Bedouin El Okbi struggle
In the previous posting I linked to Dukium, the Negev Coexistence Forum in Beersheva. Among the causes that Dukium champions is that of the El Okbi tribe near Beersheva.
Here’s a year-old piece from another source describing apparent Israeli retaliation (spraying of toxics on cropland) when Nuri El Okbi, President and Founder of the Association for Support and Defense of Bedouin Rights in Israel, traveled to Minnesota to meet with American Indians who have their own history of land expropriation.
Efforts by Bedouin supporters led the Israeli court Supreme Court last month to ban spraying of toxic chemicals on crops. Now the government will have to go back to using tractors to destroy Bedouin livelihood and force them to move aside to make way for Jewish settlers.
A related item: A new song in support of El Okbi written by an old friend who’s lived in Israel for many years. You can read Laurie Ornstein’s lyrics and, even better, listen to her sing her Prayer for El Okbi Tribe.
October 19th, 2007 at 10:23 am
[…] Ornstein, an old friend whose song in support of Bedouin organizer Nuri El Okbi I’ve mentioned before, spent yesterday singing protest songs outside the Ministry of Education in Beer Sheva. Her […]