Israel Negev Bedouin during the 1948 War: Departure and Return
2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13537121.2014.984421
ISSN1743-9086
Autores Tópico(s)Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts
ResumoAbstractWhile much has been written on various aspects of the 1948 War, the story of the Negev Bedouins' role and their relations with the newly formed Jewish state has drawn little attention. This article focuses on a short but important episode in the establishment of Israeli–Bedouin relations by examining the Negev Bedouin involvement in the 1948 War, predominantly on the side of the Arab armies, and the circumstances of their departure. Its findings contradict previous academic narratives and baseless statements regarding Bedouin–Israeli relations, including unfulfilled promises by the Israeli authorities to recognize Bedouin claims to land rights.Keywords:: Mandatory Palestine Negev Bedouins1948 WarRight of ReturnDavid Ben-GurionBedouin land rights Notes 1. Clinton Bailey, "Dating the Arrival of the Bedouin Tribes in Sinai and the Negev," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 28 (1980): 20–49; Moshe Sharon, "The Bedouin in Palestine during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries" [in Hebrew] (MA thesis, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1964), 21–4. 2. Ruth Kark, Pioneering Jewish Settlement in the Negev [in Hebrew] (Ramat-Gan: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1974), 35; Sharon, "Bedouin in Palestine," 51–4, 67–73; Yosef Muhamad Sawaed, "The Bedouin in Eretz Israel between the Years 1804–1904" [in Hebrew] (MA thesis, Bar-Ilan University, 1992), 25, 41–45; Aref al-Aref, The History of Beersheba and Its Tribes [in Arabic] (Jerusalem: Beit al-Makdis, 1934; [also available in Hebrew] Tel Aviv: Bustanai, 1937), 6. 3. There is a gap between the maps appearing in Yaacov Shimoni, The Arabs in Eretz Israel [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Am-Oved, 1947); Joseph Ben-David, "The Bedouin in the Negev 1900–1960," in The Settlement of the Negev 1900–1960, ed. Mordechai Naor [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute, 1985), 81–89, 85; Joseph Ben-David, The Bedouin in Israel – Land Conflicts and Social Issues (Jerusalem: Jerusalem Institute, 2004); Joseph Braslavski, Know the Country: The Negev [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 1956), 259–62; Clinton Bailey, "The Negev in the Nineteenth Century: Reconstructing History from Bedouin Oral Tradition," Asian and African Studies 14 (1980): 35–80, 74; Al-Aref, The History of Beersheba. 4. Court of Appeal, 218/74 Hawashla and Others v. The State of Israel and Others, 38 (3), 141; Avraham Granovski, Israel Land Regime [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1949), 68; Havatzelet Yahel, "Land Dispute between Israel and the Bedouin of the Negev," Israel Studies 11, no. 2 (2006): 11. 5. The Land Law 1858, The Tapu Law, 1859 and Regulations as to Tapu Sanads 1860 in Frederic M. Goadby and Moses J. Doukhan, The Land Law of Palestine (Tel Aviv: Shoshany's Printing Co., 1935), 295. 6. Court of Appeal, 218/74 Hawashla and Others v. The State of Israel and Others, 38(3), 141; Avraham Granovski, Israel Land Regime [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1949), 68; Havatzelet Yahel, "Land Dispute between Israel and the Bedouin of the Negev," Israel Studies 11, no. 2 (2006): 11. 7.Mewat Land Ordinance, 1921; Plia Albeck and Ran Fleisher, Land Law in Israel [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: the authors, 2005), 68–76. 8. Helmut V. Muhsam, "Bedouin of the Negev," Eight Demographic Studies (Jerusalem: Eliezer Kaplan School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1966), 9. 9. Seth J. Frantzman, Noam Levin, and Ruth Kark, "Counting Nomads: British Census Attempts and Tent Counts of the Negev Bedouin 1917–1948," Population, Space and Place, 2013 [online preprint version]; Emanuel Marx, Bedouin of the Negev (New York: Praeger, 1967), 12. 