Rassem Khamaisi

Bedouin Communities in the Negev

Problem: Conflict roils around recognition, planning, and appropriate municipal frameworks for Israels 194,000 Negev Bedouin, especially the 45,000 Bedouin living in dispersed, unauthorized settlements, housed in tents and cinderblock shacks, lacking municipal water, sewage, or electricity, and accessible only by dirt tracks. Purpose: We examine both the universal (indigenous peoples) and unique (to the Bedouin) aspects of the land claims and planning challenges facing the Israeli Bedouin of the Negev. We seek to shift the focus of land disputes to planning paradigms that facilitate negotiated agreements, which may overcome the impasse between the Bedouin (struggling for land, municipal recognition, and equal economic opportunities) and the Israeli government that perceives the Bedouin as a growing demographic threat and a potential fifth column. We develop a model that builds on the convergence of spatial and socioeconomic forces, reflecting the interplay between Bedouin traditionalism and modernization in developing planning frameworks, and creating an arena of negotiation that balances the interests of the contending stakeholders. Methods: Our methodology is multifaceted: Over a three-year period we conducted in-depth interviews, workshops, and observations, and engaged in a review of the planning literature in indigenous societies, Negev Bedouin society, municipal reforms, societies undergoing modernization through urbanization, and relevant master and statutory plans. Results and conclusions: The universal phenomenon of the clash between traditional cultures and modernization has sharpened with the spread of urbanization into rural areas, presenting a challenge to centralized planning processes. The planning model presents a range of planning options that simplify complex conflicts of interests, needs and goals between the Bedouin and the national and local Israeli governments. Results suggest that diametrically opposite positions may be reconciled by identifying an arena of negotiations within which planning options can be developed through discourse, rather than imposing centrally developed plans that might trigger strong, if not volatile, opposition. Takeaway for practice: While this research deals with conflict over land between traditional and modern societies in Israel, the planning paradigms have international applicability. Forces for economic development and urbanization often compete with environmentalists or indigenous groups clinging to their land to maintain their ways of life. Culturally adaptive versions of collaborative planning are crucial to successful dispute resolution. Research support: None.

From imposed ceasefire line to international border: The issue of the green line between Palestine and Israel

Abstract The border between the state of Israel and a future Palestinian state has not yet been settled, and has instead been postponed to final‐status negotiations. The question of the location of the border, however, is critical. Will it be alongside the separation wall and fence which Israel is constructing? Or will it fall along the Green Line defined by the ceasefire agreement of 1949, prior to Israels occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip? This paper shows, as a case study, how the Green Line, a temporary separation line determined by military considerations, changed over time into a de‐facto boundary, and later became regarded as an international border—thus highlighting that what may be intended to be ‘temporary’ in bordering processes can rapidly seem permanent. The paper also describes and analyses historical developments and narratives with respect to boundaries in Mandatory Palestine, and concludes with an analysis of the possible consequences of a failure to establish a new international border. It indicates that bordering processes are complicated matters that must take into account many factors, including narratives, changing ethno‐demographic realities and powerful interests, in contrast to ceasefire and separation lines, which usually relate solely to military matters.

Resisting creeping urbanization and gentrification in the Old City of Jerusalem and its surroundings

This paper (which is an excerpt from a book) examines the question of the revitalization of the Old City of Jerusalem as opposed to renovation or rehabilitation in connection with the question of the gentrification and Judaization of the ancient city through various measures. The author argues that demographic and geopolitical factors as well as Israeli policies have led to the deterioration of living conditions as well as living space in the Old City. An increase in population coupled with the changes effected by the border wall has meant that Palestinians have been forced to deal with increased need for living space in ways which are deemed extra‐legal by Israeli authorities but which also work against preservation of the historic cultural integrity of the Old City of Jerusalem. The author argues that Palestinians should adopt strategies of ‘Forest Life’ and ‘Urban Village’, and that resistance as well as the role of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) should be...

Shaping a Culturally Sensitive Planning Strategy Mitigating the Impact of Israel’s Proposed Transnational Highway on Arab Communities

The decade-long period of public debate and planning for Israel’s Trans-Israel Highway has been characterized by controversy and passion. There has been little if any consideration of how Highway Six can help redress the economic imbalance between Israel’s Arab and Jewish sectors. Land compensation is a complex process whenever expropriations take place. The development impact, which affects both private and public interests, has to take into account the differences in culture and legal status between two communities: Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli. This article offers a set of mechanisms that, only if agreed upon in advance, could ensure a system of shared capital among all stake-holders working toward jointly arrived-at solutions and would lend substance to the concept of cultural sensitivity in planning.

