After the coronavirus pandemic, food security in unrecognized villages worsened. Societal infrastructures had to reassess their capacity under large-scale emergency stress. In the unrecognized villages of the Negev, exploratory research conducted in the first year and published in September 2023 highlighted how the lack of infrastructure, particularly water and electricity, directly affects residents’ food security (in Hebrew). The war that began on October 7th, 2023, and the exploratory research findings prompted us to continue using qualitative methods for this study. The subsequent findings resulted from 21 semi-structured interviews conducted in seven villages deprived of recognition. Based on these findings, we recommend developing an emergency plan for situations when the movement of Bedouin people is restricted to their villages; otherwise, future emergencies could lead to starvation.

Chapter one examines the consequences of the October 2023 war on food security in unrecognized villages. First, a traditional food rationing system in these villages, used in times of crisis, tends to promote isolationism. Second, at the war’s onset, tourism-related jobs and employment along the Gaza border ceased, which were the primary sources of income for women in the villages. Third, the war drove up the cost of living, reducing the variety of products available, mainly fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat. The loss of income, rising cost of living, and increased socioeconomic isolation has severely impacted the regular food supply in households. These three effects of the ongoing war are expected to undermine food security and compound into worsening long-term health issues.

Chapter two addresses the measuring of food security in unrecognized villages. The interviewees noted that discussing food insecurity is considered shameful in Bedouin society. Shame complicates access to accurate quantitative measurements of Bedouin food insecurity. Additionally, the approach to identifying food insecurity differs from that of most people in Israel. Some interviewees described reliance on the land and living modestly as a healthy Bedouin tradition. For instance, in response to a standard food security questionnaire, “Did you skip a meal in the last two weeks?” the answers are likely to be negative, as olive oil in pita bread is regarded as a meal. Food security questionnaires must be tailored to local contexts, or else connotative discrepancies can lead to inaccurate results.

Chapter three examines the gendered division of labor concerning food security within the household. Traditionally, women leave their homes to move into a home within the men’s community. It is important to note that the Bedouin household is traditionally organized as a network instead of a nuclear unit. Dependents frequently experience flexibility within their family structure. As a result, the husband’s extended family dependents may live in the husband’s household. Gender-based power dynamics within the home are typically dictated by conservative patriarchal norms that enforce gender roles in the context of food security. Women are expected to perform domestic and reproductive labor, while men are expected to be the breadwinners. Both gendered labors attribute to food security in the household.

The conclusion emphasizes the need for comprehensive research and locally focused policy. Regarding research, conducting studies that resonate with the culture and challenges of daily life in each village is recommended instead of relying on standard food security questionnaires. Furthermore, it is essential to adapt measurements and responses to reflect the perceptions of Bedouin villagers and ensure that all questions are tailored with gender sensitivity. Regarding policy, protocols must be established to protect Bedouin villagers from starvation in emergencies and non-emergencies. A consistent and storable source of fresh food must be developed to promote self-sufficiency. During non-emergency periods, it is advisable to adopt a flexible definition of the household, ensuring it includes everyone who may share a meal. Lastly, we strongly advocate for integrating women into stable employment that aligns with their customs and raising awareness of food security in high schools as teenagers start taking active roles in their households.

הפוסט Food Insecurity in Bedouin Villages Deprived of Recognition in the Negev Region of Israel הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.

“It is crucial that a plan be designed for emergency situations in which residents of the villages are unable to access foodstuffs outside of their villages. Such situations will result in real hunger, as it appears to have occurred among some families during the Covid-19 epidemic.” (published in Hebrew, here)

Indeed, when the present war with Hamas broke out, civil society organizations working in the Negev warned that residents of the unrecognized villages were on the brink of hunger. Even during normal times, they cope with food insecurity, along with lack of infrastructure, access roads and regular provision of water and electricity. Food insecurity in the villages stems from, among others, the need to go elsewhere in order to obtain the necessities of life. Thus, in times of emergency, when it is impossible to go outside the villages, the danger of hunger is imminent.

Civil society organizations have tried to make up for the inaccessibility of necessities – collecting and delivering foodstuffs to a distribution point in the village of Hura, but their volunteers contend that distress is rampant, and civil society initiatives will not be able to supply the enormous needs for long. They are calling on the state to act to prevent hunger both immediately and in the long run.

Like other residents of the Negev, Bedouin residents suffered terrible losses following the Hamas attacks. At least 19 Bedouin citizens of Israel were murdered on the bloody day of October 7, 2023, among them a grandmother and her granddaughter from a missile that hit the village of Kochla. Others were murdered when they tried to save persons injured by missiles, and still others as they laboured in the fields of the Israeli townships around the Gaza Strip. In addition, six Bedouin citizens of Israel are among the kidnapped and missing, four of them from the same family – a father and sons who accompanied him to his job at the Holit Kibbutz. The body of another person who went missing – Amar Odah Abu Svila – a young man 25 years old — was murdered when he rescued two Jewish toddlers from Hamas bullets while they were in a family vehicle near the police station in the city of Sderot.

