I have to applaud the recent article MSU student helps build mosque in Israel (SN 9/10). It exposes MSU students to the plight and daily discrimination that the bedouin Arabs (among other Arab groups) in Israel face.
While I liked the article, I have to express my concern that the word “Arab” was not mentioned at all throughout the article. According to MSN Encarta Encyclopedia, bedouins are “nomadic Arabs inhabiting desert areas of the Middle East and northern Africa.” They are more than just a “Muslim group” — they share a direct link to the ancient history of the Arab people and play an important role in the greater Arab identity.
This lack of reference to the connection between bedouins and other Arabs makes the discrimination faced by bedouins seem unrelated to the discrimination faced by other Arab citizens of Israel when, in reality, it’s not. To be an Arab citizen of Israel, whether you refer to yourself as Muslim, Christian, bedouin or in some extreme cases, Druze, is to be subject to discrimination based upon fears of Arab citizens being a fifth column or a demographic time bomb. The bedouins are more than just a Muslim group indigenous to the Negev desert — they are an Arab people who share the same plight as other Arab peoples of the State of Israel as a direct result of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Ali Aqel
computer engineering senior
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