URBANIZATION STRATEGY FOR STRENGTHENING OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW STATE OF PALESTINE

The Oslo process leading to the Interim Peace Agreement between Israelis and Palestinians requires conceptualization and strategic planning so that a new Palestinian state can be undertaken in a comprehensive and timely fashion, complementing existing spatial and community structures. A development strategy must be agreed on to determine priorities and facilitate national development objectives. This paper sets out a spatial strategy for settlement structure and planning policy in the new state, a strategy that, by encouraging investment, strives to strengthen urbanization on an axis joining the four main Palestinian cities. The strategy further endeavors to create a Palestinian core and promote economic growth, while seeking to maintain a hierarchy of long-term rank-size settlement structures.

Resettlement Planning 1948–Present

This chapter presents a detailed summary of resettlement policies and planning for the Negev Bedouin from 1948 to present, and the underlying principles and interests which frame them. The Israeli planning paradigm for the Bedouin has historically been based on territorial considerations. Most government planning policies have aimed at concentrating the Bedouin in high-density towns with defined and limited jurisdictions, which reserve inadequate land for public use and economic development. These policies are divided into three main periods. The first, described by the authors as ‘regional concentration,’ occurred in 1949, immediately after the establishment of the State of Israel. For geopolitical military considerations, the Israeli Government relocated the remaining Negev Bedouin to the Syag region, where most remain, although today some of the towns and recognized villages extend beyond this boundary. The second planning period is referred to as ‘local-urban concentration’ and began in 1964 with the building of the first Bedouin new town of Tel Sheva, followed by six others. The third planning period began in the late 1990s and includes two models. The first, a continuation of stage two, consisted of re-planning within the seven Bedouin towns. The second model, beginning in 2000, focused on the planning of localities/villages within regional councils.

Negev (in Hebrew) or Naqab (in Arabic) Bedouin

This chapter presents a brief history of the Negev Bedouin and their relationship to, and use of, the land, beginning 500 years ago (1516–1918) when Palestine was part of Syria (Bilad al-Asham), ruled by the Ottoman Empire. The three land regimes examined are the Ottoman, the British Mandate, and the Israeli. Prominence is given to the Ottoman Land Laws of 1851, 1858, and 1860; the British Land Ordinance of 1920 and 1921; and the beginning of the application of cadastral methods to land registration based on precise measurements and maps rather than on verbal description of boundaries in 1928. The Israeli land regime after 1948 and the reinterpretations of Mawat (dead) lands as state property are examined. The context for Israeli territorial expansion is also set forth.

Theoretical Context: Justice, Urbanism, and Indigenous Peoples

This chapter frames the theoretical context guiding this volume in a way which promotes understanding, also allowing for comparisons between the Bedouin and other minority communities. Three prisms are examined. 1. Land claims of indigenous people, including the following relevant principles: Land is fundamental to survival. Indigenous people must have a place of their own where they can live together. They must have some degree of autonomy, especially over management of their resources and administration of public services. United internal leadership and cohesive voice are necessary to preserve or regain cultural and territorial rights, and win the support of national and transnational civil society networks.

Bedouin: Evolving Meanings

The term “Bedouin” is associated with seasonal nomadic behavior in arid deserts. Another definition includes terms for “the beginning” (al-Badia or Badia), alluding to the Bedouin being original or indigenous. Today, most of the Bedouin in the Negev live in sedentary dwellings; two-thirds live in towns (2014), and only a small percentage work in agriculture or grazing. The Bedouin are Arab and Muslim, yet differentiate themselves from the larger Arab minority, affiliating themselves specifically as Bedouin. The origin of this term, its meaning, the Bedouin context, and consequences are the focus of this chapter. The disparities between ethnicity and changing lifestyles highlight Bedouin affiliations as both sociocultural and kinship (belonging to tribal traditional structures), as well as territorial and landownership links, the latter being the focus of major disputes between the Negev Bedouin and the State of Israel. The variations and subgroups among the Negev Bedouin are surveyed including tribal stratifications, social class as originally defined by Bedouin (nomads), humran (farmers/peasants), and sumran (servants). These are still strong but dynamic, being connected to time, place, habits, size of group, and economic and political power; landownership and internal evictees/internal refugees; and status and condition of women. Today the Bedouin have a complex socioeconomic and municipal structure. As a group they are changing from a marginal minority within Israel as a whole and among the Arab minority to a group involved in both national and Arab minority politics. Thus, it is important to understand the dispute within the wider context of the Arab minority in Israel—the focus of the next chapter.

Proposals for Flexible Bedouin Resettlement and Collaborative Planning

The many transformations which are emerging within the Bedouin community should guide the formulation of future policies. The chapter summarizes the transformations and their implications. It discusses the three legal systems which apply to land disputes: customary, religious, and state laws. It identifies three main components and their interface which are critical when contemplating reallocation of resources: landownership, zoning, and land management. The chapter then offers a planning model for possible resettlement focusing on this interface. A framework for a revision of settlement policies, developed collaboratively by the government and the Bedouin community, which would yield a diverse set of options is proposed. Shaping alternative land management and spatial planning processes which recognize the Bedouin right to a variety of urban and rural settlement options is crucial to rebuilding a positive relationship between the Bedouin and the State of Israel.