The Bedouins of Israel:: Part II

 Nadene Goldfoot                                         

              Bedouin at Mount Sinai-they are said to come from Ishmael, son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah's handmaid-turned wife..  

Bedouins live throughout most of the desert belt from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara Desert via the Western Desert, Sinai and Negev to the Arabian Desert.  Some fall into Israel's land.  They make up only a small portion of the land although the area they live in is large due to their nomadic or former nomadic lifestyle.  They have needed land for grazing of their camels, sheep and goats.

                     Bedouin woman in Jerusalem, in 1900

The Bedouins were often ruthless raiders of established desert communities, in a never-ending conquest for plunder and material wealth.  Yet these same nomads practiced generous hospitality, and valued the virtue of chastity in their women, who were their ambassadors of generosity and hospitality.  They followed their code of honor religiously, governed by tribal chieftains or Sheikhs, who were elected by tribal elders.  In this they share with the Pashtuns of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.  

In the 1st few centuries CE, many Bedouin were converted to Christianity and Judaism and many Bedouin tribes fell to Roman slavery. This means that some Jews originated from Bedouins.   By the turn of the 7th century, most Bedouins had been converted to Islam.  When the Mongols took the city of Baghdad (actually in Iraq) in 1258 CE, the Bedouin people were subjected to accepting the Ottoman presence and authority like everyone else.  

Bedouins were traditionally divided into related tribes, just like the Jews had been.  A widely-quoted Bedouin saying is:  

I against my brothers,  I and my brothers against my cousins,   I and my brothers and my cousins against the world. 

                                               

                   Bedouin Tent in modern West Amman, Jordan

 The individual family unit (called a tent or batyf) typically consisted of 3 or 4 adults (married couple + siblings or parents) and any number of children, and would focus on semi=nomadic pastoralism, migrating throughout the year following water and plant resources.  Royal tribes traditionally herded cattle while others herded sheep and goats.  Where resources were plentiful, several tents would travel together as a goum (clan).  These groups were sometimes linked by patriarchal lineage but just as likely linked by marriages as new wives were especially likely to have male relatives join them, or an acquaintance or even no clearly defined relation but a simple shared membership in the tribe. In Islam a man can have 4 wives at a time. 

                                               

    A young Bedouin lighting a camp fire in Wadi Rum, Jordan
  

Notable Bedouin tribes are:

• Bani Khalid in Jordan, Israel, Palestinian Territories, and Syria, also in the eastern Arabian Peninsula
• Howeitat in Wadi Araba, and Wadi Rum, Jordan
• Beni Sakhr in Syria and Jordan
• Aniza, the largest bedouin tribe, estimated at about 700,000 members (including the Rwala), live in northern Saudi Arabia, western Iraq, and the Syrian steppe.
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                                  Bedouin in 1914

Bedouin systems of justice are as varied as the Bedouin tribes themselves. A number of these systems date from pre-Islamic times, and hence do not follow the Sharia. However, many of these systems are falling into disuse as more and more Bedouins follow the Sharia or national penal codes for dispensing justice. Bedouin honor codes are one of three Bedouin aspects of ethics that contain significant amounts of pre-Islamic customs: namely those of hospitality, courage, and honor.

There are separate honor codes for men (sharif) and women (ird). Bedouin customs relating to preservation of honor, along with those relating to hospitality and bravery, date to pre-Islamic times.  In many Bedouin courts, women often do not have a say as defendant or witness,  and decisions are taken by village elders.

Abraham and Sarah established the code of hospitality as far as Judaism says.  Hospitality (diyafa) is a virtue closely linked to Sharaf. If required, even an enemy must be given shelter and fed for some days. Poverty does not exempt one from one's duties in this regard. Generosity is a related virtue, and in many Bedouin societies gifts must be offered and cannot be declined. The destitute are looked after by the community, and tithing is mandatory in many Bedouin societies.

Bravery (hamasa) is also closely linked to Sharaf. Bravery indicated the willingness to defend one's tribe for the purpose of tribal solidarity and balance (assahiya). It is closely related to manliness (muruwa). Bravery usually entails the ability to withstand pain, including male circumcision.

A Bedouin tribe is typically held responsible for the action of their members, so if an accused fails to pay a fine, the accused's tribe is expected to---upon which the accused, or the accused's family, becomes obligated to the tribe.  

They cover many countries of the Middle East; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. A DNA study was made of Kuwait Bedouins. 

                                                                 

We wished to investigate the genetic structure of the Kuwaiti Bedouin and consider how they compare with neighboring populations, what the genetic consequences of their traditional lifestyle might be, and whether the social lineages that identify their descent groups are also reflected in their genetic lineages.                      

Kuwait lies in the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf. Although it is located near a possible migration route out of Africa that may have been used over 50 000 years ago (Jobling et al., 2004), such early events appear to have had little impact on the current populations of Kuwait and the first known settlement dates only to the 3rd Century BCE when the Ancient Greeks colonized the island of Failaka under Alexander the Great. Historians believe the current settlement was established between the late 16th and 18th Centuries CE (Dickson, 1956). The population of Kuwait is divided into two main groups: townspeople and Bedouin tribal groups (ﻗﺒﺎﺋﻞ Qaba’il) with affiliations to their “cousins” (وﻟﺪ ﻋﻢ wild ’am) who inhabit other parts of the Arabian Peninsula. The Bedouin are not geographically isolated from each other and are traditionally nomadic, moving from one region to another seeking pasture for their herds to graze and water for survival (Dickson, 1967). The Bedouin conventionally claim descent from two main lineages: from Adnan son of Ishmael—the Adnani lineage—or from Qahtan (or Joktan)—the Qahtani (or Joktani) lineage.

Kuwaiti Bedouin do not marry outside their own tribe and samples collected in the capital are not admixed.  Overall, with the exception of the Aniza tribe, the Bedouin clustered with the Arabic-speaking populations of the Middle East, and were distinct from Far Eastern and European populations. However, while the populations of the Persian Gulf clustered closely together, the Bedouin populations formed a much looser part of the cluster, most marked for the Aniza.

Y-SNP analysis classified the Bedouin samples into nine haplogroups . Haplogroup diversities were also low, ranging from zero for the Ajman—all members belonged to haplogroup J1—to 0.6 for the Aniza .

Haplogroup J1 was seen at very high frequency in the combined sample: approximately 84%—or 124 individuals—and was present at >50% in all individual populations. 

The other haplogroups identified were R1a1 (at 6.75%), E3b3 (6.00%), G2 (3.40%), R1b3 (1.35%) and K2, E3b1, Q* and R2 (each 0.67%).

The letters of the haplogroups are all consistent with Jewish haplogroups.  My father was a Q.  Most Jews are J1.  Just amazing!  Thank you Bedouin cousins, for testing.  

I hope they continue testing Bedouins, especially the ones in Israel. 

Bedouins are not ready for Israelis to plant trees in the desert.  They rebelled and held a protest, which shows their courage to do so.  I wonder and hope that someone came to their heads and told them why the government was for the idea and why it could help them first before they attempted to plant the trees.  Evidently they were busy pulling them out.  They could help do the planting !  Plant date trees..  How about banana trees.  Would they work out there?  

Resource:

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/bedouin#:~:text=Notable%20Bedouin%20tribes-,History,who%20are%20called%20the%20Qayis.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2869035/