Neglect of residents of the unrecognized villages is outrageous. On October 7, 2023 – the day of the Hamas attacks, those villages did not have rapid-response squads, safe rooms or bomb shelters. The Iron Dome protective system defines the area in which the villages are located as “open areas” rather than “populated areas”, and thus missiles fired in their direction were not intercepted. In addition, in the absence of electrical infrastructure, air raid sirens were not regularly sounded. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel asked the relevant ministers and the Home Front Command to bring prefabricated bomb shelters and to set up alarm systems in the villages. On October 18, 2023, the Ministry for Social Equality announced that together with the Home Front Command, it would act to “close the protection gaps in the Negev Bedouin diaspora.”

The security threat prevents Bedouin citizens residing in the Negev from purchasing necessities, thus creating a threat of food insecurity and even hunger, which is liable to exacerbate if the present war continues. As if this were not bad enough, many of these citizens also lost their sources of income, making it difficult to purchase foodstuffs even if they were able to move freely and go to nearby towns with grocery stores.

הפוסט Lessons of the Covid-19 Epidemic Forgotten: Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in the Negev Face Hunger הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.

Background: Bilal is 16 years old. He lives in a small “unrecognized” [1]village built on land in the possession of his extended family, near one of the “recognized” Bedouin settlements. He is the second among eight children. His father works as a mechanic in a garage in Beer Sheba, and his mother is a housewife. His big brother works with his dad at the garage.

Bilal is in the tenth grade in a high school located in the recognized village nearest his home. He is the first in his extended family to study in high school, and as such, he serves as a model for his younger siblings. Bilal gets to school in a school bus that picks up young people from several other villages and brings them to high schools in recognized villages – the only ones that have high schools. The bus picks him up at a spot some ten minutes from his home. Often the bus comes early and Bilal misses it; then he needs to walk to school, which is about three quarters of an hour away. On rainy days he needs to cross a dry river bed that has filled with water. Usually he is picked up early and arrives at school at seven in the morning instead of at eight, when school begins. On the way back home, the bus collects Bilal not when school ends but later, at three o’clock in the afternoon. If the weather is good, Bilal prefers to walk home rather than wait for the bus and take the long, circuitous ride that will eventually bring him home.

Bilal was a very good student, highly motivated to do well in school. This is not something to be taken for granted, for the obstacles to learning were numerous. With seven siblings at home, he had a hard time finding a quiet corner where he could do his homework. Bilal’s efforts to excel and to complete all of his assignments often led to fights between him and his brothers and sisters.

Bilal’s ambition was to continue his studies after completing high school in order to become a dentist, a profession he thought would enable him to make a good living and get ahead in life – and also to be helpful to family members, many of whom were suffering from dental problems.

Bilal’s teachers, most of them Bedouins, love their charges and do their best to help them get ahead.

What happened to Bilal during the Corona epidemic?

During the Corona epidemic, Bedouin schools in the Negev, like other schools in Israel, were closed most of the time. At first, Bilal enjoyed being away from school and spent long hours playing soccer and other games with his cousins. However, after about a month he began to feel he was losing something – schoolwork that would enable him to get ahead.

In the meantime, the teachers organized to continue teaching via Zoom. Many of the students from the recognized town in which the high school was located had computers at home (but not necessarily a computer for each child) and were connected to the internet. However, in the “unrecognized” villages students did not have computers and there was no infrastructure to connect to the internet. Like other students in the “unrecognized villages,” Bilal did not own a computer. He did have a smart phone, and some of the teachers tried to give lessons via the phone for students from “unrecognized” villages. However, this did not work very well: there were frequent lapses in reception, during which the students missed the teachers’ explanations, and when reception resumed, they could not ask questions because the teachers were already onto other subjects. The situation was especially problematic in math and English, both vital to success in the matriculation exams and to admission to colleges and universities. Discouraged, Bilal called one of his teachers on the telephone and asked how he could possibly learn anything under such conditions.

After a while, Bilal despaired of learning anything. Like other young men in his situation, he looked for – and found – low-wage work. His father allowed him to keep some of the money he earned. The fact that within a short time Bilal had money in his pocket lowered his motivation to learn even more. He felt older and manlier, having discovered that he could earn money on his own.

What happened after the third lockdown?

Bilal’s school reopened in March 2021 and he went back to school. However, within a short time, nearly half the class, including Bilal, contracted the Corona virus. The young people did not suffer much; Bilal was weak with a fever for a few days, but most of his extended family was infected and some of the adults became seriously ill. His grandfather was hospitalized for a month, and when he returned, he was not as hale and healthy as he had been before.

After reopening, Bilal’s school closed three more times due to Corona infections among the students. Long-distance learning resumed, and once again Bilal found himself getting behind in his studies. This time he was not nearly so upset, thinking that perhaps he really didn’t need school, now that he could earn money without it. His father asked him to forget about working and to continue his studies, in order to increase his chances of making a good living. Bilal, being young, thought differently.

What about the future? For the time being, it appears that the Corona epidemic has put an end to Bilal’s plans to excel in school, to get into a university and to study dentistry. Perhaps things will change with time and he will see the light and manage to catch up – and perhaps not.

[1] “Recognized” villages are those endowed with official status by the Israeli government; they include the city of Rahat, 6 towns, and 2 regional councils that encompass 12 small villages. The rest of the Bedouin settlements in the Negev, containing some 80,000 residents, have no official status and are thus termed “unrecognized” villages.

הפוסט The Social Implications of The Corona Crisis: Bilal, A Bedouin High School Student Living in the Negev הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.

הפוסט The Abu Basma Villages הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.

הפוסט Survey of Bedouin Schools in the Negev הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.