June 18,  2013


AFUWOFI COHORT 1
      ISRAEL BLOG 03      

Dear parents and friends,

 

Today was all about the South of Israel: We had a conversation with Dr. Guy Ben-Porat about the Negev, its history and its contemporary challenges and opportunities, we had a tour of Ben Gurion University, we visited an unrecognized Beduin village and discussed the challenges of the Beduin society and the role of women in that society, we had a security tour around Gaza with IDF reserve colonel Kobi Marom and we went to a late improve show of English speakers new immigrants by the name of HaHafuch (the oposite).    

 

Please send us your comments, 

Hadar, Jeffrey and Amnon

  

Frogy's Picture of the Day
 

 

Below are the few pictures,and written blogs. To see (many) more pictures or to view past written blogs, please visit our blog webpage: AFUWOFI 2013 Israel Mission  


 

         

        

       

    

 


 

A security tour around Gaza with IDF reserve colonel Kobi Marom by Ruthie Amkraut

 

Colonel Kobi Maron was a member of the IDF during the 2000 withdrawl from Lebanon In his career he has supervised complex and varied combat units. Currently, Kobi is in the reserves and is a business man in the tourism industry.

Below are some of the questions and answers from his time with our group.

Q. Approximately how many missiles have been fired into Sderot from the Gaza Strip and why is Sderot targeted so often?

A. Approximately 10000 missiles have been fired into sderot. It is a target because it is city which allows for a big target. Bigger cities also have a harder time facing the challenges brought on by frequent missile attacks.

Q. How far away is Sderot from the Gaza Strip?

A. Sderot is 1 mile from the border.

Q. How has the situation changed since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005?

A. Since Israel pulled out the Palestinians residing in the Gaza Strip lost its justification for attacking Israel though they did not stop. After the first missile was fired Israel did not respond which was a big mistake.

Q. Why is Israel hesitant to retaliate against the attacks?

A Israel recognizes the consequences of attacks in such populated areas.

Q. What does Israel provide to the residents in Gaza?

A.Israel sends 400 trucks of produce to Gaza every morning and provides constant electricity.

Q.Do people tend to leave the towns near the Gaza Strip?

A.No, many people stay because this is their home regardless of the dangers.

Q.How does the situation affect teens living in the area?

A. It tends to affect littler children more. It gives them nightmares.


 

Visiting the "unrecognized" Bedouin villages by Tal Shatkin

 

 

When entering Abu-Tall, an unrecognized Bedouin village located in Israel's Negev desert, we were all surprised by what we saw.  In sharp contrast to the beautiful draped tents with smiling Bedouins serving us tea that many of us experienced during our 8th grade Israel trips, we were met by hundreds of aluminum sided houses, many of whom were in terrible disrepair.  We learned that Bedouins are of the lowest socio-economic class out of all ethnicities recognized as Israeli citizens. 

Our bus was flagged down by Ali, a resident who did not give us his last name.  He would be our guide for our brief tour of his village.  He explained that we were standing beside the only kindergarten and clinic available inside Abu-Talul which has a total population of 15000.  He then pointed to a building in the distance.  It was the only grade school.  Education is a major issue among the Bedouin youth because it is so difficult for many of them to stay in school.  Many people, mostly girls, end their schooling early due to parental pressure to take on traditional roles.  A high school has not yet been built in the village.

We were then introduced to Maha, a Bedouin woman who has struggled to get an education all her life.  She had an arranged marriage at 13 years ½.  She then divorced her husband at 17 and remarried at 20 (a practice common among Bedouin women).  Her father did not allow her to finish high school, but because of her persistence and support from her second husband, she was able to get an education and now is certified to practice many occupations.  I was able to ask her some questions on the bus ride back to Beer Sheva.

Q: Is your story common among Bedouin women?

A: Women getting education is becoming more and more common.  Now, more Bedouin women than men are going to college.  More often, the men just go to professional school to become mechanics, electricians, and such.  On the other hand, women mostly become nurses or teachers.  This is beginning to cause social dilemmas within the Bedouin communities because of husband/wife role reversal.  Recently, the women have become the primary source of income for families, but are also expected to fill their traditional roles as housekeepers.

Q:  What does it mean to be an unrecognized village and why won't the government recognize them?

A: Unrecognized villages are ones that were not created by the Israeli government.  Because of this they are considered illegal and therefore do not receive the usual governmental benefits such as paved roads, running water, trash disposal and electricity.  The Knesset only will recognize the 7 Bedouin villages that they set up beginning in 1966.  But these villages are so unsuccessful from the perspective of this Bedouin woman because the government paid no attention to tribal and family relations, fueling already existing tensions among Bedouin sheiks and tribes.

It is puzzling to me as an outside observer why the government will not recognize villages like Abu-Tall seeing that the land is not being put to better use.

 

 


 

A Tour of Ben Gurion University by Eden Saltzman

 

As rising juniors, and especially as rising seniors, there is one word that is an omnipresent ringing in our ears: college. Today, after a lecture at the site, the WOFIites were led on a tour of Ben Gurion University by a sweet woman named Aya. We bounced from building to lawn to building, learning about the history and culture of the university.

 

Q: What is the population of the university?

A: There are about 20,000 students.