10. Shimoni, The Arabs in Eretz Israel, 148; Eliyahu Epstein (Eilat), "Tribes of the Negev" [in Hebrew], HaOlam, 17 (1923): 315; Ruth Kark and Seth J. Frantzman, "The Negev: Land, Settlement, the Bedouin and Ottoman and British Policy 1871–1948," New Middle EasternStudies 1 (2011): 1–24, http://www.brismes.ac.uk/nmes/?s = kark (accessed November 20, 2014); Emanuel Marx, Bedouin of the Negev [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Reshafim, 1974), 17; For details about the Bedouin tribes and the places they stopped at, see Delphi intelligence review March 19, 1947, as well as Tene Intelligence, Review of the Tarabin Confederation, September 23, 1947, both records in IDF Archive (IDFA), File 16-100243/1952; Mustafa Murad el-Dabagh, Our Country Falastin [in Arabic] (Beirut, 1959–65; 2nd ed., Kafr Kara: Dar el-Hada, 2002), 327–472. 11. Philip C. Salzman, Culture and Conflict in the Middle East (New York: Humanity Books, 2008), 11; Emanuel Marx, "The Tribe as Subsistence Unit: Nomadic Pastoralism in the Middle East," American Anthropologist 79, no. 2 (June 1977): 344; Anatoly M. Khazanov, Nomads and the Outside World, 2nd ed. (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1994); Gabriel Bar, Arabs in the Middle East: Population and Society [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Hakibbutz Haeuchad, 1973), 140; Ori Stendel, The Arabs in Israel [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Academon, 1992), 163. 12. Frank Stewart, "Customary Law among the Bedouin," in Nomadic Societies in the Middle East and North Africa: Entering the 21st Century, ed. Dawn Chatty (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 239–79. 13. David Ben-Gurion, In the Battle, vol. 5 [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Mifleget Poalei Eretz Israel, 1959), 318. 14. For Ben-Gurion speeches, see David Ben-Gurion, In the Battle, 130, 135, 257; idem, The War of Independence [in Hebrew], ed. Gershon Rivlin and Elhanan Oren (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1982), 73, 211, 212; idem, While Israel Fought [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Hotsaat Mifleget Poalei Eretz Israel, 1951), 62–74. See also Sai'd Kouzli, "The Israeli Establishment Policy toward the Bedouin: 1948–1966" [in Hebrew] (MA thesis, University of Haifa, 2007), 35. 15. Sawaed, "The Bedouin," 257. 16. Ze'ev Zivan, "Jewish–Bedouin Frontier Relationships and Their Impact on Shaping Kibbutz Settlement Patterns in the Negev, 1940s–1950s" [in Hebrew] (MA thesis, Ben-Gurion University, 1990), 53. 17. A summary of the population data is in Kark, Pioneering Jewish Settlement, 149. 18. Ruth Kark, "The Negev during the Mandate Period – Development of Infrastructure and Settlement," in The Land of the Negev – Man and Desert [in Hebrew], part 1, eds. Avshalom Shmueli and Yehuda Gradus (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1979), 323–31. 19. Braslavski, Know the Country, 24; Kark, Pioneering Jewish Settlement, 41. 20. Sawaed, "The Bedouin," 255, based on Ahmad El-Said, "Arab al-Nakeb" [in Arabic], al-Fajer newspaper, October 15, 1981. A similar event is mentioned in Zivan, "Jewish–Bedouin Frontier," 106. 21. Aref Abu-Rabi'a, A Bedouin Century (New York: Berghahn, 2001), 125. 22. Hiram Danin, "Land Purchase and Registration in Palestine" (unpublished and undated manuscript); Havazelet Yahel and others, Interview with Hiram Danin, September 25, 2003; Kark, Pioneering Jewish Settlement, 75; Ilan Gal-Pe'er, "Jewish Presence in Beer-Sheba before the Establishment of the State" [in Hebrew], in Beersheba, ed. Yehuda Gradus and Eliyahu Stern (Jerusalem: Keter, 1979), 83–100. 23. 'Armon/Neron' intelligence report, August 22, 1947; anonymous intelligence item, August 28, 1947; 'Aluka' intelligence reports from September 8, 21, 22, 1947; October 1, 20, 1947 – all records from Hagana Archive (HA) Record Group (RG) 105, File 194. See also Monthly intelligence report review for November 1947, December 2, 1947, HA RG 105, File 228; Tene Intelligence, February 6, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98; Negev Bloc Committee to David Ben-Gurion, September 9, 1947, Central Zionist Archive (CZA), RG KKL5, File 16614. 