Kibbutz welcomes Bedouin into fold

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By Abraham Rabinovich THE WASHINGTON TIMES

JERUSALEM | For the first time in the century-old history of the Israeli kibbutz, a Bedouin has been accepted by one as a member.

At a recent vote in Kibbutz Ein Hashofet, near Haifa, 90 percent of the members agreed to accept Roni Oved, 33, as a full member of the commune.

Mr. Oved was born in a Bedouin village in the nearby Jezreel Valley. Growing up, he had often found part-time work in the kibbutzim in the area and was drawn by their lifestyle.

"The openness of the kibbutzim attracted me from the beginning, and I began to feel I want to be there," he said in a recent interview. "I made friends with young people there my age."

Although many Bedouin -- a term for Arabs with nomadic roots -- come into close contact with Israeli Jewish society by joining the army, in which they often serve as trackers, Mr. Oveds parents refused to let him join. Searching for work after completing high school at 18, he found a job as a gardener in Ein Hashofet. After a year, he was offered accommodation there and settled in.

"With the years, I felt that this is my home," he told the newspaper Yediot Ahronot. "Since age 15, Ive been completely secular and feel totally Israeli."

It was at Ein Hashofet that he met his future wife, Katya, an immigrant from Russia who had come to the kibbutz to study in a Hebrew-language course. She was accepted as a member along with Mr. Oved. The couple have two young children.

Kibbutzim began to be founded in the early 20th century in what was then Turkish-ruled Palestine by young, highly ideological pioneers, generally from Poland and what would become the Soviet Union.

Many abandoned academic tracks or urban professions in order to form communes in which the burden of turning rocky soil or swamp into fertile farmland -- and themselves into farmers -- was equally shared by all, men and women.

These kibbutzim became the backbone of the Zionist movement, which aimed at reviving a Jewish state in the Jews ancient homeland.

They played a major role in Israels War of Independence and their physical distribution throughout the country accounted in good part for the borders of Israel that were eventually drawn.

Although always a small minority of the Jewish population -- today kibbutz members make up about 2 percent of the population -- kibbutznikim, as they are called, always played an outsize role in the state building process.

In the political realm, members have been disproportionately prominent as ministers and parliamentarians. In the military, they are still disproportionately represented in elite combat units and, in the past, have even provided a majority of pilots for the air force.

In recent years, many of the communes have fallen on hard times economically, and ideological fires have been dampened as the kibbutzim lose their cutting-edge role in a modern state. The notion that kibbutz members receive the same pay whether they are factory managers or cooks in the communal kitchen have been abandoned by most kibbutzim.

In this new atmosphere, it has become possible to accept an Arab into the communal fold.

"Roni [Oved] has lived here a long time and has taken on a lot of duties beyond his ordinary work," said Telma Dayan, a kibbutz leader. "He and Katya contribute to the life of the community."

Says Mr. Oved: "I join in the holiday celebrations here, like Passover, although not like a religious Jew would since Im not a Jew. My children are absolutely kibbutz kids. They don't know my origins. When they get to first grade, Ill tell them."