As Iranian retaliation looms, thousands of Bedouins still vulnerable to rockets
Four months after girl, 7, is sole victim of Iran attack, unrecognized Negev communities’ residents fear for their lives amid persisting lack of rocket shelters and Iron Dome cover
Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
On the night of April 13, Amina Hassouna, a 7-year old Bedouin girl, was seriously wounded in the head by shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile during an unprecedented missile and drone attack from Iran.
Hassouna, the only person in Israel who sustained significant injuries in the attack, was finally discharged from Soroka hospital in Beersheba two weeks ago after a series of complex neurosurgeries.
Her story highlighted the plight of unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev, which lack any protection from missiles, as fear mounts over the possibility of another large-scale attack from the Islamic Republic in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
“People are concerned,” said Atiya al-Asam, the director of an unofficial council of unrecognized Bedouin townships, in a phone interview with The Times of Israel.
“Since the April attack, nothing has changed. At that time, many people ran to find shelter under road bridges and in underpasses, but how is that a solution? How are more than two families supposed to fit under a bridge?” al-Asam said.
“There is still no protection for the Bedouin population in unrecognized villages, and even in some of the recognized ones, there are no rocket shelters and no adequate infrastructure,” al-Asam added.
Hassouna was hit while at home with her parents and siblings in Al-Fura, south of Beersheba, as the family was preparing to rush off to find shelter in their car.
Like most other unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev, Al-Fura lacks basic infrastructure, such as electricity, running water and paved roads. Because these settlements are not officially recognized by the government, it is illegal for residents to build permanent homes, and their dwellings are at constant risk of demolition.
These communities also lack sirens, rocket shelters and cover from the Iron Dome missile defense system, which only intercepts rockets directed at urban areas registered on maps but is not activated when the launch is aimed at “open areas.”
On October 7, 21 Bedouin citizens were killed in Hamas’s brutal onslaught on southern Israel. Some were gunned down while working in Jewish areas near the Gaza border, and some died under Hamas’s rocket fire in their villages. Four boys from the Al-Qur’an family died in a direct hit in the unrecognized village of Al-Bat.
Six members of the Bedouin minority were taken hostage to Gaza, among them two teenage siblings who were released during a ceasefire in November.
When 320 shelters are a ‘drop in the ocean’
In the aftermath of October 7, a handful of nonprofits and local organizations came together to build rocket shelters in these unrecognized communities.
Thanks to private donations, Ajeec, an Arab-Jewish shared society organization in the Negev, has placed about 320 rocket shelters in various locations over past 10 months, in cooperation with other NGOs. Ajeec’s co-founder, Canadian-Israeli activist Vivian Silver, was murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 at her home in Kibbutz Be’eri.
Ajeec CEO Ilan Amit told The Times of Israel that the 320 shelters are just “a drop in the ocean,” since about 11,000 are estimated to be needed to protect the 100,000 Bedouins living in unrecognized communities throughout the Negev.
The shelters have been distributed near kindergartens and homes where informal education takes place. The main objective of the campaign has been to send a signal to authorities that filling the “protection gap” is feasible. A shelter was also placed outside the home of Amina Hassouna.
קבוצת טלאור כראדי ועמותת מגן נרתמו לטובת משפחתה של אמינה אלחסוני, שנפצעה אנושות במתקפה האיראנית לפני עשרה ימים. הארגונים תרמו שתי מיגוניות, אחת מהן הוצבה היום בפתח בית משפחתה של אמינה באלפורעה והשניה במרחב הציבורי, לשימוש שאר תושבי השכונה. מקבוצת טלאור כראדי נמסר: "כולנו תקווה… pic.twitter.com/4vcIyHj2Q2
— המועצה האזורית לכפרים הלא מוכרים בנגב (@rcuvnegev) April 24, 2024
Amit said that civil society organizations have pressured the IDF’s Home Front command to include unrecognized communities among the areas where the Iron Dome is activated.
The IDF reportedly agreed to implement the measure in January, but Amit relayed anecdotal evidence of various rockets that were not intercepted above unrecognized communities, suggesting that the coverage is still inadequate. No injuries were recorded in these impacts. The IDF did not respond to a request for comment, citing the secrecy of its aerial defense policy, but stressed that the Home Front Command is in constant contact with local officials, the Social Equality ministry — which is in charge of advancing minorities — and the Bedouin Authority government agency.
Activists report that the situation on the ground has not improved since April.
“There are 100,000 citizens – teachers, bus drivers, bankers, health workers at Soroka hospital – who are still defenseless. Bedouin communities need to be able to imagine a future where there are no gaps with their Jewish neighbors in terms of protection. But that is not where this government is directing its resources and funds,” Amit said.
“The same goes for mental health resources. Nothing has been done to help Bedouins suffering from trauma after October 7, or for the families of Bedouin soldiers and of hostages. The issue has been completely neglected,” he continued.
Community leader al-Asam claimed that while temporary solutions can be found to provide shelter for members of his community in the ongoing war, the answer needs to be permanent.
“The Home Front Command tells us to lie on the ground and cover our heads with our hands. That is not a solution,” he said.
“If the government gave us construction permits, then people could build mamads [a Hebrew acronym for reinforced safe rooms] inside their homes,” al-Asam said. “But instead, it only issues demolition orders, leaving people completely exposed.”