24. 'Neron' intelligence review for April 1947, May 14, 1947, p. 4; intelligence report May 29, 1947, both documents from HA RG 105, File 194. Threats against Suleiman 'Awarjani from the vicinity of Gvulot and Ouda Abu-Mamar from Asluj, 'Na'im' intelligence item, "War with the Land Sellers," September 8, 1947, HA RG 105 File 21; 'Na'im' intelligence item, October 12, 1947, HA RG 105, File 194. 25. Anonymous intelligence item, dated March 18, 1947 HA RG 105, File 18B; two pieces of intelligence with comments by 'Na'im' and 'Razi', September 30, 1947, HA RG 105, File 194: a description of the decisions of the fourth convention of the Bedouins Association at which the association demanded that the Palestine delegation to the UN declare Palestine an independent government and reject the Partition Proposal. Israel State Archive (ISA), RG 65, File P 990/41 [in Arabic]. 26. "The Bedouins in the State of Israel," intelligence review, was appended to the letter by Pinhas Amir, military governor of the Negev to the head of the Southern Command and others, January 24, 1957, IDFA, File 473-72/1970. 27. Intelligence item, with no indication of source, date added in handwriting May 1947, HA RG 105 File 195; Avraham Eilat, "Revivim in the Negev" [in Hebrew], Mibifnim 13 (November 1948): 380; Zivan, "Jewish–Bedouin Frontier," 6; Sawaed, "The Bedouin," 288, referring to the archive of Ahmad Abu Hawdeh. 28. Aluka Intelligence October 12, 1947, HA RG 105, File 21. 29. Anonymous intelligence item, "Purification and Repentance," undated, apparently September 1947, HA RG 105, File 21; A.S. to A.D. [Ezra Danin?], December 23, 1947, CZA RG S25, File 3560. This report mentions Aminadav Altschuler stating that 'The sheikhs considered it imperative for themselves to compete with each other in hunting Jews and shooting them … besides that, the opportunity was exploited, and a number cleared themselves of the charge of treason against the umma [the Arab nation] in various circumstances of brokerage and land sales'. In an unsigned report of March 7, 1948 on what was happening in the Negev, it was written about the attacks that 'on the one hand, one may attribute these phenomena to that same passion and incitement emitted by certain dignitaries. It may perhaps be that a significant element can be attributed to the "purification," meaning, some Bedouin dignitaries sought to clear themselves of accusations of "crimes" in the past – i.e., their connection to land deals with the Jews. Sheikhs from Beer-Sheva and its environs even gave money for this purpose'. HA RG 105, File 194. 30. See, for example, the detailed list of sabotage in the security log for the line in November 1947, prepared by A. Cohen Henfilng, December 2, 1947, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16614; Zerubabel Gilad, Palmah Episodes [in Hebrew] (Ein Harod: Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1950), 149; Zeev Ofer and Tehila Ofer, The First Battalion [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Friends of the First Battalion, 2008), 205. 31. Anonymous intelligence report, October 26, 1947, HA RG 105, File 194; two intelligence reports by 'Aluka', November 13 and 23, 1947, HA RG 105, File 194. 32. Intelligence review on Suleiman al-Huzaiyil, March 13, 1947, HA RG 105, File 194. 33. 'Abu-Hashim' Intelligence report on "Gathering of Sheikhs in Beer-Sheva" that took place on November 25, 1947, December 1, 1947, HA RG 105, File 194. In the meeting, led by Ibrahim Al-Sani, it was decided that the Bedouins would comprise an independent unit that would not rely upon any factor 'and not take any orders at all from above'. 