us about people who are going nuts and people who can't pay the the bills and they are thrown to the streets
32:0332 minutes, 3 secondsbecause they have no idea of how to cope with the modern system of economy and running their lives.
32:1732 minutes, 17 secondsSo better feel this gap between the past and today and these people who become aware of this fact that they can't be as
32:2532 minutes, 25 secondshospitable as they used to feel tortured and miserable.
32:3132 minutes, 31 secondsIn the past when the Bedawin lived in the desert he was totally independent and powerful. Today his independence is
32:3832 minutes, 38 secondsvery fragile and he is very weak. Now the bedin only mimics mimics what?
32:4632 minutes, 46 secondsNobody knows. And I as an educator am afraid of this phenomena.
32:5632 minutes, 56 secondsWe've been working for just one year and so far we've identified 30 cases of drug addiction in Rahhat. That doesn't
33:0433 minutes, 4 secondsinclude casual consumers. So far we have 30 known cases. The numbers who casually use, we don't know.
33:1933 minutes, 19 secondsWhen we came to the town of Rahhat, we learned about telephones, income tax, property tax, the added value tax, sales tax.
33:3033 minutes, 30 secondsThat's the price of modern life. That's the price of modern life. And now we're much worse off than before.
33:3733 minutes, 37 secondsWhy? What problems do you have? the taxes and all. Most people here are unemployed. In the past, work was
33:4533 minutes, 45 secondsavailable in Jewish settlements near Raova. Wherever and because of the lack of work, a lot of people are drowning in
33:5233 minutes, 52 secondstheir own debts. Their water meter is turned off. A lot of people are put in jail because of money.
33:5933 minutes, 59 secondsLife in Rahat is not that good.
34:0234 minutes, 2 secondsAre they happy with this? The Yeah. Yeah. Very happy.
34:0734 minutes, 7 secondsWhat part of this did the asanas like the best? Do you know what's the best part of this for the asanas that they say?
34:1334 minutes, 13 secondsYou know they say we are happy we have here this our land you know we we lived here and
34:2134 minutes, 21 secondsnow we will build new new
34:3134 minutes, 31 secondsterrible life. We're just living in [ __ ] We're just surviving because death hasn't gotten us yet. There's no freedom
34:3934 minutes, 39 secondshere. We're not even 50% of the way other people are living. We eat [ __ ] and we don't talk about it. We have to be
34:4734 minutes, 47 secondshappy with our situation. Who can we complain to? What can we complain about?
34:5234 minutes, 52 secondsWe're just half living. Sometimes we think about taking poison to calm our nerves, whatever is available. Then they
35:0035 minutescome to us and say, "If you don't like this way of living, go to the towns.
35:0535 minutes, 5 secondsJust go to the towns and buy a plot and drown in the mortgage. Nobody cares where the money's going to come from.
35:1135 minutes, 11 secondsNobody cares about us.
35:2035 minutes, 20 secondsIt's the circumstances here, the condition of life. If you can't find work, if you don't have rights, you find
35:2735 minutes, 27 secondsshelter and drugs. They form drug games mainly because of unemployment.
35:3335 minutes, 33 secondsI think it plays an essential role in it. If you don't have a job and you can't find one, you end up just hanging around and this can lead to drugs. Is part of it helplessness?
35:4435 minutes, 44 secondsYes. And boredom. No hope.
35:5335 minutes, 53 secondsThey don't come right out and tell me it's because I'm an Arab. They just say there's no work.
35:5935 minutes, 59 secondsAnd what can I do? My son is hungry.
36:0336 minutes, 3 secondsWhat should I do? Should I be a thief and begin stealing or selling drugs? I'm under constant stress and there's no way out of it. My whole life is like this.
36:1336 minutes, 13 secondsWe aren't taught a profession. We didn't learn anything. And it's a very abnormal way for young kids to grow up.
36:2736 minutes, 27 secondsThe educational policy here is intended to make the bed illiterate. They want the Arab to forget he's an Arab. So the
36:3436 minutes, 34 secondsbooks the students use in the school are screened by Israeli intelligence. They censor things and they leave out everything that has to do with Arabs in
36:4236 minutes, 42 secondsthis country. We demand a change in the curriculum and we have met the Minister of Education about this. We demanded
36:4936 minutes, 49 secondsthat material about Islam must be included in the curriculum. It's totally ridiculous that the Arab pupil goes and
36:5736 minutes, 57 secondsstudies Zionism, its history when it was founded. Let the Jews study their Zionism and let us study our own
37:0537 minutes, 5 secondshistory, our shining history which we are proud of.
37:1037 minutes, 10 secondsOne of the required courses in the high school in Rahhat, the largest Bedawin town is about Zionism. Here, Betto and students must absorb the Israeli
37:1937 minutes, 19 secondsjustification for the ideology that has confiscated their lands, destroyed their heritage, and caused their own people
37:2637 minutes, 26 secondssuch misery. The course is sweetened for weary Arabs by channeling it through the playful novelty of computers. And now
37:3437 minutes, 34 secondstoday what I study now in the computer that about the
37:4137 minutes, 41 secondsJewish question in Europe and uh about the people that looking
37:5237 minutes, 52 secondsfor solution of the problem of the Jewish and one of them is important
37:5837 minutes, 58 secondsabout herself herself life and uh about the Congress, the first Congress Jewish.
38:0738 minutes, 7 secondsOne of the thing really that I found with the textbooks of my children, there is nothing in the textbook that my children could relate to. There is
38:1438 minutes, 14 secondsnothing the names he found even the terms could be Jewish name could be European [clears throat] name translated
38:2238 minutes, 22 secondsbooks even pictures of the blonde child somewhere which nothing to be related to the to
38:2938 minutes, 29 secondsthe community or anything related. The child could see this is from around my myself.
38:3538 minutes, 35 secondsAt my time when I was at second school, there's nothing about the bed. Now maybe there is a page in the geography book
38:4438 minutes, 44 secondsabout the bedin with a tent and this is the bed and the negative and very very minimal thing. They hardly
38:5238 minutes, 52 secondslearn anything about the bed but you learn about everything about Bengaron, the state of Israel, her all these things.
39:0639 minutes, 6 secondsI'm a school teacher. One of my colleagues told me that he was once giving Arabic lessons in the first
39:1339 minutes, 13 secondsgrade. One of his teaching methods was to put up a picture of a house and asked the kids to write the word house in Arabic under the picture. The teacher
39:2239 minutes, 22 secondsput the picture of the house on the edge of the black board and just as he did, a gust of wind knocked it to the ground.
39:3039 minutes, 30 secondsAll of the students started to laugh.
39:3239 minutes, 32 secondsWhen the teachers asked why, they said the green patrol had demolished the house. The word tea is a Hebrew word and
39:4139 minutes, 41 secondsin the Bedawin children's minds, it's a very powerful thing. Like the border police which specializes in chasing the
39:4839 minutes, 48 secondsbedin. By age six, kids know these things. Whenever they see a Jeep coming, they immediately think of demolished
39:5639 minutes, 56 secondshouses. The Jeep represents the Green Patrol. It was funny, and we laughed that day, but it was a very bitter laugh.
40:0840 minutes, 8 secondsBy the 1990s, 45,000 bedon continued to resist Israeli law and lived on land that had been confiscated by the
40:1540 minutes, 15 secondsgovernment. Until eviction proceedings, impermanent shelters like tents are tolerated on the contested land for the time being, but homes built of stone,
40:2440 minutes, 24 secondswood, and other material that suggests permanence are subject to random demolition and their owners subject to legal persecution. Some reports estimate
40:3340 minutes, 33 secondsthe existence of over 12,000 such illegal structures. They begin to destroy the houses one after the other.
40:4140 minutes, 41 secondsOne after the other. If a bed refuse to destroy his house is going to jail, it's a criminal offense already.
40:4940 minutes, 49 secondsIt's done as a part of this policy that tries to push the bedins to these
40:5740 minutes, 57 secondsvillages. All the houses built by the bedins are built illegally because they never got a permit.
41:0741 minutes, 7 secondsThey never got a permit because nobody can give them a permit. Nobody gives them a permit can give them a permit
41:1441 minutes, 14 secondsbecause there is no town planning. There is no town planning because these settlements are not recognized. These settlements are not recognized because
41:2341 minutes, 23 secondsnobody wants to recognize him. Age 22, maybe even 23.
41:2941 minutes, 29 secondsInstead of going to prison, instead of being fined, you can take your time, but promise you buy a land, buy a plot.
