Photo Credit: Eyal Warshavsky
A line of policemen on horseback in full tactical gear close in on a protest. Young men burn tires with their faces covered. Five policemen wrestle a Bedouin protester to the ground. These were among the only images broadcast to the Israeli public amid the 2022 (mostly nonviolent) protests by the Negev’s Bedouin community against a Jewish National Fund tree-planting event. The protesters claimed that the trees, which were being planted on Bedouin land, would be the first step towards their displacement, and the state taking over their land. But their perspective, in addition to images of their communities peacefully protesting, was seldom aired on Israeli television. Most Israeli viewers only saw dangerous-looking Arabs scuffling with law enforcement.
This story encapsulates just how Negev Bedouin, who live in Israel’s poorest and most underdeveloped towns and villages, are perceived by the Israeli public who view the Bedouin with suspicion and speak of them in stereotypes that stoke fear and misunderstanding.
To help address the absence of the Bedouin perspective from Israel’s media landscape, Shatil is launching a new course for professionals from the Negev’s Bedouin community this month. Titled “Lead Impact,” it will teach media literacy to Bedouin citizens and help them become advocates for their own causes through both traditional media and social networks.
Eman Al-Alatawna, Shatil’s new Negev Program Coordinator will oversee the program. She will accompany the cohort as they complete eight sessions, each focusing on a different aspect of the media. Shatil will train participants in giving television and radio interviews, how to write effective opinion pieces, and how to work with media to tell their community’s stories. These skills will support Shatil’s ultimate goals: to cultivate more positive portrayals of Bedouin in the Israeli media as well as to empower Negev Arab leaders to advocate for their rights and reduce inequality.
“We as Arabs live in a complex reality,” Eman explains. “Voices from the Negev Arab Bedouin community are virtually absent in the mainstream Israeli media. This is because community members lack knowledge and tools that help [ensure] the messages are conveyed effectively and efficiently.”
Eman continues: “It is important to train Arab leaders in the Negev to represent Israel’s Bedouin community…in a meaningful way that will…make their voices heard.”
As a Bedouin woman, Eman understands the needs and dreams of the Negev’s Arab residents first-hand. She lives in the recognized Bedouin town of Hura. Being ‘recognized’ means that her town receives basic state services and is connected to infrastructure like electricity and water. But there are more than 30 other Bedouin villages and towns that remain unrecognized which are often not connected to the water or electricity grid, and subsist without adequate access to public transportation or education.
Prior to joining Shatil, Eman worked at the Ra’ayan Center, an organization that prepares Arab professionals for employment, and NIF grantee AJEEC-NISPED (Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development), where she worked with at-risk youth. She holds degrees in education and Middle Eastern studies.
Eman is optimistic about Lead Impact as well as the activities of her new colleagues at Shatil and NIF: “Our work gives me the strength to act and hope for change,” she says.