34. David Ben-Gurion, February 27, 1948, Ben-Gurion Archive (BGA); Ilan Asia, Core of the Conflict – The Struggle for the Negev 1947–1956 [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Yad Izhak Ben Zvi and Ben-Gurion Research Center, 1994), 41, 47. 35. Sawaed, "The Bedouin," 290–91. 36. According to Shekih Ali in Uri Milstein, The War of Independence: the First Month [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Zmora Bitan, 1989), 225. 37. Yoav Gelber, Budding a Fleur-de-Lis [in Hebrew] (Israel: Ministry of Defence, 2000), 52. 38. "Bedouins in the State of Israel," Intelligence review, appended to the letter by Pinchas Amir, Negev military governor to the head of the Southern Command and others, January 24, 1947. IDFA, File 473-72/1970; Zvi Keren, Oasis: The Story of a Man from Hatzerim [in Hebrew] (Hatzerim: Hatzerim Publishing, 1974), 65; Avraham Adan (Bren), The Ink Flag [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1984), 99–102; Ardon Cohen et al., The Negev Brigade in the War of Independence [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: published by the authors, 2011), 46. Regular reports by Israel Lebertovsky to the Mekorot Directorate regarding events occurring around the water pipeline, March 9, 1948, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16615. 39. Nahum Sarig, "Palmah Brigade in the Negev" [in Hebrew], in The Negev Brigade in the Battle, no ed. given (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1949), 2. 40. Negev Bloc Committee to David Ben-Gurion, December 9, 1947, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16614. 41. Ben-Gurion, December 14, 1947, BGA; Amiad Brezner, The Struggle over the Negev 1941–1948 [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1994), 228ff. 42. Tene Intelligence (Gevuli), "Evacuation of the Negev Settlements," December 7, 1947, HA RG 115, File 27; Negev Bloc Committee to David Ben-Gurion, December 9, 1947, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16614. Unnamed report on a series of meetings held between January 8 and 15, 1948, that gives details of the meetings with Brigadier Nelson as well as a Tene Intelligence report following a meeting with the Gaza district governor, January 19, 1948; both documents from HA RG 115, File 27. 43. Ben-Gurion, War of Independence, 126, 129, 262, 276; Brezner, Struggle, 226–8. 44. Unsigned leaflet, to the Arabs of the Gaza District and Beer-Sheba, December 19, 1947 [in Arabic]; Intelligence information, January 25, 1948, refers to the positive influence of the leaflets calling for peace with the moderate sheikhs and specifying the names of the active Bedouin sheikhs: Freih Messudar, Ali Abu Madun, Hassan Faranji, Hasan Abu Jabar, and Abdullah Abu Sitta, HA RG 105, Files 32 and 194. 45. Uri Milstein, War of Independence: The First Month [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Zmora Bitan, 1989), 172. 46. Unsigned intelligence item, February 4, 1948, HA RG 105, File 32. 47. Tene Intelligence, from January 20 and 26, 1948, HA RG 105, File 32. 48. Tene Intelligence, from February 5 and 9, 1948 as well as additional undated intelligence items, all in HA RG 105, File 32. 49. Aref al-Aref, Al-Nakba, Nakbat Bayt al-Maqdisvael – Parados al Mafkud, 1947–1952 [in Arabic], vol. 3 (Sidon and Beirut: Al-Maktab al-'Asira, 1947–55), 724, including specification of the names of people involved; Benny Meitiv, Story of a Frontier [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1986), 117. 50. Two intelligence items: one undated (after February 18, 1948), the other from February 23, 1948; both from HA RG 105, File 32. 51. Tene Intelligence (Na'im), March 2, 1948, HA RG 105, File 32. From the report, it is unclear if the correct well was blown up. Mention of the blowing up of a well is also found in a Tene Intelligence report, March 25, 1948, HA RG 105, File 32. 52. Tene Intelligence report about a meeting of a representative of the Negev Bloc Committee with the deputy district governor and the police commander, on March 8, 1948, HA RG 115, File 27. The British evacuation of Palestine concluded on May 15, 1948. 