41:3841 minutes, 38 secondsThey have to give up their rights and then they can buy a plot on their own land. Such amazing system.
41:5441 minutes, 54 secondsIn 1991, they demolished my house. Who demolished your house? The state. Which state?
42:0342 minutes, 3 secondsIsrael. Even the Nazis don't do such things. They brought me to court and the judges ordered me to pay $1,000 and
42:1042 minutes, 10 secondsdemolish my house with my own hands. And they put me in prison for five months.
42:1642 minutes, 16 secondsThey said, "Demolish your house and go and buy a plot in the town." I said, "I don't want to live in a town. I want to
42:2442 minutes, 24 secondslive on my own land. It was my father's land before Israel even existed.
42:3542 minutes, 35 secondsThey threw all our things outside and threw the kids out too. The next morning at 8:00 they came again.
42:4342 minutes, 43 secondsWhen did they demolish your house? At 6:00 in the evening. There was snow and rain, a very strong wind. It was very cold.
42:5342 minutes, 53 secondsDid any kids get sick? Yes, me too. Did you go to the doctor? I was hospitalized in Beer Cheva.
43:0243 minutes, 2 secondsWhy are you sad, Alia? Because of what I see here.
43:1243 minutes, 12 secondsThey took your olive trees with them.
43:1543 minutes, 15 secondsYep. Trucks loaded every one of the trees. 4,200 trees. About 20 trucks came. Each tree was as big as the shack.
43:2543 minutes, 25 secondsThey left me with the smallest tree. You can see it out there. That one tree. Why do the Israelis behave this way?
43:3343 minutes, 33 secondsThey don't want to see us. And trees root you to the land. And they don't want us rooted to the land. Trees mean stability. And they don't want to see that with us.
43:4943 minutes, 49 secondsWhen they demolished my home, I was in Nazareth. If I was here, I would have fought them, even if they killed me.
43:5843 minutes, 58 secondsWhen I came back, I was met on the road and told that my house was gone. Women and children were weeping. That's the Israeli government.
44:1444 minutes, 14 secondsThis is a picture of the old bus I used to store water in. Why did you frame it like this?
44:2144 minutes, 21 secondsSo I'd never forget how they destroyed it. And so my kids would always know that there was something wrong here.
44:2844 minutes, 28 secondsThere's racism in this country. I just wanted to store water in this old bus and they destroyed it. I hung the
44:3544 minutes, 35 secondspicture on the wall. So I'll never forget it.
44:4044 minutes, 40 secondsBecause Bedawin communities that resist eviction from their own land are considered illegal by the Israeli state, they are routinely denied electricity,
44:4844 minutes, 48 secondswater, and other services until they move to one of the seven ghettos created by the government for them. This
44:5544 minutes, 55 secondssituation creates poignant contrast between luxurious Jewish enclaves surrounded by razor wire fences,
45:0245 minutes, 2 secondssometimes built literally yards away from the impoverished people. they seek to displace in the desert environment.
45:1045 minutes, 10 secondsJewish settlements are subsidized and provided enough water for swimming pools and peach orchards, while the neighboring Bedawin, whose traditional
45:1745 minutes, 17 secondswater sources have long since been destroyed by the government, must truck in drinking water at considerable expense. Piped water for Arab
45:2545 minutes, 25 secondsagricultural use in the desert is illegal. Likewise, electricity is denied the Bedin even as power lines and power
45:3345 minutes, 33 secondsstations are built in their midst. Among the most disturbing contrasts is the lavish Jewish garden community of Omar
45:4045 minutes, 40 secondsbuilt only 150 yards from the bedin communities of Abu Srihan and Tarabina Sana places that like all illegal
45:4845 minutes, 48 secondssettlements live at night by lantern and gas fuel generators in Omare you know Omare it's a special
45:5745 minutes, 57 secondsplace you know um nice to live very quiet
46:0446 minutes, 4 secondsAnd um the people here is a some special people, very nice people, you know,
46:1346 minutes, 13 secondsworkers always work in the university, doctors in hospital, you know, um
46:2146 minutes, 21 secondsengineers in the old projects in the negative. It's very much of a projects, you know, engineering pro projects and
46:3146 minutes, 31 secondsuh people like to live here in Omar. It's very expensive, but it's nice, you know, very clean, very quiet.
46:4046 minutes, 40 secondsThey um wanted to steal from our house, but um the alarm and it scared them away.
46:4946 minutes, 49 secondsYeah.
46:5146 minutes, 51 secondsBut you haven't had any problems since then? Uh, do you know any better ones?
47:0047 minutesI know that they're going to the streets. They're looking for food and clothes like snow on these streets. Streets of Omar.
47:0847 minutes, 8 secondsHuh? Where did you hear that? I see them every day.
47:1347 minutes, 13 secondsYou see them looking for food and Yeah.
47:1647 minutes, 16 secondsWhere where would where do they look for food?
47:1947 minutes, 19 secondsIn the garbage. I'm living with them and working with them for 10 years to almost have nothing to we're friends in work.
47:2847 minutes, 28 secondsSo we have no daily connection except of work.
47:3447 minutes, 34 secondsThe connection is during work with the workers working here in Omar. I don't know where in the mats are and
47:4247 minutes, 42 secondscleaning maybe I don't know or [clears throat] I don't know exactly but
47:4947 minutes, 49 secondsuh the connection don't work they came here they uh thief
47:5947 minutes, 59 secondsnow they are quiet why they now they are quiet why
48:0848 minutes, 8 secondsmore police they are talking not good for and they have all what they want more.
48:1848 minutes, 18 secondsDo you ever see see any better one? Do you ever see any here? Of course they are coming here. They're working in the gardens.
48:2748 minutes, 27 secondsYes. They all what they want. They are free to come here. I am not free to go there.
48:3548 minutes, 35 secondsWhy? Because I am afraid. Why are you afraid?
48:4248 minutes, 42 secondsI am afraid to go there. I don't know what they will do. They hate us.
48:4948 minutes, 49 secondsBut why do you think Why did the better one hate you? Why? But they are. They are.
48:5748 minutes, 57 secondsThey want the land. They don't want me to be here. The better one too.
49:0549 minutes, 5 secondsOh, they are Arabs. All Arabs, we are afraid from them.
49:1249 minutes, 12 secondsIt's not not good. We have not freedom. We have no freedom.
49:2149 minutes, 21 secondsWe live here. We don't know what will be tomorrow with them.
49:2749 minutes, 27 secondsHave you ever been over to the Bedawin area or No. No. One one with a a good friend. is a
49:3549 minutes, 35 secondspolice over now what to do there. You see all the time police police.
49:4449 minutes, 44 secondsWhat did they what what was it like over there? What was it like in that area? The Bedawin area.
49:5249 minutes, 52 secondsI don't know them. I don't know them.
49:5749 minutes, 57 secondsWhat can we do? What they walk here? They building a house
50:0750 minutes, 7 secondshouse and they have everything. Oh, you go. So, and he cames with a knife and
50:1650 minutes, 16 secondsgive you in the do hatred is counteractive.
50:2250 minutes, 22 secondsThe hating person is hating first of all him or herself or harming first of all him or herself.
50:3350 minutes, 33 secondsSo I am not amazed that people who who go to live in Omr because of ecological
50:4050 minutes, 40 secondsreasons out of the city uh do such a harm to others because because they are self-conscious.
51:0251 minutes, 2 secondsYou must see. You see how beautiful it is.
51:1551 minutes, 15 seconds[music]
51:2451 minutes, 24 seconds[music]
51:2751 minutes, 27 secondsNew York.
51:3051 minutes, 30 seconds[music]
51:4051 minutes, 40 seconds[music]
51:5151 minutes, 51 seconds[music]
51:5951 minutes, 59 seconds[music]
52:0252 minutes, 2 secondsHeat up
52:1252 minutes, 12 seconds[music]
52:1452 minutes, 14 secondshere.
52:1952 minutes, 19 seconds[music]
52:3552 minutes, 35 secondsWhile actively destroying the Bedon lifestyle, some Jews recognize lucrative possibilities in the romantic appeal that tourists have for the exotic desert
52:4352 minutes, 43 secondsdwellers. A popular museum was built to house Bedawin artifacts from Jewish collections owned by Kabut Lahav,
52:5152 minutes, 51 secondsanother Jewish settlement. This place is not named after anything having to do with the Bedawin whatsoever. Rather, it is named in honor of a former Israeli
53:0053 minutesmilitary leader and nemesis of the Bedawin, Joe Alan, after his assassination by Palestinians while serving as a foreign ambassador.
