My meeting with Ibrahim Al Atrash

In the spring of 2008, I had the privilege of meeting with Ibrahim Al Atrash, leader of Sheep Growers Association of the Unrecognized Villages, in his tent encampment just north of the Negev town of Beer Sheva.

Unrecognized villages are Bedouin settlements which are considered illegal by Israeli authorities and are thus a continuous source of land disputes.

Ibrahim spends the early spring months in a temporary encampment pitched in a remote, breathtakingly beautiful hilly region, one of the relatively few pristine areas remaining in the northern Negev.

The area is controlled by the military and is normally out of bounds, but Bedouins are allowed access with their herds when draught affects grass availability, as it did last year. Visiting Ibrahim’s tent in a place where no modern structures are in sight, and where Bedouin traditional hospitality reigns, is evocative of biblical images of visiting and feasting in the tent of the patriarchs.

Ibrahim has since become a close friend and went on to join the Steering Committee of the Sustainable Desert Community Project. This visit was the first in a series of community outreach meetings, with Bedouin notables, community activists, village leaders, herd growers, and others, which continued throughout the year. These occasions have done much to spread the news of the project and ensure increasing support for its goals within the broader neighboring community.