53. Attacks on Arab vehicles are described in Tene Intelligence reports, March 2 and 10, 1948, HA RG 105, File 32. 54. Weitz, February 2, 1948, CZA, RG A246, File 12. 55. Report from the District Commissioner Gaza to Chief Secretary, February 16, 1948, Public Record Office, London, CO537/3853, in Benny Morris, Milestones in the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881–1949, Sources Collection (Beer-Sheba: Ben-Gurion University, 2004). 56. Tene Intelligence, February 16, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 57. Tene Intelligence, February 25, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. 58. Ibid., File 98. 59. From the attack on Nevatim in December 1947 until the one on Kefar Darom in April 1948, there were no attacks on Jewish settlements in this region. 60. Tene Intelligence, March 10, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. Tene Intelligence, April 8, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194, considered foreigners arriving in the region as the factor obliging them to enter into acts of war. 61. Tene Intelligence, "Meeting of the Tarabin Sheikhs in Amara 4.3," April 13, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. Concerning the Germans, see also Intelligence Report, March 24, 1948, RG 105, File 98. 62. Tene Intelligence, "Organization and Action in the Tarabin Confederation," March 26, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. 63. Tene Intelligence, "Allotment to the Bedouin," April 8, 1948, HA RG 104, File 194. 64. Ibid., Organization and Activity in the Tarabin Confederation, March 26, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. 65. Yoav Gelber, Budding a Fleur-de-Lis, 55. 66. Tene Intelligence, March 22, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. 67. Intelligence item, February 18, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194; according to Abu-Rabi'a 'he was as avowed and implacable hater of Israel, and co-operated with Egypt in the 1948 war', Abu-Rabi'a, A Bedouin Century, 125. 68. Intelligence item, March 3, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194, and Intelligence item, March 5, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 69. Tene Intelligence, March 17, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98, Israel Lebertovsky to the Mekorot Directorate regarding events occurring around the water pipeline, from March 9–March 17, 1948, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16615, Tene Intelligence, "Bedouin Gangs in the Negev," March 18, 1948, Yad Tabenkin Archive (YTA), RG 45, Bin 22, File 11. 70. Hagana spokesman to the emissary in faraway places about the Hagana Declaration, March 22, 1948, IDFA, File 35-481/1949. 71. Intelligence report by RA, "Al Hamitrachesh Ba-Negev" (about the events in the Negev), March 7, 1948 (also dated March 22, 1948), CZA, RG S25, File 3569. 72. Ben-Gurion, January 9, 1948 and February 19, 1948, BGA; Report by Lebertovsky to Mekorot Directorate regarding events occurring around the water pipeline, from March 16–23, 1948, March 23, 1948, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16615; Yosef Weitz, "The Negev These Days," around March 1948, CZA, RG KKL5, File 1661; in our opinion this was not the massive departure which occurred a few months later. See Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 133. 73. Ardon Cohen et al., The Negev Brigade, 75. After the Arab states' invasion, the Jabarat were highly involved. 74. Tene Intelligence, April 7, 1948, HA RG 27, File 115, describes the meeting of Michael (apparently Hanegbi) with the deputy governor of the Gaza District, from March 30, 1948. 