53:0853 minutes, 8 secondsHe didn't ask you what do you want?
53:1153 minutes, 11 secondsHe's he want the land. He want to take the land. But then from the other hand he said let's be civilized and try to preserve this group of people. You see
53:2053 minutes, 20 secondsthey have good culture they have good sort of things. It's worth keeping but worth keeping in a a museum.
53:2853 minutes, 28 secondsSo you find the people who destroying the bedwin Arab in the native now is trying to keep them in a small scale in the Jolon center to bring some tourists
53:3753 minutes, 37 secondsto them to look this is how the bed live and but they never told them what happened to those people and who forced them to change and who destroyed them.
53:4653 minutes, 46 secondsThis is the rug. Yes, but why are the change?
53:4953 minutes, 49 secondsThis is the camel. Yes, but why he having a subaru now? What happened to the camel? What happened to the land behind? Nobody telling them this story.
53:5753 minutes, 57 secondsThey just tell me yes there's the group of Bun who used to live in the in the in the negative and uh they are similar to the ancient Jews in the past.
54:0854 minutes, 8 secondsThe Jews also live with the kufu and things. The ancient Jews looks like those. And if you would like to think about the ancient Jews here, maybe a
54:1654 minutes, 16 secondsliving example and this is the most one of the most thing that the people feel hurt about it for somebody to destroy
54:2554 minutes, 25 secondseverything for you and then to take even the culture the thing that belong to you and to present it
54:3254 minutes, 32 secondssomething from the land of Israel and to bring American tourists to see this Bedwin place and the benefit from that
54:4154 minutes, 41 secondsplace doesn't come back to the bed community. They benefited from this museum. It goes to to the kibut's lab
54:4954 minutes, 49 secondswho took the land, took the people working with them and now they took the culture and they claiming to be a fair
54:5654 minutes, 56 secondssociety, a democratic society and they are a kibbutz people who came with all the socialist theory and they want to be socialist. They don't want to live with
55:0555 minutes, 5 secondswith a capitalist state. They want to live together and to share things together, but to share thing with the Jews, not to share it with Arabs.
55:1355 minutes, 13 secondsThe whole concept of orientalists or bedwinists is is a false and and and I would say distorted concept.
55:2455 minutes, 24 secondsUh if you're an anthropologist, okay, I mean from that also can derive a a kind of a racist attitude.
55:3455 minutes, 34 secondsYeah.
55:3655 minutes, 36 secondsEven when you are very well well meant I mean well intended
55:4355 minutes, 43 secondsbecause then you distinguish you put to a certain block a certain
55:5055 minutes, 50 secondssort of people you don't relate to the conditions to the environment.
55:5755 minutes, 57 secondsSo at the moment these uh experts researchers uh relate to these people as a kind of a species.
56:0856 minutes, 8 secondsIt's not a humane and not a human attitude and then you can research about the bedwin and expel them at the same time.
56:1656 minutes, 16 secondsMost of the people really the the the bedwin subject it's been all the time for the anthropologist
56:2456 minutes, 24 secondspeople or people who want to study the group of people look at the bed all the time look at this group of people what
56:3256 minutes, 32 secondsshall we do with them somebody said let's keep them as they are somebody said no we must improve their situation
56:4056 minutes, 40 secondsand everybody giving his own opinion about the group and nobody really asked the bad what do you It's it's the mentality of the of the
56:4856 minutes, 48 secondspowerful country against the weak person. It's the same applied to the Israeli. They are the occupier of this land. And they
56:5656 minutes, 56 secondsgot the same mentality that the French got in the Nigerian, the Dutch, South Africa. There's no different. Occupy is
57:0357 minutes, 3 secondsoccupier. Whatever you put him, the younger the bride is, the more valuable she is. A young bride might be
57:1157 minutes, 11 secondsworth as much as 50 camels. The father of the groom takes money or the camels for her. He's responsible for all her
57:1857 minutes, 18 secondswedding supplies, clothes, gold, whatever. The couple marries and then they spend their first night together.
57:2557 minutes, 25 secondsOnly then the groom finds out if his bride is beautiful because he has never seen her.
57:3957 minutes, 39 secondsI'd like to remind you of something.
57:4257 minutes, 42 secondsThis dog is an Arab dog and all the Bedawin dogs are afraid. A lot of them suffer from rabies, so don't touch them.
57:5057 minutes, 50 secondsHe always barks, but he doesn't harm anything. You can pass by and he won't harm you. The dog just warns the inhabitants that someone is passing by.
58:0158 minutes, 1 secondThe Bedawin plant trees here because he's about to settle here his whole life and this is his own territory.
58:0858 minutes, 8 secondsAnd beside the tent, he's built a small shack where he keeps his water container.
58:1358 minutes, 13 secondsThat means he's improved a lot. He's progressed from stage one to stage two.
58:2058 minutes, 20 secondsAnd now he's at stage three, Beverly Hills.
58:2458 minutes, 24 secondsLet's go further and see what stage three is exactly.
58:3958 minutes, 39 secondsThey come with a Jewish guy who's their guide. Some even ask to sit in our tent, but we refuse. We don't allow that. We tell them we haven't got time for it.
58:5058 minutes, 50 secondsThey come around and take pictures of our animals. The other day, a guy came with a video camera. I was asleep and
58:5758 minutes, 57 secondsthe kids were sleeping, too. But they didn't have any clothes on. They treat us like animals, not like human beings.
59:0559 minutes, 5 secondsDo they ask permission to photograph?
59:0859 minutes, 8 secondsNo. I told the guy with the video camera that what he was doing wasn't right and that it was rude, so he walked away a
59:1659 minutes, 16 secondsbit and started doing it again. I can't fight them, so I let him take his videotapes. But it's very bad manners.
59:2459 minutes, 24 secondsOften they come and take photos of our women when the men aren't around. They come and do what they want and then they make fun of us.
59:3259 minutes, 32 secondsThe whole tourist industry of this desert is based on them. No one would come here if not for the bedin lifestyle. This is the main attraction here.
59:4259 minutes, 42 secondsHowever, they don't know what's behind these people, what kind of suffering they're going through because you know
59:5059 minutes, 50 secondsthey don't complain. You come as their guest, they give you this royal treatment and they would not complain.
59:5859 minutes, 58 secondsAnd I heard about people who come to visit this uh bedin tent here in Konog.
1:00:041 hour, 4 secondsAnd uh actually our son saw these kids, Israeli kids come and they asked the guide why are beding moving
1:00:121 hour, 12 secondsinto villages and the guide said to them because uh they can't get the mail in their tents.
1:00:201 hour, 20 secondsA common belief amongst Jewish Israelis is that the sacred land of Israel has been deforested and ruined over the centuries by ignorant and inefficient Arab caretakers.
1:00:301 hour, 30 secondsMaking the desert bloom with flowers and agricultural produce has been one of the foremost myths of Jewish desert settlements, a beacon of pride to the
1:00:381 hour, 38 secondsZionist spirit. These attitudes, however, are sadly ironical in view of the fact that the Jewish industrial and
1:00:451 hour, 45 secondsmilitary state has since its institution in 1948 created a quagmire of overwhelming ecological and
1:00:521 hour, 52 secondsenvironmental hazards in the Holy Land, particularly dangerous to the Bedawin who often do not understand the gravity
1:00:591 hour, 59 secondsof the new perils they face. And everyone in Israel who see television think, "Ah, this bedin is destroying nature there. he's probably gone into
1:01:071 hour, 1 minute, 7 secondsthe reserve and he's taking some stones out of there or whatever.
1:01:121 hour, 1 minute, 12 secondsSo the PR the the notion that people have about the bedins is that they are fighting the forces of the environment.
1:01:221 hour, 1 minute, 22 secondsThere's nothing further from the tools from that. Now when you take a beds and you stick them in one place, crowd them,
1:01:311 hour, 1 minute, 31 secondsovercrowd them, you got an ecological disaster. You got switch problem, you
1:01:381 hour, 1 minute, 38 secondsgot disease problem, you got overg grazing, and you got all the diseases that they are blamed for.
1:01:501 hour, 1 minute, 50 secondsWe're not allowed to move our tent. We can't even cross the road you've just come down. There is dust here, insects.
1:01:571 hour, 1 minute, 57 secondsIf we dare to move our tent, the Green Patrol will immediately come and wait until we demolish it ourselves.
