US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV6667

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 006667 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2015 
TAGS: ECON, PGOV, IS, ECONOMY AND FINANCE, ISRAELI SOCIETY 
SUBJECT: BEDOUIN PROFESSOR PESSIMISTIC ABOUT GOI TOURISM 
PLANS 
 
Classified By: Economic Counselor William Weinstein for reasons 1.4 (b) 
 and (d). 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY:  The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has several 
projects in the planning stages designed to improve the 
Bedouin employment situation in the Negev.  Michal Uziyahu 
from the Negev Development Authority (NDA) said one tourism 
plan divides the Negev into six regions and calls for the GOI 
to develop sites highlighting a different Bedouin cultural 
field group in each area.  This plan will be reviewed by a 
board comprised of the MoT, NDA and Negev community 
officials, who will meet on November 30.  Uziyahu described 
another plan called the Tourism Greenhouse project, which 
acts as a hothouse for encouraging entrepreneurs from the 
Negev to start new tourism businesses in the region. 
Finally, she touched on a project spearheaded by the private 
firm of Geo-Teva in the Bedouin village of Derijat, which 
will showcase the Negev's medicinal and aromatic plants. 
Aref Abu Rabia, a Bedouin professor at Ben Gurion University 
working with Geo-Teva was not optimistic about the GOI 
sponsored tourism projects.  He claimed that the GOI is 
barely investing any money in the Bedouin community and that 
the Bedouin still suffer from an unemployment rate in the 50 
to 60 percent range.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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GOI's Tourism Plan for Bedouin Employment 
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2. (C) On November 21, econoff met with Michal Uziyahu, 
Manager of Tourism for the Negev Development Authority (NDA). 
 Uziyahu said the NDA has a broad set of responsibilities and 
was created to help generate employment and revenue for the 
region.  She said the NDA reports directly to former Vice 
Premier Shimon Peres' office. 
 
3. (C) Uziyahu said that a tourism master plan for the 
Bedouin sector was initiated by the NDA and has now reached 
the final stage.  She indicated that a review panel made up 
of members from the Ministries of Tourism and Agriculture, 
former Peres office employees, mayors from various Negev 
townships, and the Israel Land Authority (ILA) will vote on 
the plan on November 30. 
 
4. (C) Uziyahu said a private company called Geo-Teva headed 
by David Meninger, who advises public and private bodies on 
environmental and tourism issues, was recently hired to 
spearhead the first project to take place in the village of 
Derijat in the Arad region.  The plan is to give tourists the 
opportunity to tour gardens consisting of medicinal and 
aromatic plants.  Note: In a related story Geo-Teva is also 
planning to use the town of Segev Shalom to establish a field 
school called Darkhei Midbar (Ways of the Desert), which will 
serve as a center for Bedouin field studies. End Note. 
 
5. (C) She explained that the tourism plan divides the Negev 
into six regions; sites highlighting a different topic 
related to Bedouin culture will be developed in each region. 
She noted that final approval of the plan is required before 
funding is received from the Ministry of Tourism (MoT), the 
Jewish National Fund (JNF), and possibly the Ministry of 
Agriculture and the Jewish Agency. 
 
6. (C) Uziyahu also discussed an umbrella program called the 
"Tourism Greenhouse," which currently provides business 
entrepreneurs a chance to initiate projects in the Negev. 
She said the NDA will pay 75 percent of the consultation fees 
incurred by individuals seeking to start a business in the 
region.  She said close to fifty Bedouin entrepreneurs have 
approached her office.  She stressed, however, that 
consultations need to be completed and statutory requirements 
met before any project can be initiated. 
 
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Abu Rabia: GOI Tourism Plans Not Realistic 
------------------------------------------ 
 
7. (C) On November 23, econoff met with Dr. Aref Abu Rabia, 
Chair of the Department of Middle East Studies and Professor 
of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University in the Negev.  Abu 
Rabia is a Bedouin who lives in the unrecognized village of 
Kuhla, which has a population of 500 Bedouin and is located 
35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Beer Sheva.  Abu Rabia 
confirmed his partnership with Geo-Teva's project in Derijat, 
but said he is pessimistic about the tourism initiative and 
other projects designed to improve the dismal employment 
situation of the Bedouin. 
 
8. (C) When asked why he was critical of GOI efforts to help 
the Bedouin through tourism, Abu Rabia pointed to the 
historical land dispute between the GOI and Bedouin, the 
small amount of money allocated to the Bedouin sector, and 
the numerous home demolitions in the face of expanding Jewish 
communities in the Negev.  He said that these factors 
represented major roadblocks to progress. 
 
9. (C) Abu Rabia claimed that the NDA, MoT, and officials 
from Peres' office responsible for the Bedouin have not 
invested meaningful amounts of money in the Bedouin 
community.  He cited the Geo-Teva project as an example of a 
project that has not moved beyond the planning stage due to a 
lack of funding and infrastructure support.  He said that he 
has addressed the need for funding in previous meetings with 
private and public officials, but that there has been no 
response to these calls.  He said he met David Meninger three 
years ago, and NIS 250,000 (USD 55,555) later, nothing has 
happened.  He noted that Meninger and others working with him 
used the NIS 250,000 for consultations, research and other 
project related expenses, but none of the amount was used to 
start the project. 
 
10. (C) He ended the meeting by characterizing the overall 
GOI approach to the Bedouin employment issue as superficial, 
claiming that more than 90 percent of all money for Bedouin 
projects go to non-Bedouin who spearhead projects in the 
Negev and hire Bedouin as laborers.  When econoff noted that 
these projects created jobs for the Bedouin, Abu Rabia said 
that it was cheap labor, adding that Bedouin unemployment in 
the Negev stands at 50 to 60 percent. 
 
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