Last Thursday, 300 Jewish and Arab Israelis gathered at the Be’er Sheva courthouse to protest against the state’s policy of demolishing houses in unrecognized Bedouin villages. The protest provides a window into the shifting role of the Bedouin community, commonly thought of as the rare Arab group loyal to Israel, in the months following October 7.
On the one hand, Bedouins have shared in the war’s tragedy and heroism: 21 of the 1,200 October 7 victims were Bedouins, two Bedouins are still held hostage in Gaza, and Bedouins have been recognized for their heroic actions on October 7. Both before and after October 7, many Bedouin men choose to serve in the Israeli army. But on the other hand, increased racism and anti-Arab policy since the outbreak of the war have led many of Israel’s 200,000 or so Bedouins to feel abandoned by the state. That sense of abandonment is especially stark around the state’s home demolition policy.
“We are protesting against the policy of mass demolition led by [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir,” Attia Alasam, head of the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages advocacy group, told Davar. “These days, there are demolitions almost daily. The minister is looking to set fire to the area and we’re looking to calm it down. We hope that this government will very quickly disappear.”
Describing Ben-Gvir’s pro-demolition policies as racist and fascist, Alasam said, “Demolitions are not the solution. They just increase hate between Jews and Arabs. The solution is to recognize the villages, to set them up, to cooperate with the Bedouins, who are citizens of the state of Israel but the state relates to them like enemies. We want the state to stop relating to us this way, to see us as citizens and give us the basic human right that is a house.”
The rate of house demolitions in unrecognized Bedouin villages has accelerated since the current government came to power in December 2022. Ben-Gvir has expressed his pride in the outcomes of the policy, even as the demolitions sometimes contradict the orders of forces in the field like the Authority for Development and Settlement of the Bedouin in the Negev. Sources on the ground say that previous agreements with the Bedouin community are also being violated and that the current climate does not allow new agreements to be reached between Bedouin villages and the state.
According to data from Israel’s Real Estate Enforcement Division, 1,325 Bedouin houses were demolished between January and June 2022 (128 forcibly by the state and 1,197 by the homeowners who were made to do so); 1,767 were demolished between January and June 2023 (337 forcibly and 1,430 by the homeowners); and 2,007 were demolished between January and June 2024 (725 forcibly and 1,282 by the homeowners). (Often, Bedouins who receive a demolition order prefer to demolish the home themselves.)
Demolitions stopped during the first months of the war, but they’ve picked up with greater strength since January. Last Wednesday, a house belonging to a young family with three small children was demolished in the unrecognized Bedouin village of al-Zarnuq.
Around 6,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel live in al-Zarnuq, none of whom are able to receive permits to build in the village. Residents report that drones document any changes to the village’s buildings.
“The demolitions build hate between the nations,” Maigal Al Havashla, area coordinator for the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages, told Davar. “We need to stop this. It’s destroying families, young children. It’s unthinkable that this situation will continue without any alternative. My house has been destroyed nine times, and that’s just one family in one village. Decision makers need to come to a decision to bring hearts together, not to build hate. I appeal to them to stand with the citizens of the state of Israel.”
This article was translated from Hebrew and edited for context by Leah Schwartz.