1:02:031 hour, 2 minutes, 3 secondsSo we bear all these burdens living next to the dump with the dust and insects and can't think of moving to another place. We say, "Okay, okay." We look
1:02:141 hour, 2 minutes, 14 secondsonly to God to help us. Were you here before the garbage dump next to you?
1:02:191 hour, 2 minutes, 19 secondsWe were here before the dump. The rubbish intruded on us. They said we had to move to its edge. They said we even had to move our water pipe to provide
1:02:281 hour, 2 minutes, 28 secondsspace for the garbage. Does the garbage here bother you? Of course. the smells.
1:02:341 hour, 2 minutes, 34 secondsWhen the wind blows, you have to cover your nose with your skirt.
1:02:451 hour, 2 minutes, 45 secondsWe get all the pollution because bedawin aren't considered part of the Israeli community. We're considered part of
1:02:541 hour, 2 minutes, 54 secondsnature, not part of humanity. Take for example the water company. They decided to clean all their pumps here and dump
1:03:021 hour, 3 minutes, 2 secondsall the waste water and chemicals into the valley. People cross that valley every day. Students and shepherds. We
1:03:101 hour, 3 minutes, 10 secondshad to get a court order to stop them from doing it. There's also a problem with sewage. All the Jewish towns have sewage systems and they don't see that throwing the waste at Arabs is an issue.
1:03:211 hour, 3 minutes, 21 secondsThese acts harm our dignity as much as our health.
1:03:311 hour, 3 minutes, 31 secondsThe tourist like this guy here, he doesn't know what's going on. The tour guide says in Hebrew, "Look at the
1:03:391 hour, 3 minutes, 39 secondsbedin. They're living in villas now. And Israel is making great progress even for the Bedawin. Look,
1:03:481 hour, 3 minutes, 48 secondsthis is life in Israel. Nothing like this has ever happened before in history. When the sewage goes into the
1:03:561 hour, 3 minutes, 56 secondssea, all the world cries, "Oh, it kills the fish, pollutes the water." But come and look and see where the sewage is
1:04:041 hour, 4 minutes, 4 secondshere. Nobody cares. Nobody even considers us human.
1:04:141 hour, 4 minutes, 14 secondsThese are the sewage ponds from the Jewish town of Deona. They're a big problem for us. mosquitoes and also the smell. Smells terrible.
1:04:241 hour, 4 minutes, 24 secondsYou could never bear sitting in my house because of the smell here. How close is your home to these ponds?
1:04:301 hour, 4 minutes, 30 secondsVery close. We were here long before the ponds were brought in. They built these ponds next to our home. They brought them to us.
1:04:411 hour, 4 minutes, 41 secondsOften in Israel, they say, "Well, it's treated." But what does that mean? It means it sat in a settling pond, went through primary treatment, and may have reduced the actual solids in it. But in
1:04:491 hour, 4 minutes, 49 secondsterms of nutrient levels, bacteria and the like, he hasn't done really that much for it. I think there are some movable treatment facilities in Deona, but it's nothing that would be considered acceptable.
1:05:061 hour, 5 minutes, 6 secondsThis is not the green river. This is the black river. Since 1970, I remember this water traveling down that valley from
1:05:151 hour, 5 minutes, 15 secondsDeona towards Beer Cheva. What kind of water is it?
1:05:201 hour, 5 minutes, 20 secondsSewage from Deona in its industrial zone. This water affects the land, the sheep that drink it, and the water wells
1:05:281 hour, 5 minutes, 28 secondshere, which used to be the best in the Negv desert.
1:05:421 hour, 5 minutes, 42 secondsThere about 5,000 bed who live in the Alhawasha area. It's two miles from Deona. The river of sewage cuts through
1:05:501 hour, 5 minutes, 50 secondsthe middle of the Bedawin community and passes near their school.
1:06:041 hour, 6 minutes, 4 secondsWe saw sheep and camels drinking from the sewage.
1:06:081 hour, 6 minutes, 8 secondsYes, close to the sewage there's lots of grass. People take their sheep there.
1:06:121 hour, 6 minutes, 12 secondsBut don't these people eat the meat of those sheep?
1:06:161 hour, 6 minutes, 16 secondsYes, actually the sheep that drink from the water have a peculiar taste. Even their milk tastes strange. There are cows there, too. Did you complain to the
1:06:251 hour, 6 minutes, 25 secondsauthorities that this water affects your meat and milk? It doesn't help. No one listens to us.
1:06:351 hour, 6 minutes, 35 secondsDo you face problems in bringing water here? Yes, a lot of problems. In winter, the sewage valley causes a lot of difficulties. We have trouble crossing
1:06:441 hour, 6 minutes, 44 secondsthe river in winter. When there's a heavy rain, the valley becomes flooded and we can't get across it at all.
1:06:521 hour, 6 minutes, 52 secondsOne of the most catastrophic environmental and human health threats in Israel is Ramad, a cluster of pesticide and other hazardous chemical
1:06:591 hour, 6 minutes, 59 secondsfactories in the desert. It is also the site of Israel's notorious toxic waste dump.
1:07:061 hour, 7 minutes, 6 secondsIt was originally established in the early 1980s by a private company.
1:07:121 hour, 7 minutes, 12 secondstotally mismanaged up to a level perhaps of criminal negligence. In the mid 1980s, there was
1:07:191 hour, 7 minutes, 19 secondsan explosion at the site which created a toxic plume which sort of wafted over the city of Tel Aviv which is 13 km north and
1:07:281 hour, 7 minutes, 28 secondsTel Aviv or BV and Beva pardon me. And then um as a result the Ministry of Health went out and got a injunction to close the place
1:07:361 hour, 7 minutes, 36 secondsdown. One day I was there with a group and suddenly
1:07:421 hour, 7 minutes, 42 secondsfrom the from the pipes we saw bum broom clear broom
1:07:501 hour, 7 minutes, 50 secondsyou know you can you can notice it because it's a it has a orange yellow color
1:07:571 hour, 7 minutes, 57 secondsand they telling us to to run away
1:08:041 hour, 8 minutes, 4 secondsand they are putting they put masks on on their face.
1:08:081 hour, 8 minutes, 8 secondsThis is when you were just there to look at it, to look and to explain to a group from
1:08:151 hour, 8 minutes, 15 secondsour society. It happens all the time, every day.
1:08:201 hour, 8 minutes, 20 secondsThere has been considerable criticism about the level of treatment, quality of the treatment there. I visited there a
1:08:271 hour, 8 minutes, 27 secondscouple years ago and had a sense that the exposures which both the workers and the visitors uh were subject to were
1:08:351 hour, 8 minutes, 35 secondsextremely high. Many of the practices which are utilized there for disposal of hazardous waste are unacceptable at least in the United States contact
1:08:421 hour, 8 minutes, 42 secondscontext under the resource recovery conservation act. And in fact last year just in this location I was privileged
1:08:501 hour, 8 minutes, 50 secondsto host Mr. Don Clay who's the director of the super fun program for USPA. He's an assistant administrator and he had just come from around Kav and he
1:08:591 hour, 8 minutes, 59 secondsconfirmed my view with regard to the inappropriate inappropriateness of a lot of the treatment methods. His feeling was that uh in the United States would
1:09:081 hour, 9 minutes, 8 secondsbe considered a super fun flight site and the whole area would have to be basically evacuated or all the dirt and everything like that would have to be re uh buried in another facility.
1:09:181 hour, 9 minutes, 18 secondsWhat about the fact there's a big bed community right across the street from Lamont? That's right. Are they at risk?
1:09:241 hour, 9 minutes, 24 secondsI really don't know. I I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were, but I've never, you know, they haven't asked for
1:09:321 hour, 9 minutes, 32 secondsfor studies. must realize in a field like ours we have to be rather careful about
1:09:401 hour, 9 minutes, 40 secondswhen and whom we ask questions about
1:09:471 hour, 9 minutes, 47 secondsin the long run uh we don't want to let things go on which are which are hazardous but uh even in vadva which we
1:09:561 hour, 9 minutes, 56 secondsknow is very heavily polluted with chemicals uh the bedawin and their flocks are are obvious Obviously, the flocks are grazing.
