The nomads, or Bedouins, lived according to ancient tribal patterns; at the head of the tribe was the elder, or sheik, elected and advised by the heads of the related families comprising the tribe. Driven from place to place in their search for pastures to sustain their flocks, the Bedouins led a precarious existence.

Aside from maintaining their herds, some relied on plunder from raids on settlements, on passing caravans, and on one another. The Bedouins enjoyed a degree of personal freedom unknown in more agrarian and settled societies.

Sheiks could not always limit the freedoms of their tribesmen, who often rode off and hired themselves out as herdsmen or warriors if the authority of the tribe became too restrictive. The Bedouins developed a code of ethics represented in the word muru’ah or manly virtue. Far from brutishness and bragging, muru’ah was proven through grace and restraint, loyalty to obligation and duty, a devotion to do that which must be done, and a respect for women.

Bedouin women also enjoyed a great degree of independence. They were allowed to engage in business and commerce; they could choose their own lovers, and conduct their lives without great restriction by the control of their husbands. The freedom and independence of Bedouins sprang from the realities of life in the desert, as did the values and ethics of the Arabs. One rule of conduct was unqualified hospitality to strangers. A nomad never knew when the care of a stranger might be necessary to provide the necessary water and shade to save his or her own life.

The Bedouins of the seventh century lacked a unifying religious system. Most looked at life as a brief time within which to take full advantage of daily pleasure. Ideas of an afterlife were not well defined or described. The Bedouins worshiped a large number of gods and spirits, many of whom were believed to inhabit trees, wells, and stones. Each tribe had its own gods, generally symbolized by sacred stones, which served as altars where communal sacrifices were offered.

Although the Bedouins of the interior led a primitive and largely isolated existence, some parts of Arabia were highly influenced by the neighboring and more highly sophisticated cultures of Byzantium, Persia, and Ethiopia. By the later half of the sixth century Christian and Jewish residents were found throughout the Arabian peninsula; their religious systems and philosophical positions probably had an influence on the Bedouin population.

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March 9, 2011: The first Bedouin woman to hold a doctorate describes herself as an “insider-outsider in three cultures.” Professor Sarab Abu Rabia-Queder, a lecturer at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, grew up in Be’er Sheva, the unofficial capital of the south, a melting pot for many of Israel’s cultures.

As an educated woman, she often found herself on the fringes of the local southern male-dominated Bedouin society, as well as that of the Israelis around her. She also felt connected, and yet somewhat distant, from her mother’s northern Arab culture. Daughter of the first Bedouin physician and his wife, an Arab from northern Israel, she was the first girl from her tribe to go to college. “I grew up like an insider/outsider in each of these three cultures,” Abu Rabia-Queder explains.

She later did her postdoctoral studies in 2007 at the Gender Studies Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in 2008 at the International Department of Development Studies at Oxford University. Abu Rabia-Queder recently completed her latest book, “Palestinian Women in Israel: Life and Struggle from the Margins,” co-edited with Naomi Weiner. She was one of eight Bedouin women in the first such class at BGU in 1995. Today, there are hundreds supported by the Robert H. Arnow Center for Bedouin Studies and Development, which provides a platform for advanced research, academic conferences and a series of publications to advance knowledge about the population.

Abu Rabia-Queder today is a full-time lecturer occupying the D.E. Koshland Jr. Family Career Development Chair in Desert Studies. She teaches courses on the Negev Bedouin and other indigenous peoples as well as Arab feminist literature of the Middle East and North Africa.

She and her husband Hassan, an accountant who was a fellow student at BGU, live with their three young sons, ages 7, 5 and 18 months, in a Jewish neighborhood of Be’er Sheva. The boys attend a local bilingual school run by the Hagar Association, where Jewish and Arab children learn side by side. “I think if something would bring real peace and understand to our region, it is this school,” Abu Rabia-Queder stated in an interview for an article published by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “They grow up knowing each other as human beings with day to day contact between them and their families, and with an understanding of each other’s narratives and history.”

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Bedouin in the area of Rahat, northwest of Be’er Sheva, have threatened the life of a neighboring sheikh and set his house on fire following his recent meeting to reinforce ties with Jews and Judaism that are part of his ancestry.
Sheikh Salem al-Huzeil maintains that most his tribal ancestors were Jewish until they were forced to convert during the Muslim conquest approximately 1,300 years ago. Hundreds of Bedouin and Arabs families in neighboring villages are known to practice certain Jewish customs, such as lighting candles Friday night, evidence of their Jewish roots.

Bedouin enemies have reacted violently to his efforts to maintain friendly relations with the Jewish community and to demonstrate for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Posters recently have been distributed calling for the death of Sheikh al-Huzeil, although he has said that his tribe has no intentions of converting to Judaism. Several members of his family suffered severe burns after Bedouin opponents set his house on fire.

The Islamic Movement in the south does not want good relations with Jews,” noted Rabbi Dov Stein, who as among those who met with the Sheikh. Rabbi Stein has urged Defense Minister Ehud Barak to investigate the threats and calls for incitement. The movement’s northern branch is headed by Sheikh Raad Salah, who has been convicted several times for incitement,