75. Tene Intelligence, April 18, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 76. Al-Aref, Al-Nakba, 725, describes the clashes in the Hirbet Maon battle. Ongoing reviews by Israel Lebertovsky to Mekorot Directorate regarding events occurring around the water pipeline, for the months March, April, May 1958, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16615; Tene Intelligence, April 11, 1948, YTA, RG 12-4, Bin 22, File 11; "The Bedouins in the State of Israel," an intelligence review, was appended to the letter from Pinhas Amir, Negev military governor, to head of the Southern Command and others, January 24, 1957. IDFA, File 1970/473-72. 77. Tene Intelligence, April 12, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 78. Tene Intelligence, April 2, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 79. Tene Intelligence, "Meeting with the Sheikhs in Gaza," from April 9, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. It states that many of the sheikhs did not come and that the participants were Hasan al-Faranji, Ibrahim al-San'a, Ibrahim Abu-Abdoun, Salam al-Bareiqi, Ibrahim al-Uqbi, 'Id Abu-Rabi'a. 80. Tene Intelligence, May 10, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 81. Tene Intelligence, May 10, 1948 and May 12, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 82. Al-Aref, Al-Nakba, 720–21. 83. Ibid., 738. 84. Report by Lebertovsky to Mekorot Directorate regarding events occurring around the water pipeline, from March 24–27, 1948, May 4, 1948, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16615; Tene Intelligence, April 24, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98. 85. Milstein, The War of Independence, 241. 86. Laying of mines near Sheikh Suleiman al-Huzaiyil as revenge for his connections with the Jews. Tene Intelligence, May 9, 1948, YTA, RG 45, Bin 22, File 11. 87. The refusal of Huzaiyil to cooperate with the initiative to bring an end to the peace and to expel the Jews, while using the Shoval police as a base. Tene Intelligence, "Actions among the Atwaneh tribe," April 8, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194; initiative to stop damage to transportation and the water pipeline, was also expressed by the sheikhs Hamad al-Sani, Abu-Susain, Abu-Yehye, and Ahmad Saheiban at a meeting held with them; Tene Intelligence, "Preparation for Peace," April 13, 1948, HA RG 45, Bin 22, File 11. 88. Mordecai Artzieli, "The Bedouin Sheikh Abu-Mamar Received the 'War of Independence Medal'" [in Hebrew], Haaretz, February 27, 1963; Arie Efrat, "Sipurim Mehasakyim" [Stories from the Saddlebag] [in Hebrew], Pratte-from the Saddlebag (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1992), 118–19; Kouzli, "Israeli Establishment Policy," 116–18; Zivan, "Jewish–Bedouin Frontier," 62, and see the interview by Yahel with Ze'ev Taub, April 30, 2009, Shoval; interview by Havatzelet Yahel with Yankele Shemesh and with Zekharya (Toddy) Sadeh, February 12, 2009, Revivim. 89. Tene Intelligence, May 15, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98; Muhsam, "Bedouin of the Negev," 115; Shemesh interview, February 12, 2009; interview by Havatzelet Yahel and Yaari Rouach with Yossi Tzur, April 30, 2009, Shoval. 90. Avraham Eilat, "Revivim in the Negev" [in Hebrew], in The Book of the Negev: Sketches, Stories and Songs, ed. Efraim Talmi and Menachem Talmi (Tel Aviv: Amichai, 1953), 133, 135; Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949 [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1991), 327; Ezra Danin, Unconditional Zionist [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: Kiddum, 1987), 223; Yoav Gelber, Independence versus Nakba [in Hebrew] (Or Yehuda: Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2004), 68–9; Brezner, Struggle, 170; Interview conducted by Havatzelet Yahel with Ze'ev Taub, August 2, 2009, Shoval, and interview by Havatzelet Yahel with Yosef (Yoshka) Reichel, August 2, 2009, Shoval. 91. Arie Efrat, "The Arabs of the Area during the War Time" [in Hebrew], in Dorot: First Year of the War (Dorot: Hakibbutz Hameuhad, 1989), 49. 