Tel as-Sabi

Tel Sheva redirects here. For the UNESCO World Heritage Site see Tel Be'er Sheva

Tell as-Sabi תֵּל שֶׁבַע‎‎ تل السبع‎
View of Tell as-Sabi from Tel Be'er Sheva View of Tell as-Sabi from Tel Be'er Sheva
Tell as-Sabi Location of Tell as-Sabi in Israel
Coordinates:
District	Southern
Founded	1967
Government
• Type	Local council
• Head of Municipality	Musa Abu Isa
Area
• Total	5,000 dunams (5 km2 or 2 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	15,700

Tell as-Sabi (Arabic: تل السبع‎‎) or Tel Sheva (Hebrew: תֵּל שֶׁבַע‎) is a Bedouin town in the Southern District of Israel, bordering the modern city of Be'er Sheba (Beersheba).

Tell as-Sabi, the first Bedouin township in Israel, was founded in 1967 as part of a government project to settle Bedouins in permanent settlements and became a local council in 1984. It is one of seven Bedouin townships in the Negev desert with approved plans and developed infrastructure.

History

Most researches agree that Bedouins arrived to the Negev around 1800 AD, but there is evidence of earlier migrations as well.

The Negev Bedouins, a semi-nomadic society, has been going through a process of sedentarization since the later part of Ottoman rule in the region.

During the British Mandate period, the administration did not provide a legal frame to justify and preserve land ownership. In order to settle this issue, Israel's land policy was adapted to a large extent from the Ottoman land regulations of 1858 as the only preceding legal frame. Thus Israel nationalized most of the Negev lands using the state's land regulations from 1969.

Israel has continued the policy of sedentarization of the Negev Bedouins first imposed by the Ottoman authorities. Israel's measures at first it included regulation and relocation; during the 1950s Israel has relocated two-thirds of the Negev Bedouins into an area that was administered under martial law. The next step was to establish seven townships built especially for Bedouins in order to sedentarize and urbanize the Bedouins by offering them better life conditions, proper infrastructure and high-quality public services in sanitation, health, education, and municipal services. The other six townships are Hura, Lakiya, Ar'arat an-Naqab (Ar'ara BaNegev), Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom), Kuseife (Kseife) and the city of Rahat, the largest among them.

Problems with the relocation program

Not all Bedouins agree to move from tents and structures built on state lands and into apartments prepared for them. Only about 60% of the Bedouin citizens of Israel live in permanent, planned villages like Tell as-Sabi, while the rest are living in illegal homes spread all over the Northern Negev region.

Since Tell as-Sabi was the first Bedouin township in Israel, many mistakes were made by planners and government officials. The authorities tried to learn from this while planning and building new Bedouin villages and towns. For example, creating an urban environment rather than a rural locality.

As of 2000, the town has been ranked lowest (1 out of 10) in socio-economic standing, with an average income of 3,237 shekels (NIS), less than half the national average of 6,835 NIS. Only 43% of Tell as-Sabi's twelfth-grade students are eligible to graduate from high school.

Demography

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the population of Tell as-Sabi was 13,000 in December 2005 and 15,700 in December 2010. Tell as-Sabi's jurisdiction measures 5,000 dunams (5 km²).

Economy

Despite the fact that unemployment level among Negev Bedouins is high, there are several employment opportunities in the region. Several industrial parks are situated in the area - Ramat Hovav, Hura, but the closest industrial zone to Tell as-Sabi is situated in Beersheba. There are several organizations carrying out different activities aimed at supporting and expanding entrepreneurship in Israel's South in order to further integrate the 160,000 Bedouins living in the Negev into Israel's mainstream economy. They are primarily aimed at Bedouin women.

Twenty Arab-Bedouin women participated in a sewing course for fashion design at the Amal College in Be'er Sheva, including lessons on sewing and cutting, personal empowerment and business initiatives. A number of Bedouin women have undergone professional botanical training and established a business producing a range of unique skin care products based on traditional Bedouin herbal medicine. Their products include cosmetic and dermatological lotions, creams and ointments. Their products are manufactured at the laboratories of Hlavin, an international cosmetics manufacturer and exporter in Ra’anana.

Education

There is a number of schools in the township and a communal activity center.

Sports

Hapoel Tel Sheva is a football team based in Tell as-Sabi, which is a member of the Israel Football Association.

Notable residents

• Maryam Abu-Ghanem, the first female sports teacher in the Bedouin community
• Mariam Abu Rakeek, entrepreneur, a founder of Bat HaMidbar (Desert Daughter), a home-based venture producing oils, lotions, and herbs She was the first Israeli Bedouin woman to study abroad.
• Sana Elbaz, the head of the first daycare center of its kind in Israel's Bedouin sector, who has led a revolutionary educational program and brought about changes in the Bedouin society. She has lit a celebratory torch at Israel's 60th anniversary ceremony of 2008 in Jerusalem.

See also

• Arab localities in Israel

External links

• Lands of the Negev, a short film presented by Israel Land Administration describing the challenges faced in providing land management and infrastructure to the Bedouins in Israel's southern Negev region