Q: What are some attractive features of the university?

A: Ben Gurion University is the fastest growing university in Israel! Also, it is the youngest university in Israel, which provides the university with a vibrant culture developed by the youth of the college.

Q: What are some of the areas of study?

A: There is a large emphasis on the sciences and technology. In fact, the IDF and many major companies from all over the globe, including from the United States, use the research from cyber protection program. There are also many other areas of study, including the humanities, social sciences, the arts, and many more.

Q: We are in the Negev and it is extremely hot. [Most of us were fanning our friends and ourselves during the tour.] How does the university cope with the climate?

A: [Pointing to the library] There are many clever architectural designs meant to keep these buildings as cool as possible. The library, the first building on the campus, has windows facing north, which allowed sunlight in without the sun heating up the space directly. In addition, the architecture has formed many natural wind tunnels which allow for cheaper air conditioning bills.

Q: What is the university's role in the Negev?

A: The university was built to help the Negev area. The Negev is very undesirable compared to central and Northern cities with more vibrant city lives. However, the Negev is much cheaper than any other area. In addition, the culture and society is developing greatly due to the university's arrival 43 years ago.

Q: Are the students involved in the Negev community?

A: Ben Gurion University has an extremely large community action program. 8,000 students are involved in community service. In addition, the university is the only in Israel to have a free-standing building solely for the purpose of service. The students are very aware of the surrounding villages, and often have Shabbat dinners with the local families or with their own student community. The students can take part in an open apartment program, where they can live in apartments in the less fortunate surrounding neighborhoods for free in order to enrich the society, as well as various other opportunities.

Our tour of Ben Gurion University was an enriching experience. Learning about an institution that is found in both America and Israel really revealed the differences between the two cultures. As a girl who has been on many college campus tours, I have to say this was very distinctive from the normal "on your left you will see our football field" type of display. Poetry was posted on the exterior walls of the buildings, paintings that fused art and science hung in atriums, and a dinosaur fossil dug up by a previous student lay under a glass box in the science building. Aya expressed her desire for more students to stay in the Negev area after they graduate, as this is the purpose of the university. However, she does agree that there are more opportunities presented to these bright young adults in the center and northern regions of the country.

Perhaps one of our very own will join this elite body of students at Ben Guirion University in the future.


 

Guy Ben Porat speaks about the Negev by Jake Browner and an extra interview by Ben Jaffe

 

Dr Guy Ben-Porat is a writer about many different subjects including some of the different dilemmas and problems facing Israel. His Ph.D. is in political science. He is very knowledgeable about many current events in Israel and educated us about them. The main topic of his lecture to us was about the Negev, but he also explained to us other problems facing Israel such as illegal immigrants and the borders of Israel.

The main problem of the Negev desert is that it is quite underpopulated while much of the rest of Israel is overpopulated. This is a problem because it is unproductive to have so much unused land. The Negev is also the biggest geographicarea of Israel. The reason many Israelis are pushing to have more people living in the Negev because there is proof that successful towns can be built. An example is Beer Sheva. In the 1990s there was a large Russian immigration to the city of Beer Sheva. That had a big impact on the city as it from a city of 60,000 to a quarter of a million.

Here are some of the questions our group put to Dr. Ben Porat

Q: Tell us about issues that young people face in the Negev

A: Right now people who grow up in the Negev do not want to stay when they are adults. They think there is less opportunity compared to other cities such as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Today I also interviewed a woman named Elah Cohen. She is a woman who works for NGO (non-government organization)to help Bedouins. She was born in Russia, but moved to Tel Aviv when she was a kid. Now she lives in the Negev, and I got her opinion as to why she sees that it is necessary for people to move to the Negev. She said that since Israel is such a small country and in the Negev there are not many people, it only makes sense for people to live there.

Q: Wasn't it more fun to live in a city like Tel Aviv than the Negev?

A: It was more fun, but it is necessary to have people living in the Negev. It is just a sacrifice that has to be made.

The reason we (AFU/WOFI) are learning about this, is because in order to understand how to better advocate for Israel, we have to have a better understanding for the problems, and controversial events. It is impossible to advocate if the problem is not established and understood thoroughly. My understanding of the Negev was greatly enhanced by interviewing Elah Cohen.
Another AFU-WOFI participant , Ben Jaffee also interviewed Elah Cohen and he added the following perspective'


. For 10 years she lived with her husband and two kids in Tel Aviv. Last year however, they moved to a small caravan community by the name of Har Emtzah. This community only has 25 families. They all share the ideal of growing the desolate parts of the country. All of the families in Har Emtzah work together to improve the town as well as improve the roadway system. Recently, she found a passion that goes along with her ideas of improving the people in Israel. She works with several other couples work along with Bedouins to improve their living conditions. The healthcare at the villages are subpar or nonexistent. She saw that if a doctor told a Bedouin family that their child needed to go to the hospital, they would often ignore the advice. Elah is working alongside Bedouin women teaching them how to become a nurse. The group sees this as a way to fix the healthcare problem. They hope that a Bedouin family will be more open to accepting medical advice from one of their own rather than an outsider. The NGO helps the people learn how to become selfsufficient in order to continue improving their society without outside help. 


         
 
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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