92. The plethora of documentation about the Bedouins' involvement in the fighting, their moving far away, and their aspirations starkly contrast with Shertok's statements at the meeting of the Provisional Government on June 16, 1948 that 'tribes, usually, remained, but they made peace with us and most of them admitted surrender, and they have no part in the war. Certainly, they are not an element in the government'. Perhaps one may understand these declarations in light of his desire to counter Bailey's claim that the Egyptians are in control of the Negev. Additional information he provided about the advance of the Egyptians was not precise. Records from the meeting of the Temporary Government, June 16, 1948, vol. 3, 12, ISA. See, for example, the informer's report, June 29, 1948, HA RG 105, File 124a, which noted that the Bedouin were interested in autonomy. 93. Uriah (Da'at), "Report of a Visit to the Negev on 12–17 Sept. 1948," from September 20, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. It is noted that 'the 'Alamat [Jabarat] tribes, who are in contact with Egyptians, moved and are moving eastward to Hweilfa and Kuhla near Bir (Hweilfa)'. The report goes on to give the names of the collaborators with Egypt. Taub interview, April 30, 2009; Zochrot site, http://zochrot.org/en/place/al-nuwairisaadnehjbarat (accessed September 10, 2012); Yitzhak Bailey, "Lists of Bedouin Population in the Gaza Strip–1981 Census," Notes on the Bedouins 12 (1982): 45–53. 94. Uriah (Da'at), "Report of a Visit to the Negev on 12–17 Sept. 1948," from September 20, 1948, HA RG 105, File 194. 95. Headquarters Front D/Intelligence, "Meeting of Intelligence Officers 16 Nov. 1948," IDFA, File 17-1041/1949. 96. The inhabitants of the villages fled or were driven away and the settlements destroyed. According to the report by Lebertovsky the inhabitants of the villages of Muharaka and Kaufaha environs were scattered and expelled. A request by the residents of Huj to return, which was supported by Jewish inhabitants of the nearby kibbutzim, was rebuffed. http://www.palestineremembered.com/GazaTownsSnapshot.html (accessed March 3, 2009). 97. Meitiv, Story of a Frontier, 119; Benny (Motilov) Meitav, The Sowers in the Desert, 4th ed. (Merhavya: Sifriat Hapoali and Hakibbutz Haartzi Hashomer Hatza'ir, 1972), 58. 98. Ongoing reviews by Israel Lebertovsky to the board of Mekorot Directorate regarding events occurring around the water pipeline, for the months of March, April, and May 1948. IDFA, File 473-72/1970; Headquarters of Front D/Intelligence, "Meeting of Intelligence Officers 16 Nov. 1948," IDFA, File 17-1041/1949. 99. As, for example, with the members of al-Uqbi. Suleiman al-Uqbi wrote that at the time of the capture of Beer-Sheba Sheikh Muhammad Salame al-Uqbi went with Abu-Sukhut to Egypt and after the conquest of Abu-Ageila moved to Dahariya. According to Suleiman he remained in the last house in el-Fuhari and left only when the people of Mishmar ha-Negev forced him to. He subsequently went with his colleagues the sheikhs and turned himself over to the Israeli forces a week after the capture of Beer-Sheba. Later, he was caught in Hebron as a result of being informed on as a collaborator with Israel. The address of Sheikh Suleiman al-Uqbi to the Military Governor on December 8, 1950 as part of his reply to the claims voiced against him by members of his tribe. IDFA, File 281-834/1953. See also testimony given on June 7, 2009, in the Land Settlement Claim 7161/06 Sliman Muhammad Salam al-Uqbi and 16 others vs. the State of Israel; Nuri al-Uqbi, in Waiting for Justice (2004) writes in brief that after the establishment of the State of Israel the members of the tribe from Zahiliqeh moved to Gaza and 'the tribe members living in al-Araqib stayed there'.100. Tene Intelligence, April 18, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98.101. Tene Intelligence, May 10, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98.102. Michael Hanegbi to General Avner, October 31, 1948, IDFA, File 121–223/1950.103. Ya'acov Havakook, Footprints in the Sand – The Bedouin Trackers of the IDF [in Hebrew] (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence, 