Blogging the UK Task Force Study Trip in the Negev: Day Three

Day Three: 22/02/2012

 "A woman of valour, who can find her?  Her worth is above rubies."  (Proverbs 31:10)

 Amal's 8-year old Bedouin daughter asked her to tell her about the Nakba ('disaster', Palestinian term for the Israeli War of Independence).  Amal was reluctant but her daughter insisted so she began to tell her the Palestinian narrative of exile and persecution.  Her daughter cried and cried.  Amal then told her daughter the Jewish narrative of creating a safe homeland and explained what had happened to the Jews in the Holocaust.  Her daughter cried and cried.  Then she stopped crying and said: "Me and Yaniv (her Jewish friend), we are going to stop all this pain."

 Yesterday we heard both Israeli and Bedouin thinkers saying that the answers had to come from within the community.  Today we were able to see a variety of ways in which members of the Bedouin community, predominantly women, are taking that challenge into their own hands, overcoming many barriers to get a decent education and becoming innovative, socially conscious and respected leaders of their community.  These are young adults who are tired of dwelling on the problems and arguing about the conflicts with the government over land.  They are not giving up on their struggle for civil rights and full recognition but they want to construct a better reality for themselves and their children in the meantime.