2013 Rabbinic Letter on Bedouin Rights

As spiritual and Jewish community leaders who care deeply about the State of Israel, we write to you in solidarity with concerned Jewish and Arab Israelis to urge you to withdraw the Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev.

Demolishing villages and dispossessing people of their land build animosity among the Bedouin towards the state. Forcing more Bedouin into impoverished urban settings with high unemployment and few economic opportunities will further entrench cycles of poverty.

The Bedouin land claims only involve 5.4% of the area of the Negev. With so much open land available in the south, it is possible to bring in army bases, establish new communities, and develop the region without uprooting and displacing the Bedouin.

To treat the Bedouin population in this way runs contrary to the Jewish values on which the State of Israel was founded. The prophet Micah warned us about such abuses of power, saying: “They covet fields, and seize them; and [they covet] houses, and take them away; thus they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.”

We implore you and your government to treat Israel’s Bedouin population as equal citizens, involve community members in policy decisions that affect their future, and work together to develop zoning plans that meet their needs.

As some of Israel’s greatest advocates, we must also tell you that implementing this plan will be a disaster for Israel’s public image. We are reminded of Chaim Weizmann’s warning that “the world will judge the Jewish state by how it will treat the Arabs.”

As Jews, we are commanded not to oppress a stranger, for we know the heart of the stranger, having ourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. As a people who know too well the pain of homelessness and oppression, Israel has a moral obligation to protect its most vulnerable within its midst.