1998), 24–7; Sawaed, "The Bedouin," 295; Interview by Havatzelet Yahel with Yankele Shemesh and with Zekharya (Toddy) Sadeh, Revivim, February 12, 2009.104. Joseph Ben-David, Dispute in the Negev [in Hebrew] (Ra'ananah: Ha-Merkaz le-Heker ha-Hevra ha-Arvit be-Yisra'el, 1996), 44, notes that the Abu-Rqaiyiq tribe sold lands to the Jews. According to "A Survey of the Bedouins," no author and no date, Israel State Archives, RG 102, File 13927/20, the tribe's sheikh cooperated with the Jews and guarded their land in the Nevatim region.105. Al-Aref, Al-Nakba, 746.106.Emergency Regulations (Absentees' Property) Law, 5708-1948, Official Gazette (O.G.) no. 6, supplement B, p. 11; Abandoned Areas Ordinance, 5708–1948, O.G. no. 7, p. 19; Emergency Regulations (Cultivation of Waste [Uncultivated] Lands) Law, 5709-1948, O.G. no. 27, of October 15, 1948, supplement B, p. 3.107.Absentees Property Law, para. 30(i).108.Absentees Property Law, para. 1 (b) (1).109.Official Gazette no. 37, December 12, 1948, Supplement B, p. 59.110.Sefer Hukim no. 37, 5710, March 20, 1950.111. See High Court of Justice 4713/93, Golan v. The Special Committee and others, 58 (2), 638, as well as in England, Trading with the Enemy Ordinance, 1939; Eyal Zamir and Eyal Benvenisti, State Land in Judea and Samaria – The Legal Status [in Hebrew] (Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 1985).112. Zalman Lif, adviser on land matters, to the Custodian of Abandoned Property, December 11, 1949, ISA, MFA RG 130, File 2402/20.113. Intelligence of the Third Battalion to the Intelligence of the Headquarters of the Yiftah Corps, "Reconnaissance Report," September 27, 1948, IDFA, File 1225-922/1975. Yoav Gelber, Budding Fleur-de-Lis, 421.114. Jehuda Wallach, Carta's Atlas of Palestine from Zionism to Statehood (Jerusalem: Carta, 1974), 122; Tene Intelligence, June 17, 1948, HA RG 105, File 124.115. Tene Intelligence, May 20, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98.116. Ibid., May 18, 1948, HA, RG 105, File 98.117. A description of joint Egyptian and Bedouin action is detailed in Egyptian documents apparently seized in June 1948 at Asluj and translated from Arabic into Hebrew. HA, RG 105, File 124.118. Tene Intelligence, "Review of the Situation in the Negev toward the Ceasefire," June 17, 1948, HA, RG 105, File 124.119. A description of the activity of the evacuation of the village Huj Muharaka and Kaufaha is detailed in a protest letter sent by the mukhtars of Dorot, Nir Am, and Ruhama to the Prime Minister on August 4, 1948, Kibbutz Dorot Archives; Cohen et al., The Negev Brigade, 155.120. A directive from the archives of kibbutz Hatzerim, from June 18, 1948, cited in Zivan, "Jewish–Bedouin Frontier," 214. On the matter of the harvesting Arab fields, see Arnon Golan, "The Transfer of Abandoned Rural Arab Lands to Jews during Israel's War of Independence" [in Hebrew], Cathedra 63 (1992), 132.121. Tene Intelligence, "Review of the Situation in the Negev toward the Ceasefire," June 17, 1948, HA, RG 105, File 124.122. Kamil Isma'il al-Sharif, "The Muslim Brothers in the Palestine War" [in Hebrew], in In the Enemies' Eyes, no ed. given: Branch of Military History (Tel Aviv: Maarachot, 1955), 101; Sergey Intelligence to Tene, June 29, 1948; Sergey Intelligence, "Summation Report about the Enemy in the South," July 6, 1948, both of them HA, RG 105, File 124a.123. The Committee to Investigate the Situation in the Negev, "Memo on the Situation in the Negev," undated (July 1948).124. Information of the Research Division for July 19, 1948, HA RG 105, File 98.125. Tene Intelligence, July 13, 1948, a report on the actions of the Abu Muailiq gang and its links to the Muslim Brotherhood, HA RG 105, File 98; Israel Lebertovsky to the Mekorot Directorate, "The Events during the Period 29 June–27 July," July 29, 1948, CZA, RG KKL5, File 16615.126. "The Bedouins in the State of Israel," an intelligence survey,
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