Today Israel’s first Bedouin diplomat hosted a crowd of Jewish friends at his family home.
Ambassador Ishmael Khaldi’s party was impeccably timed, coming midway through the Sukkot holiday and followed a similar spontaneous gathering three years ago when a group from Chabad visited to watch his folks make ‘robb’ - a pure syrup made from carob (‘St John’s Bread’).
But through the tent flaps of ‘Ohel Ishmael’ there was a sincere attempt to further enhance existing Jewish-Bedouin relations as Khaldi is anxious to demonstrate the many similarities between Bedouin heritage and Jewish tradition.
There are indeed many comparisons between the two and even the briefest glimpse highlights those between Muslim Sharia law, Jewish Halakha and their attendant cultures.
Meanwhile there may be no ‘apartheid’ or ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Israel.
But there are quarrels; there is bitterness and what do lie here barely beneath the surface of daily discourse are archaeological layers of mutual mistrust and resentment lurking - bubbling - ready to erupt into a maelstrom at the slightest provocation.
This is why, for example, many Galilee Bedouin are presently fighting the National Parks Authority over its plans to use their historic grazing lands for a nature reserve.
This again is why Khaldi has sustained many personal bruises, be they fighting for an access road to his family village or being beaten by security guards at the central bus station, Jerusalem in a case of alleged ‘ethnic profiling’.
These are stains on Israel’s character and the presence of Khaldi’s many Jewish friends and supporters at today’s celebrations surely mean they are keen to erase it.
NATALIE WOOD
23 SEPTEMBER 2021