The Granite Battalion of the Nahal Brigade gazed into the mirrors of the platoon bathrooms as they painted their faces with the colors of night and dirt. The 31 mile beret march was just ahead of them. Nahal soldiers get their faces painted ahead of the 31 mile march. On the outskirts of a Bedouin village, 200 soldiers gathered at the starting point just after sunset. The sky had just cleared after a day of light desert rain and the faces of the soldiers showed signs of relief. Prior to the march, each …More

A new eco-village in the heart of the Negev will soon offer work and education for 10,000 Bedouins living the desert. The Wadi Attir Village recently completed its preparations phase and is ready to be transformed into “a model for sustainable, community-based agricultural enterprise,” in the desert region, according to KKL-JNF. Land has already been prepared for plots of medicinal herbs and corrals have been built to house herds of goats and sheep in the village. The finished village compound will …More

NoCamels Team, NoCamels - Israeli Innovation News Like many other Bedouin women from her generation, Mariam Aborkeek, now in her early 40s, was born in a tent and was raised under the heavy hems of her mother’s and grandmother’s Bedouin dresses. However, unlike most Bedouin women, she was lucky enough to learn the trade secrets of being a medicine woman from her grandmother –– ancient natural Bedouin wisdom, which Aborkeek has turned into an international beauty business from Israel, …More

There are Israeli voters making some surprising and rather unexpected choices for political candidates on Tuesday, January 22. Yair Hizni, who grew up in a settler family in Hebron, is casting his vote for Shelly Yachimovich, the leader of Israel’s Labor Party. Hizni, a teacher, who lived in the settlement community of Nokdim in Judea before recently moving to Jerusalem, spoke with Tazpit News Agency about his decision to support Labor's Yachimovich. “It’s less about the political parties and …More

When they were kids, they spent their free time exploring the forests near their houses, searching for animals and playing ‘hide and seek,’ finding each other just by following one another’s footsteps. Today, they’re the first on call in the field, using their deep knowledge of Israel’s terrain and their tracking skills to give recommendations in real-time to senior commanders on how to deal with violent incidents. Meet the Bedouin Reconnaissance Unit of Judea and Samaria. We joined …More

Sgt. René Elhozayel is a perfect example of what the IDF calls the ‘kur hituch,’ or melting pot. One of his parents is Bedouin, and the other a Swiss Jew — he celebrates both Eid al-Adha and Passover. One day, he hopes to become a doctor. René agreed to sit down with us and talk about his unique IDF journey. Here’s his story. IDF Blog: What is your family background? René Elhozayel: My parents met in Switzerland, where my father, who is Israeli Bedouin, studied …More

They are scattered around the desert, ready to track down evidence hidden to the naked eye, and nothing escapes their exceptional sight. They are the Bedouin scouts, a unit dedicated to what others cannot. With the all of the cutting edge technology available in today's world, there still is no substitute for innate human senses. The IDF scouting unit was founded in 1970, and has established itself as an integral part of the military. Its responsibilities include guarding nearly all of Israel's with an emphasis …More

Arava Power Company co-founders have hired an outside company to raise $10 million to fund the development of solar fields outside of Israel. Arava President Yosef Abramowitz, on behalf of the as-yet unnamed sister company, announced Sunday that they hired DS Apex M&A Ltd. to help them expand the development of solar fields globally. Also on Sunday, Abramowitz was named "Person of the Year" by the 2012 Israel Energy and Business Convention. “If there is no profitability, horizon and clarity within six …More

Israel must find a way to halt the illegal squatting of Israeli Bedouin, in order to help the Bedouin and to assert Israel's claim to the land, lawmaker Yuli Edelstein told a special forum. The non-profit research institute Regavim conducted two events last week focusing on the sharp rise of squatting and illegal settling of vast tracts of land in the country’s Negev region. Edelstein, minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs, was the keynote speaker for an emergency public forum, called …More

On an August weekday afternoon, 19-year-old Mohammed Kernowi stands in front of a small store in Israel’s largest Bedouin city, a hot plate in front of him with small pancakes sizzling in preparation for the end of that day’s Ramadan fast. At his age, many Israeli men have been through basic training and are weathering their first of three years of compulsory military service either on the country’s borders, in the West Bank, in an office or on one of the country’s many bases. Kernowi, …More

The US has joined Israel in issuing a travel advisory for tourists visiting areas around the Sinai border. The message was issued just days before a border attack by jihadi extremists, highlighting the rising tensions in the region. Israel renewed a travel advisory last Thursday, issuing a statement warning that “terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, as well as other groups, are continuing to attempt terror attacks... against Israeli tourists staying in the Sinai in the imminent future.” Prior …More

Rob Lattin is Jspace News' Foreign Affairs Correspondent. In addition to covering foreign affairs for Jspace, Rob is a blogger on Israeli and Middle Eastern foreign policy for the Foreign Policy Association, as well as a freelance writer. He can be reached by email at rob@jspacecorp.com. Sunday evening saw a major attempt by a Sinai global jihad terrorist cell, which the IDF is reporting to be Bedouin residents, to infiltrate Israel. The effort was thwarted on the Israel-Egypt-Gaza border after the terrorists …More