In Mus’ad Abu Fajr’s novel Tal’it Al-Badan, Awda’s grandfather — one of the fictional characters representing the Bedouins of Sinai — is asked by a soldier sent out by the Israeli government to sign a piece of paper to prove that he is “reconciled with the state”. “I’m reconciled and that’s that,” Awda’s grandfather says. “Are you saying that you don’t want reconciliation with the state?” “No, no, I am reconciled with the state. But I am a Bedouin. I don’t know how to read and I don’t know how to write. I know ra’i al- bayt [the landlord]. If you want I can get ra’i al- bayt for you and he can guarantee my reconciliation.” “We are a state. We deal in paper,” the soldier says. “You are a state. I am not a state.” Awda’s grandfather, who witnessed the changing map of Sinai over the years, is a symbolic example of how indigenous communities found themselves estranged in a world they can no longer control or belong to. For many of them, the experience of being a ‘stranger’ is felt much more deeply. It is not because of…
‘We need to reconnect with nature’: Egypt’s Sinai Bedouins Send a Message to the World on COVID-19
November 13, 2020
