Left: Bedouin Sheikh El-Turi holds a bunch of fresh wheat in one hand, and a bunch of dead dry wheat in the other. The wheat fields of the El-Turi family, located south of the Bedouin city of Rahat, had been sprayed two days before with toxic chemicals from airplanes by the Israeli authorities. The spraying operation is another chapter in the ongoing ownership struggle between the state and the Bedouins over lands in the Negev desert. Right: Carrying the Palestinian flag, a Bedouin youngster rides a horse south of the Bedouin city of Rahat during the "Day of the Land". This day is marked every year by Israeli-Arabs and Palestinians to commemorate the loss of Arab land to the state of Israel.
Living in Israel's southern Negev desert, Bedouin citizens find themselves in conflict with the state of Israel. An ongoing land dispute sees the Israeli state attempting to displace whole villages from what the Bedouins claim to be their historical lands.
by Ahikam Seri
The result is that some 45 Bedouin villages in the Negev, considered illegal settlements by the state, have no access to official infrastructures. Hence they have to generate their own electricity and siphon water from official pipelines.