1:10:061 hour, 10 minutes, 6 secondsThey must be drinking some of the water, and that's all I can say. I I' I'd like to
1:10:151 hour, 10 minutes, 15 secondsknow more about it, but I uh I haven't been asked by anybody. And uh
1:10:301 hour, 10 minutes, 30 secondsI have a four-year-old child. It bothers him at night. He wakes up coughing. What can I do? Where can I take him? I have another child. People who just passed by
1:10:391 hour, 10 minutes, 39 secondsthis area can't even bear the smell. But we live here. Near the place where I live is a poisonous dump. The smells coming from there are much worse than
1:10:471 hour, 10 minutes, 47 secondseven the smells from the chemical factories. They bring stuff here from all over. It affects us most at night.
1:10:541 hour, 10 minutes, 54 secondsOften we've had guests and they had to leave because of the smell. We have no way to escape it. We bear it because we're used to it. They dump it here away
1:11:031 hour, 11 minutes, 3 secondsfrom the Jewish population. We don't count in their eyes. Nobody cares about us.
1:11:161 hour, 11 minutes, 16 secondsWe were here before it came. Did you protest it? What could we object to? They told us it was just a factory.
1:11:231 hour, 11 minutes, 23 secondsNothing else. Nothing about what they were doing.
1:11:261 hour, 11 minutes, 26 secondsThey never consulted anyone around here about what the factories were. No, never.
1:11:331 hour, 11 minutes, 33 secondsThere's currently a um controversy raging following a expose in Yidot, which is Israel's bestselling newspaper,
1:11:411 hour, 11 minutes, 41 secondsin which it was claimed that uh lots of materials was knowingly poured down into ravines leading to uh areas in which
1:11:491 hour, 11 minutes, 49 secondsBedawin live knowingly by the management. They claim that that's yellow journalism completely false that the worker who made that report was
1:11:561 hour, 11 minutes, 56 secondsfired unceremoniously for skipping work and then he an attempt to avenge his uh his firing has made up all kinds of stories. It's hard to make a call there.
1:12:061 hour, 12 minutes, 6 secondsMy sense is that having known the couple people who are running around that I tend to believe them and not the work. I
1:12:131 hour, 12 minutes, 13 secondsreally only made one official visit in the very early days and I was being shown around and I'm told this is
1:12:221 hour, 12 minutes, 22 secondsimpervious and it there won't be any effect on the groundwater and nobody uses the groundwater nearby. And I
1:12:321 hour, 12 minutes, 32 secondslooked up and I saw Bedawin woman pulling something up out of the
1:12:391 hour, 12 minutes, 39 secondsground 30 m away. I said
1:12:451 hour, 12 minutes, 45 secondswell um what's that then? Well, he said it's just a better one. I said but what's she doing? I don't know what
1:12:531 hour, 12 minutes, 53 secondsshe's doing. I said well you know it looks to me as though she's pulling a bucket up out of a well. He said, "Well,
1:13:001 hour, 13 minutesshe shouldn't do that here." I said, "Well, who told her that?" Well, she's just a better one.
1:13:111 hour, 13 minutes, 11 secondsSometimes the the pools are leaking and you cannot know you cannot notice.
1:13:231 hour, 13 minutes, 23 secondsSometimes they they have problems and and they are flowing over flow over you
1:13:301 hour, 13 minutes, 30 secondsknow the and the water are going down to the to the valley and um till now what
1:13:371 hour, 13 minutes, 37 secondswe know is the all the um the water the
1:13:441 hour, 13 minutes, 44 secondsexifer are poison.
1:13:551 hour, 13 minutes, 55 secondsI haven't been here very long, but I know from people who come here and the chic of this tribe that this land is often very dry. People depend on sheep
1:14:031 hour, 14 minutes, 3 secondsfor their livelihood. Some work in the chemical factories there. I didn't see this myself, but they tell me that water runs out of Ramat Hov and sheep that graze there drink the polluted water.
1:14:141 hour, 14 minutes, 14 secondsThis water causes diseases in the sheep and then people eat them. There are no wells in in Ramatova. There was one water
1:14:221 hour, 14 minutes, 22 secondsspring which is uh polluted nowadays and still used. I saw
1:14:311 hour, 14 minutes, 31 secondsI've been there some years ago and I still saw the the the her drinking from it. I wouldn't have touched the waters.
1:14:381 hour, 14 minutes, 38 secondsYou are right there. But I saw the herds are lead and drink this water and nothing happens. And I have a case that
1:14:471 hour, 14 minutes, 47 secondsone bedwin they have about 300 sheeps that day one case and they have gave him a money and such don't
1:14:561 hour, 14 minutes, 56 secondswhat happened to the sheep they died died they died and from chemicals they drink a water
1:15:071 hour, 15 minutes, 7 secondsI had about 20 sheep that walk through a liquid over there and their skin and wool fell right off. I went to Roma Hov
1:15:151 hour, 15 minutes, 15 secondsand complained, but they just told me to keep my sheep away from such pools. What happened to the sheep? They were burned.
1:15:221 hour, 15 minutes, 22 secondsThey died.
1:15:231 hour, 15 minutes, 23 secondsDied? Yeah, they died. Did the sheep drink from the water? No, they just passed there. Is there a fence around the pool?
1:15:321 hour, 15 minutes, 32 secondsNo, not to this day. I can show it to you.
1:15:421 hour, 15 minutes, 42 secondsI'm not sure if there are problems of sheep eating waste and dying, but there are poisonous clouds that come out of Ramat Hov. There are some materials that are not collected in pools or buried.
1:15:541 hour, 15 minutes, 54 secondsThey are thrown into the air. They erected a special water spray system and this liquid flies into the sky and falls
1:16:011 hour, 16 minutes, 1 secondback to Earth. It reaches people's tents nearby. The trees and grass around that area are also burned. Even people as far
1:16:101 hour, 16 minutes, 10 secondsaway as Yoham are suffering from these water sprays. It's on the western side of Vermont Hov. It's always functioning day and night.
1:16:191 hour, 16 minutes, 19 secondsWhen you take the sewage and spray it, the evaporation is more intensive than
1:16:251 hour, 16 minutes, 25 secondswhen you put it in a in a surface and let let the sun make all the the world for you.
1:16:321 hour, 16 minutes, 32 secondsThat's the theory is good. Mhm.
1:16:351 hour, 16 minutes, 35 secondsThe problems is in in in exercising the theory because there are
1:16:421 hour, 16 minutes, 42 secondsvery many mechanical problems with the spray machines because it's sewage. It's
1:16:501 hour, 16 minutes, 50 secondsvery corrosive. So you have to to to invest money and and and
1:16:591 hour, 16 minutes, 59 secondsworking hours in maintenance. And another problem is that every light wind
1:17:051 hour, 17 minutes, 5 secondstakes the spray out of the where it is intended to fall and take it out to the
1:17:141 hour, 17 minutes, 14 secondsgrounds in the surrounding and you are it's a harm to the to the environment.
1:17:211 hour, 17 minutes, 21 secondsDo I understand the street all these factories send their toxic water it's poison water? Yes. To these evaporation ponds.
1:17:291 hour, 17 minutes, 29 secondsYes.
1:17:301 hour, 17 minutes, 30 secondsPoison water. All kind any what? All kinds of poison water.
1:17:331 hour, 17 minutes, 33 secondsYes. Together ah every kind of chemical you can name
1:17:401 hour, 17 minutes, 40 secondsfrom you know carbon and toxides and and metals everything that can harm the environment.
1:17:541 hour, 17 minutes, 54 secondsI used to fill sacks with materials 55 lbs each. What did the material look like?
1:18:011 hour, 18 minutes, 1 secondIt's a powder, sort of like sugar. Is there dust from it? Yeah. Was your face covered? No.
1:18:091 hour, 18 minutes, 9 secondsDid you inhale it? Yes.
1:18:111 hour, 18 minutes, 11 secondsWhat happened when it went into your mouth and eyes?
1:18:141 hour, 18 minutes, 14 secondsWell, a lot of the materials, gases, and so forth were imperceptible. You couldn't tell if you absorbed them or not. Some things burned. I realized
1:18:231 hour, 18 minutes, 23 secondslater that Bedawin were the only ones that did this kind of work. Jews could be offered a fortune, but they wouldn't do it. Are there any Jews working there?
1:18:321 hour, 18 minutes, 32 secondsYeah, but they don't touch anything.
1:18:341 hour, 18 minutes, 34 secondsThey turn on the lights and the machines and wonder around with their hands in their pockets.
1:18:461 hour, 18 minutes, 46 secondsDid the material touch your body?
1:18:481 hour, 18 minutes, 48 secondsYes. All over. All your clothing stinks with it. Did it get into your face and eyes?
