European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 19, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine israeli bedouins have reamed the Negev desert for More than 1,300 years now some think they have been hoodwinked by Israel. Cagey Nomad victims of Progress Jefter Miles of travel Over an ill a defined series of ruts  Little Asig gullies that the locals Call a Road. T m a traveler s eyes suffused with the Stark unending desert landscape catches sight of a modest Garden  an even More modest Orchard with apples figs  almonds. Near this pleasing bit of Green in a sur rounding Alkali White Are the crushed re Mains of House a surrealist Jumble of Cin Der blocks twisted Iron window grates  a Mash of household items. The Bouse was the Home of a bed Ouin tribesman  he family until mid May when ii was bulldozed by order of Israel Green patrol Cre ated a few Yean ago to police the Negev wilderness. The Force totals Only a dozen men who work under minister of agriculture Ariel Sharon a hero of the 1973 War known for hawkish views  bluntness. The demolished bedouin House is one of 45 dwellings Block houses Goatskin tents  hovels razed in recent weeks by the Green patrol with the explanation that they had been erected illegally on land marked for Industrial development. The action of the patrol has provoked a storm of protest in Israel Over tactics  has focused attention on a minority group the Negev bedouin whose presence in the desert dates Back to 636 . Land problems regarding the bedouins an old  complicated involving deeds or the Lack of them  claims by the tribesmen that their historic presence in the desert is in itself a right to the land. For Many years these issues simmered below the surface because the lands of the Negev were not regarded As having much value. That changed As the israelis set about transforming parts of the desert into farms Industrial areas  towns. With this came changes la the bed Oola Way of life. Many of them began la abandon their nomadic ways to suy la one place  work for wages. The current controversy impinges on these complexities but its main focus is the my the situation has been handled. There Are about 40.000 bedouin in the Negev. They Are citizens of Israel who have resisted the nationalist Call from the outside Arab world. Many of them have served in the Israel army  some work As my hoary trackers in the desert on Alert against terrorist infiltrators. The demolition of housing has prompted some bedouins to question whether they have not been hoodwinked Over the years into thinking that they were part of the society. Juma Al Akiva a bedouin tracker who has served in the israeli army for six years was one of those affected by the Green patrol s demolitions. He said that a contingent of the patrol along with two police jeeps  two jeeps of the Border police arrived recently  took the tents housing his family. Until now i have served faithfully in the army he said. But now i Don t know How i can continue to  a number of dwellings were razed  some of the reports by the bedouin charge that women were harassed that children were threatened  that personal belong Ings were destroyed by the bulldozers be cause the residents did not have time to pack. There has been a spate of editorial criticism Over the action. The English language Jerusalem put said that the Green patrol s Strong Arm tactics were a classic example of How not to carry out a necessary policy in a society built on Law  made up of a variety of ethnic  the almost vigilante Type actions of the Green patrol the newspaper said illustrate our maddening Knack for turn ing friends  potential allies into bitter  for months now the agriculture minis try has been telling the Public that the bed Ouin flocks  herds particularly their Black goats have posed a serious threat to the ecology of the Negev.  i destruction of Homes has focused attention on Nomad minority. The Black goats which have prolife rated have been described As voracious feeders of the scarce desert greenery  As destroyers of jewish settlement crops. This is considered a drought year  the bedouins  their flocks Nave moved North in search of water  forage. There have been reports of bedouin live Stock caught in illegal areas being so crowded into trucks that some of them suffocated. These Are no longer seasonal migrations of nomads in search of grazing grounds  the Large numbers of people  livestock involved constitute an inva Sion Allon Galili head of the Green patrol said to an israeli reporter. A number of israeli ecologic to Dis Pute the notion that toe Black goats Are As perfidious a threat As the ministry of agriculture contends. They say that the goats prune Back the desert vegetation by nibbling at it  that this does not destroy it. They insist the problem is not one of eradicating the goats which Are a bedouin economic mainstay but of keeping them under control so that desert areas Are not overgrazed. Others in Israel say that official policy regarding the bedouins is As Yosef Goell. A scholar  journalist wrote continuing to be set  executed by an exceedingly Small group of officials accountable to no one or Only to prime ministers who have had no intimate knowledge of  Little interest in the issues in  when one Speaks of democracy in is Rael Goell said it does not mean merely that bedouin citizens have the right to go to court at the very least it should mean that the Fate of 40,000 people should not be decided secretly   these sentiments were also reflected i an interview with Ibrahim Abu fee Gale a bedouin who represents 8,000 bedouins in the Host Narot Israel s general labor federation. He was interviewed in the desert town of Beersheba in a Shady Yard under a grape Vine. I know in a democratic state no individual has the right to punish another individual he said. You must go to court not punish in the Middle of he desert " not saturday August 19 1978 the stars  stripes Page 13