Abbas sees Israeli Bedouin as ‘bridge to peace’

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas met with leaders of Israel’s northern Bedouin communities and suggested that they can serve as a “bridge to peace” between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.

Representatives of the communities traveled to the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the West Bank for a Ramadan Iftar dinner, which was also attended by Joint (Arab) List chairman MK Ayman Odeh.

Zidan Kabayah, chairman of the Northern Bedouin Council Heads Forum, told Israel Radio that Abbas is aware that among the Bedouin community there are those who not only support pro-Zionist parties but also serve in the Israel Defense Forces and the Border Police.

There are roughly a quarter of a million Bedouin citizens of Israel. An Arab ethnic group, some 160,000 of them live in the Negev. Of those, half live in unrecognized villages, ramshackle settlements carpeting the open spaces between Dimona, Arad and Beersheba in the south.

Disputes over the rights of unrecognized villages to remain where they are have provoked heated — and sometimes violent — protests from the Bedouin community.

Although not required to serve in the IDF, many Bedouin have a strong tradition of joining the army. The IDF utilizes Bedouin skills as trackers to patrol the country’s borders and identify attempts at infiltration.