1:18:541 hour, 18 minutes, 54 secondsYes. Dust is everywhere. It got into our eyes. Even the food we ate was full of it. Did this harm your health?
1:19:011 hour, 19 minutes, 1 secondIn 1989, I used to work in the gas section. Bromine got into my eyes and I had to go to the hospital. To this day, I'm affected by that gas.
1:19:091 hour, 19 minutes, 9 secondsA lot of the treatment that was going on there was inappropriate and the workers who should have been going around with all kinds of respiratory protection and and the like. I mean, when I was in
1:19:171 hour, 19 minutes, 17 secondsthere, they weren't giving me any kind of uh requirements. Just maybe wear a hard hat. I can tell you that just uh the basic kind of things you were you
1:19:251 hour, 19 minutes, 25 secondswere smelling there were really really um really really heavy.
1:19:361 hour, 19 minutes, 36 secondsThe only way to get rid of the smell in your clothes is to burn them. If I worked in these clothes, I couldn't go home in them. You wouldn't be able to
1:19:451 hour, 19 minutes, 45 secondsbear being near me. Did the factory supply you with special clothes?
1:19:501 hour, 19 minutes, 50 secondsNo. No plastic or other protective clothing.
1:19:551 hour, 19 minutes, 55 secondsNo. Look here. See this? These scars here are from working there. If it gets on your skin, it burns you.
1:20:111 hour, 20 minutes, 11 secondsThis is from your work. Yes, from working there. Did this appear when you worked there?
1:20:161 hour, 20 minutes, 16 secondsNo, it appeared a little while after I left the brine factory. It's also on my back.
1:20:211 hour, 20 minutes, 21 secondsThe environmental hazards provided for the Bedawin near Ramat Hav do not stop with the factories and toxic waste dump.
1:20:271 hour, 20 minutes, 27 secondsThis Bedawin grade school about a mile from Ramadan Hav like all Bedawin schools located out of officially sanctioned towns is built with roofs
1:20:351 hour, 20 minutes, 35 secondsbuilt of his best sheets. Jewish schools are of course not provided such cost-saving materials.
1:20:421 hour, 20 minutes, 42 secondsOne of the bedroom officials at the school, afraid to speak on camera, told us that a nearby military base had been evacuated during a recent toxic chemical
1:20:501 hour, 20 minutes, 50 secondsleak into the air. But his school had not even been notified of the emergency.
1:20:551 hour, 20 minutes, 55 secondsProvided no health protection or information by Israeli authorities and having no idea whatsoever about health risks, even this bedin home, like many
1:21:041 hour, 21 minutes, 4 secondshas an asbestous ceiling. And many of these uninformed, unprotected, and economically desperate people routinely
1:21:111 hour, 21 minutes, 11 secondssalvage barrels and other recyclable materials from the toxic dump or chemical factory trash for their homes.
1:21:271 hour, 21 minutes, 27 secondsOnly some of the neighbors of Vermont Hov are aware of its dangers. But the main issue here is the dispute with the government over the land. People here
1:21:351 hour, 21 minutes, 35 secondsbelieve that the land belongs to them and they won't leave it even if they have to risk their lives unless they are given alternative sites, the same
1:21:441 hour, 21 minutes, 44 secondsacreage elsewhere. This is the main problem. People here have had their lands confiscated for the army, for
1:21:511 hour, 21 minutes, 51 secondskabutz or other Jewish settlements. And now the authorities are telling us that Roma Hav is a very dangerous place and
1:21:581 hour, 21 minutes, 58 secondswe have to move again. This is a shrewdely designed policy to coersse Bedawin off the land. They built Ramat
1:22:071 hour, 22 minutes, 7 secondsHov in what they knew was a very populated place knowing that we've been here for a very very long time. Now
1:22:151 hour, 22 minutes, 15 secondsthey're trying to push the bedin here into the concentration of Sigv Shalom.
1:22:211 hour, 22 minutes, 21 secondsEven if we move to that town, it's only a mile or so away. The problem of Ramat Hov will remain. If we move to sigb
1:22:301 hour, 22 minutes, 30 secondsshalom, not only will we suffer the smell, but we'll also lose our economic livelihood, our livestock, and even our heritage.
1:22:431 hour, 22 minutes, 43 secondsWe don't want to leave this place and go to a town. We've been in the country with our sheep since before Israel was founded. Israel deported us to Raova
1:22:521 hour, 22 minutes, 52 secondsfrom our original lands. They put us here. Were you given compensation for your land?
1:22:581 hour, 22 minutes, 58 secondsNo. We understood we would be allowed to return to it in a year or two, but we have been here since 1950.
1:23:081 hour, 23 minutes, 8 secondsShalom. Why don't you move to Sev Shalom?
1:23:161 hour, 23 minutes, 16 secondsWe can't afford building there. We have nothing. We can't even afford to live here. How can I go and live there? You
1:23:231 hour, 23 minutes, 23 secondshave to pay for a parse of land in the town. And even if I could buy the land, how could I pay for a house? Should I
1:23:311 hour, 23 minutes, 31 secondssteal the concrete and other materials and go to jail for it? That's why you're still here.
1:23:381 hour, 23 minutes, 38 secondsYeah, I prefer this way of living instead of going there and getting into trouble. I can't go and live in those houses.
1:23:451 hour, 23 minutes, 45 secondsWhat if you were offered a chance to go back to your original land? I go. But if they don't give us back our land, I
1:23:531 hour, 23 minutes, 53 secondswould just beg them to let me live a little further away from the poison area. There's a lot of empty spaces in the desert. I would just like to be far from these factories.
1:24:111 hour, 24 minutes, 11 secondsWe have always been living in Israel peacefully, but nowadays they want to destroy us. They want to pile us in Sev
1:24:201 hour, 24 minutes, 20 secondsShalom, near the poisonous area. Go and see the people near Ramatov. It's a grave of living human beings.
1:24:291 hour, 24 minutes, 29 secondsThe authorities want to evict you to Romanov.
1:24:321 hour, 24 minutes, 32 secondsYes, smells drift to the people nearby and a lot of them lost their kidneys from this. I'd rather they shoot me here
1:24:411 hour, 24 minutes, 41 secondson my family's land and not kill me there. I'd rather be buried with my ancestors on my own land.
1:25:181 hour, 25 minutes, 18 secondsThey come here to exercise and practice and we all hear them. Sometimes they are shooting and there's a danger to our
1:25:251 hour, 25 minutes, 25 secondschildren. A lot of kids go to school or play outside. There is fear of these dangerous things. They also exercise at
1:25:331 hour, 25 minutes, 33 secondsnight without their vehicle lights on and they pass between our homes. Little children wake up terrified. There are a
1:25:411 hour, 25 minutes, 41 secondslot of other problems, too. The army drives over our cultivated land. They don't pay any attention. They don't care
1:25:481 hour, 25 minutes, 48 secondsabout it. If you ask them about it, they don't respond.
1:25:571 hour, 25 minutes, 57 secondsI'm speaking of my sons who died from the bomb. My daughter was shot a year later. Where were they?
1:26:051 hour, 26 minutes, 5 secondsRight here on the south side. Were you living here then? Yes, right here. What were they doing?
1:26:151 hour, 26 minutes, 15 secondsThey were hurting sheep.
1:26:211 hour, 26 minutes, 21 secondsIn 1981, we were hurting our sheep on the west side of the road. They were in the habit of confiscating sheep in those days because we were on forbidden land.
1:26:321 hour, 26 minutes, 32 secondsWho forbid it?
1:26:331 hour, 26 minutes, 33 secondsThe army. The army was chasing and persecuting the bed. One day they were chasing us and each car they caught in
1:26:411 hour, 26 minutes, 41 secondsthat area was taken to jail and their sheep were confiscated. The army was rounding up the sheep and there were some people who were coming home from
1:26:481 hour, 26 minutes, 48 secondsthe market. My sister had six kids and she purchased groceries and was coming home. The army yelled at the pujo wagon
1:26:551 hour, 26 minutes, 55 secondsto stop. It didn't, so they started shooting at it. She was shot in the head and died.
1:27:071 hour, 27 minutes, 7 secondsI was in this area where the army exercises, but it doesn't have any sign. Anyone who passes that area wouldn't know it's an army area.
1:27:171 hour, 27 minutes, 17 secondsWhen you woke up, where were you? In the hospital.
1:27:221 hour, 27 minutes, 22 secondsWhen you woke up, you found yourself in the hospital. Yes. What did you see?
