The Nakba of al-Naqab (the Negev) - A tour to al-Araqib

Republished August 13  2010

By PalestineFreeVoice

We went on a tour to the south of the country to learn about the events of the Palestinian Nakba in the area, to actually see what remained of the lives of the desert’s “nomadic Bedouin.” We wanted to emphasize the link between the Palestinian refugees living today in the Gaza Strip, most of whom had been expelled from the southern region to an area even farther south, and the locations from which they were expelled when the state of Israel was established.

The story of al-Araqib represents the story of all the Palestinians in the south, those usually called Bedouin – which is how the state of Israel would like them to be known – rather than Palestinians. Only about 15 percent of the 115,000 Negev Arabs remained within the border of Israel after the Nakba began in 1948. Many were expelled to Jordan, others to the Gaza Strip. The people we met on the tour have relatives in besieged Gaza. Some of the Palestinian residents of the Negev became internal refugees, even though this term refers primarily to residents of the northern half of the country who were expelled from their localities but remained in Israel. 

The Bedouin's who were expelled from their homes in 1948 but remained in Israeli territory became what the establishment called “the scattered Bedouin.” The state took over their lands. They fragmented into small, shrunken groupings based primarily on tribal affiliation and settled in improvised localities here and there in the desert. The state redefined them as “trespassers” or, at best, as “residing in unrecognized localities.”

Although 1948 is a foundational year in the history of the country’s Palestinians and Jews, 1951 is an equally important date for al-Araqib’s Arabs and for many other Negev Arabs like them. The state, acting through the military governor of the area, uprooted them from their lands “with their agreement” and relocated them far from their homes, out in the desert, but still within the country’s borders, except for a few who were expelled to Jordan. This occurred in 1951. The state promised to return them to their homes after the army completed training exercises on their lands, which were to last six months. The state didn’t keep its promise. 

They’re still struggling with the six months which, according to the state, began in November, 1951, but which still haven’t declared to have ended. These inhabitants also aren’t called expellees or internal refugees. They joined their scattered brothers in the unrecognized localities. Even locations in which the state chose to settle people are called “unrecognized.”   The state offers solutions which most are unwilling to accept. The most difficult struggle is over land ownership. The state wants their lands, but they do also. 

During Saturday’s tour, sheikh Sayyah al-Turi showed us documents, maps, land purchase and sale contracts and receipts for payment of land taxes dating from the 1920’s, more than two decades prior to the establishment of the state of Israel. The sheikh recounted his tribe’s fight with the state’s institutions. About ten years ago a few families returned to live in tents which they erected on their land. The state hasn’t recognized them, but they’re there. Every year since then, the state destroys the wheat they sow on their land – sometimes using planes, and now with tractors.

Nuri al-Uqbi, who led most of the tour, was pleased with his testimony in the Beersheba municipal court on Monday [see link], part of his legal battle with the state for the return of his land. He has a thick file filled with documents and maps. What annoys him is that he has to prove what he believes has already been proven and is self-evident. He doesn’t despair. He took us to the tent that he erected on his land in 2006, which he turned into a protest tent and information center about the struggle in which he and his tribe have been involved since the start of the Nakba in 1948. 

Near Nuri’s tent you can see the KKL working to take over his land. KKL tractors arrive to prepare the ground for forestation. A large sign has been erected nearby with the name of the future forest: “Ambassadors Forest,” a joint project of the KKL and the Israel Foreign Ministry. In the northern part of al-Araqib’s land, next to Gva’ot Bar, the KKL planted a forest in the name of the children of Montreal.

The tour taught us something important. The Bedouin didn’t live only in tents before the Nakba. Nuri took us to the ruins of some houses constructed of stones and mortar which the state of Israel had demolished after 1951. The buildings weren’t near one another. We passed the cemetery of the al-Uqba tribe. Opposite Nuri’s tent we could see the ruins of his father’s house, in which he was born. His father had been the sheikh of the al-Uqba tribe. The house also served as the tribal court up to 1951.

The first house we stood next to was that of Musallam al-Qawasmi. The location is well-known among the refugees because fourteen Arab men were murdered here by armed Jews in1948. From here we could see Gva’ot Bar, which had been established in 2003 on land belonging to residents of al-Araqib.

About 40 people participated in the tour. We erected signs commemorating sites in the village and distributed the booklet, “Remembering al-Araqib.”

By Umar IghbariyyehSaturday, 12.12.2009

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