The dire security situation in the Negev wasn't created over the past year. However, Naftali Bennett's government, which will mark its one-year anniversary in around three months, has thus far avoided spearheading a comprehensive campaign to change the situation. Although residents have seen a welcome change in the modes of operation employed by the Israel Police and defense establishment, the State of Israel still hasn't acknowledged the magnitude of the threat and the roots of its motivations.
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The failure lies in wrongly diagnosing the problem. In its approach to the reality in the Negev, the Israeli government blindly adheres to two faulty basic assumptions. The first identifies the crux of the threat as coming from criminal elements, while the second assumption is that the phenomenon of crime stems primarily from socio-economic distress. Both assumptions are predicated on a partial view of the phenomenon and deny the fact that problems are rooted in the nationalist-religious fight against Israel's sovereignty.
An examination of Israeli governments' investments in the Bedouin sector in the Negev, including how much land is allotted for construction by the Israel Lands Authority – and certainly in comparison to land prices in non-Bedouin communities – is enough to debunk claims of discrimination. Figures published by the Negev Development Authority point to an unprecedented scope of investment by the state in the Bedouin communities.
The second assumption, too, which views criminal elements as the main hindrance to sovereign governance, can be debunked. There's no disputing the potency of the criminal threat, but it's a mistake to ignore the significance of the deep bond between the criminal class and nationalist class. In other words, the Israeli government and defense establishment lack a comprehensive systematic theory to explain what is going on in the Negev, and there are two possible explanations for this.
The first explanation: Israel's leadership in recent decades has had administrative and operative tendencies. That is to say – it reduces a phenomenon to something that stems from socio-economic distress, which then allows it to provide an administrative response in the form of a governmental plan of action and monetary investment. A problem rooted in nationalist-religious hostility, on the other hand, can't be handled in the familiar and comfortable administrative fashion.
The second explanation: Blindly following the modern assumption that every problem can be solved with a positive spirit. The Israeli leadership is being guided here by the American assumption that all people strongly aspire to improve their quality of life and that money can fix anything. An eternal nationalist struggle can also be mollified, supposedly, with economic enticements of prosperity and improved quality of life. In recent decades, however, the American gospel of giving people the light of democracy has been thoroughly repudiated. Despite investing a vast fortune in Iraq and Afghanistan, the reality on the ground indicated the existence of counter-forces that don't genuflect before the altar of American prosperity. Despite this, Israeli society and its leaders continue clutching to the promise of American wealth and prosperity as an answer, as if this embodies the human essence.
The time has come to acknowledge that Israel is still fighting its war of independence over sovereignty in the Negev. The Israeli government and the country's security forces, including IDF units and all security agencies, must engage in a comprehensive and sustained campaign. Such a campaign would comprise economic dimensions as well, but these must integrate with a broad security effort over the long haul.
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