1:27:281 hour, 27 minutes, 28 secondsI saw the emergency tools and the doctors. Some people were treating me. I saw my hand and leg were cut off.
1:27:361 hour, 27 minutes, 36 secondsI woke up crying.
1:27:381 hour, 27 minutes, 38 secondsWhen you woke up and found you were missing an arm and a leg? Yes. How did you feel? I sought darkness.
1:27:551 hour, 27 minutes, 55 secondsYour kabutim. I picked up something and it exploded.
1:27:591 hour, 27 minutes, 59 secondsWhat were you doing there? I used to have a few sheep.
1:28:031 hour, 28 minutes, 3 secondsYou were hurting your sheep around there. Yes, a few sheep. What happened to you? What do you mean? What happened to you?
1:28:111 hour, 28 minutes, 11 secondsLook, I don't have a leg. I don't have an arm. How can I work? I have fragments inside my stomach and chest. I could
1:28:181 hour, 28 minutes, 18 secondsshow you the pictures. How can I work or even enjoy life like this? May God make it a short life.
1:28:251 hour, 28 minutes, 25 secondsDidn't you go to the hospital?
1:28:281 hour, 28 minutes, 28 secondsI used to go, but they always ask me for money. They have certain appointments that they wanted me to go to, but I can't do it.
1:28:351 hour, 28 minutes, 35 secondsWhy don't you go there?
1:28:381 hour, 28 minutes, 38 secondsI don't want to see them anymore. I'd rather die. They keep making me pay money each time I go. I told them I
1:28:451 hour, 28 minutes, 45 secondsdon't have any, but they still ask for money. I wrote them a letter to ask them to treat me for free, but they never responded. They might have to amputate it all next time.
1:28:561 hour, 28 minutes, 56 secondsI don't go there anymore. If you keep it like this, you'll lose it. I'd rather die than go see them.
1:29:031 hour, 29 minutes, 3 secondsYou know, we have very some file in in in in the court when they
1:29:101 hour, 29 minutes, 10 secondskilled or wounded some of the bedroom and the government pay composition, high
1:29:171 hour, 29 minutes, 17 secondscomposition. You know the in military make the fire. He don't know that the
1:29:251 hour, 29 minutes, 25 secondsbed in this day they go with with his with the sheep or the goats or with the camel.
1:29:331 hour, 29 minutes, 33 secondsIs this a comment? People getting wounded or killed. Is this common? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How many people? Any idea? More than 10 10 men.
1:29:411 hour, 29 minutes, 41 seconds10 people in the last 10 years, 20 years. Three, four years.
1:29:461 hour, 29 minutes, 46 seconds10 in the last years. Yeah. Any any year one? Three or four million.
1:29:591 hour, 29 minutes, 59 secondsThe army claims these are military areas, although they know people have been living there for many years. This is also one of their tactics to force
1:30:081 hour, 30 minutes, 8 secondspeople off the land under the pretense that these are military areas. Such acts of negligence are presented to the defense department and for some there
1:30:171 hour, 30 minutes, 17 secondshas been compensation to victims. This is still not a solution. Military action should be stopped near the inhabited
1:30:241 hour, 30 minutes, 24 secondsbedin areas over the last 30 years. I've noticed
1:30:361 hour, 30 minutes, 36 secondsthese incidents occurring every year quite frequently. It happened in my own family twice.
1:30:431 hour, 30 minutes, 43 secondsOne killed was 18 years old and the other was eight.
1:30:471 hour, 30 minutes, 47 secondsI put the blame on the authorities who are in charge of all this.
1:30:511 hour, 30 minutes, 51 secondshurting sheep is the main source of income for Bedawin and it's very well known throughout Israel.
1:30:581 hour, 30 minutes, 58 secondsThey know the Bedawin are not industrialists.
1:31:011 hour, 31 minutes, 1 secondBedawin don't hurt nature. They are part of nature and it's very important for them to preserve nature.
1:31:071 hour, 31 minutes, 7 secondsSuch incidents have repeated themselves in quite a few families and there is no answer to our knocks on the door.
1:31:151 hour, 31 minutes, 15 secondsNo one cares. There are no suggestions for solutions.
1:31:191 hour, 31 minutes, 19 secondsOn the contrary, there's actually the opposite. In the last 10 to 15 years, we have noticed a
1:31:271 hour, 31 minutes, 27 secondsdecrease in the grazing areas allotted to us. And these grazing areas are typically adjacent to military areas.
1:31:351 hour, 31 minutes, 35 secondsI dare to say that I believe there is a sense of satisfaction that these incidents take place.
1:31:411 hour, 31 minutes, 41 secondsThe authorities are trying to suffocate the Bedawin minority in Israel that is peaceful and loyal to the country.
1:31:491 hour, 31 minutes, 49 secondsI'd like to tell a short story to illustrate this point. Uh it took place in the police station when the last kid was killed from my family of Abu Sate.
1:31:581 hour, 31 minutes, 58 secondsHis name was Ashrav. He died before sunset.
1:32:031 hour, 32 minutes, 3 secondsIn the morning, all the family rushed to ask about the boy. There were a few Jewish policemen and a police woman at Alakeim's police station west of Beerva.
1:32:141 hour, 32 minutes, 14 secondsThey were coming in and out. The police woman asked the policeman, "Who died?" He answered here in Hebrew. Nothing
1:32:221 hour, 32 minutes, 22 secondshappened. An Arab died. And all of the Bedawin who were there understood Hebrew. Some of those who heard it had even served in the Israeli army.
1:32:331 hour, 32 minutes, 33 secondsWith a variety of methods, the Israeli government relentlessly pressures the Bedawin to abandon their land. But even when the desert is empty of Arabs, it
1:32:421 hour, 32 minutes, 42 secondswould not be quite enough. The Bedawin will have left something behind. The graves of their ancestors that continue to reinforce enduring and compelling
1:32:501 hour, 32 minutes, 50 secondsclaim to the land. This Jewish shopping center in Beerva is built on part of a Muslim cemetery. For many Jewish
1:32:581 hour, 32 minutes, 58 secondsauthorities, not only must the Battle Arabs be evicted, their graves must go too.
1:33:051 hour, 33 minutes, 5 secondsThe government and the local government would like to get rid of that cemetery.
1:33:101 hour, 33 minutes, 10 secondsIt's in the middle of the town. It could be a nice site for building those skyscrapers whatever and another
1:33:201 hour, 33 minutes, 20 secondscommercial center and who knows maybe some factories etc etc and and because it the cemetery is the
1:33:301 hour, 33 minutes, 30 secondsconcept of cemetery is holy for the Jews they cannot uh permit themselves just to
1:33:371 hour, 33 minutes, 37 secondsgraze it although they did it in in remote places to the bedin in the desert itself
1:33:441 hour, 33 minutes, 44 secondsnear the Gaza state for instance I know of a certain place
1:33:511 hour, 33 minutes, 51 secondsbut they don't uh look at it with with the same sacred attitude like they look at their own tombs and then cemeteries.
1:34:031 hour, 34 minutes, 3 secondsSo, breaking in and putting some dirt and uh and to put a a main pipeline,
1:34:121 hour, 34 minutes, 12 secondswater pipeline in the middle of it, it's not a big deal. And if sometimes it
1:34:191 hour, 34 minutes, 19 secondsbreaks because the the uh pipe rottens or or whatever happens to it and it just washes out the bones from the tombs.
1:34:311 hour, 34 minutes, 31 secondsAnd then of course a tractor should come and help the the the hand workers in in dealing with the pipe. Replace the old
1:34:391 hour, 34 minutes, 39 secondspipe with a new one. It is also ruining other stones. It's not a big deal.
1:34:511 hour, 34 minutes, 51 secondsIsraeli policy is to erase any trace of Islamic heritage. But before I talk about the cemetery in Beer Cheva, three
1:34:591 hour, 34 minutes, 59 secondsweeks ago, the Rubin mosque was destroyed in Ashkalon.
1:35:041 hour, 35 minutes, 4 secondsThere are mosques that have been converted here to museums, coffee shops, gambling places. They even converted
1:35:121 hour, 35 minutes, 12 secondssome to livestock stables. We complained to the ministries of interior and of religion and even the president of the
1:35:191 hour, 35 minutes, 19 secondsstate of Israel, but they washed their hands of Islamic holy places.
1:35:241 hour, 35 minutes, 24 secondsGod knows our requests have fallen on deaf ears. Regarding Islamic cemeteries, Israel's policy is to eliminate any
1:35:321 hour, 35 minutes, 32 secondstraces of Islamic heritage. It wants to build homes for new Jewish immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia on Islamic
1:35:401 hour, 35 minutes, 40 secondslands here. I want to call upon all Muslims. There are many Islamic cemeteries and sacred grounds here being
1:35:481 hour, 35 minutes, 48 secondsdesecrated. We are asking help in demanding that the Israeli government stop desecrating Islamic graveyards. If
1:35:551 hour, 35 minutes, 55 secondsanyone slightly harms a single Jewish tomb in Romania, in Germany, or anywhere else in the world, all of Israel is up
1:36:031 hour, 36 minutes, 3 secondsin arms about it. At the same time, Islamic holy places are being desecrated here.
1:36:151 hour, 36 minutes, 15 secondsThey came and took out dirt. God damn them.
1:36:291 hour, 36 minutes, 29 secondsDear God.
1:36:411 hour, 36 minutes, 41 secondsThey come here and dig amongst our dead.
1:36:441 hour, 36 minutes, 44 secondsThey see graves here, but they still expose them. What kind of country is this? They came and took out dirt.
1:36:511 hour, 36 minutes, 51 secondsDo you think they didn't see the bones here? It's incredible. What country would do this?
1:36:561 hour, 36 minutes, 56 secondsIsn't there someplace else they could get dirt?
1:37:001 hour, 37 minutesDoesn't matter to them. They just want the dirt. To hell with the Arabs. We want the dirt.
1:37:051 hour, 37 minutes, 5 secondsThe city knows about the garbage being dumped on our graves, too. And they give licenses to dig here. I can show you nearby. They are digging up graves. Even
1:37:131 hour, 37 minutes, 13 secondsnow for 2 years they dig the graves up and carry the dirt away. What other country would do such things? that area.
1:37:221 hour, 37 minutes, 22 secondsUh recently when uh the Ministry of U housing put up new neighborhoods down by
1:37:291 hour, 37 minutes, 29 secondsthe gas station, they uh put down uh pipes and uh they made a road uh behind
1:37:361 hour, 37 minutes, 36 secondsthe gas station that was uh kind of got into the uh cemetery and they u the Bedwins came uh running to me and uh we
1:37:461 hour, 37 minutes, 46 secondsran to the press and to their lawyers and whatever try to do something about it and the works
1:37:521 hour, 37 minutes, 52 secondsuh were stopped for a while. But uh recently when I uh I went by bus down
1:38:011 hour, 38 minutes, 1 secondthere, I saw that uh I guess they gave up uh their struggle for that piece of
1:38:081 hour, 38 minutes, 8 secondsland because I saw that uh lots of uh construction waste is dumped over there and uh nobody takes it seriously
1:38:161 hour, 38 minutes, 16 secondsanymore. I think Your mother died before Israel existed
1:38:281 hour, 38 minutes, 28 secondsand she was buried in that cemetery we saw today.
1:38:321 hour, 38 minutes, 32 secondsYes, the one where they deliberately dump trash on the graves. The Israeli government doesn't want the better.
1:38:381 hour, 38 minutes, 38 secondsThat's the truth. It wants to erase all traces of us.
1:38:511 hour, 38 minutes, 51 secondsHave any tractors bothered any better graves here? In Yohham?
1:38:561 hour, 38 minutes, 56 secondsYes, in actually there is a cemetery inside of an industrial area and they are making a
1:39:041 hour, 39 minutes, 4 secondspark there. You never heard that they were disturbing any graves? No.
1:39:171 hour, 39 minutes, 17 secondsThere was a saint buried in that cemetery and people always visited his tomb. Like the saint of Alasam, Abu Sakna.
1:39:261 hour, 39 minutes, 26 secondsA few years ago, the saint came to one of my cousins in a dream and said, "Please move me. I don't want these people near me."
1:39:341 hour, 39 minutes, 34 secondsWe reeried him and put a shrine behind the mountain. Then people started burying their dead near him in the new cemetery.
1:39:411 hour, 39 minutes, 41 secondsWe even put a fence around it to protect it. A better one.
1:39:461 hour, 39 minutes, 46 secondsYes, we did it. But the green patrol came and tore down the fence, the posts, everything.
1:39:581 hour, 39 minutes, 58 secondsWhat could we do? They desecrated the graves in the other cemetery. They dumped garbage in it. They're building
1:40:061 hour, 40 minutes, 6 secondshomes near it. And cars drive right through the area.
1:40:111 hour, 40 minutes, 11 secondsAnd even there they came and tore down the fence we put around this one. How far will they go?
1:40:191 hour, 40 minutes, 19 secondsThe authorities don't let the dead rest in peace.
1:40:231 hour, 40 minutes, 23 secondsNo, we can't rest in peace, dead or alive. Now we bury our dead in this small remote place. But apparently
1:40:301 hour, 40 minutes, 30 secondsthere's no other area in the empty desert for an army base. They followed the saint even here.
1:40:451 hour, 40 minutes, 45 secondsThis used to be a tribal area and this was the cemetery. The Jews came and dug a ditch in it to put their garbage.
1:40:521 hour, 40 minutes, 52 secondsWhose garbage?
1:40:551 hour, 40 minutes, 55 secondsThe Jews garbage. The settlement's garbage comes here. As you can see, this is a Muslim cemetery. It's well known.
1:41:031 hour, 41 minutes, 3 secondsEverybody buried their dead here.
1:41:101 hour, 41 minutes, 10 secondsIt's a cemetery for the Aaz and Eggdara tribes. There used to be a mosque and police station near there during the British mandate era. In 1948, the Israelis destroyed them.
1:41:211 hour, 41 minutes, 21 secondsWhat happened to the cemetery?
1:41:231 hour, 41 minutes, 23 secondsThe Kabuts planted eucalyptus on part of it. On another part, there's apricot trees. Did they bulldoze it all? Most of it they destroyed.
1:41:361 hour, 41 minutes, 36 secondsThey put barb wire here.
1:41:381 hour, 41 minutes, 38 secondsThere used to be a fence outside the cemetery. Did they use the land for anything?
1:41:441 hour, 41 minutes, 44 secondsNo, they just want to block us from going over there. So, nobody can get over there.
1:41:491 hour, 41 minutes, 49 secondsIt's about 750 acres, maybe more. They close it all up to us. That's it.
1:41:551 hour, 41 minutes, 55 secondsAre there any graves in the other side of the fence? Yes, there are graves all over there.
1:42:101 hour, 42 minutes, 10 secondsThis is a cemetery. There is a grave. There is a grave. God rests their souls.
1:42:181 hour, 42 minutes, 18 secondsEven the dead are not safe from them. Is this just Israel comes and digs up the bones of the dead? Graves are a very holy thing.
1:42:281 hour, 42 minutes, 28 secondsGod rest their souls. Do you have any relatives buried here?
1:42:331 hour, 42 minutes, 33 secondsMy grandfather, my mother, God rest their souls.
1:42:431 hour, 42 minutes, 43 secondsIsrael is our country and we help it as we can.
1:42:461 hour, 42 minutes, 46 secondsIt doesn't make sense that they do these things to us. We don't understand.
1:42:511 hour, 42 minutes, 51 secondsDo the Israeli leaders know that this is going on? Don't they care?
1:42:561 hour, 42 minutes, 56 secondsThey should investigate when we send them letters, but they never respond.
1:43:011 hour, 43 minutes, 1 secondWe are not a government. They say there is equality between Jews and Bedawin. If there is equality, will they let us destroy Jewish graves? Of course not.
1:43:121 hour, 43 minutes, 12 secondsWhat would happen if we threw garbage on their graves? If you had the chance, would you throw garbage in a Jewish cemetery?
1:43:191 hour, 43 minutes, 19 secondsNo. Have a conscience. They're dead people. I respect Jewish graves, too. They're dead.
1:43:261 hour, 43 minutes, 26 secondsWhy should I harass them? It's obscene.
1:43:281 hour, 43 minutes, 28 secondsDoesn't your conscience know it's sinful?
1:43:311 hour, 43 minutes, 31 secondsSo you wouldn't allow the bed to No, I have a conscience. They are dead people. Dead. Dead. Why do you think the Jews are doing this?
1:43:431 hour, 43 minutes, 43 secondsThe Jews want the land without anyone else on it. Even the dead. Even the dead.
1:44:031 hour, 44 minutes, 3 secondsGet out of this.