Umm Batin

The village name derives from the Arabic words for mother, umm (أمّ), and hidden, batin (باتين). Translated, Umm Batin can mean either Hidden Mother or Mother of the Hidden. The historical origins of the village name are not well-documented.

Prior to the establishment of Israel, the Negev Bedouins were a semi-nomadic society that had been through a process of sedentariness since the Ottoman rule of the region. During the British Mandate period, no legal framework was established to justify and preserve land ownership. Thus Israel’s land policy was adopted to a large extent from the Ottoman land regulations of 1858 as the only legal precedent.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}}

Israel has continued the Ottoman policy of sedentarization of Negev Bedouins. In the 1950s Israel re-settled two-thirds of the Negev Bedouin in an area that was under a martial law.{{Citation needed|date=August 2019}} Several townships were built for them, offering better living conditions, infrastructure, sanitation, health and education, and municipal services.

As of today, according to the information of Israel Land Administration, over 60% of the Negev Bedouin live in seven settlements in the Negev desert with approved plans and developed infrastructure: Hura, Lakiya, Ar'arat an-Naqab (Ar'ara BaNegev), Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom), Tel as-Sabi (Tel-Sheva), Kuseife and the city of Rahat, the largest among them.[http://www.justice.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/898A7D08-2738-4A3D-8E2C-BE75689D7EF2/28810/IsraelsrepliestoCEDAWLOI61211.pdf State of Israel. Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. List of Issues to be taken up in Connection with the Consideration of Israel's Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports of Israel (CEDAW/C/ISR/4 and CEDAW/C/ISR/5)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015004454/http://www.justice.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/898A7D08-2738-4A3D-8E2C-BE75689D7EF2/28810/IsraelsrepliestoCEDAWLOI61211.pdf |date=2013-10-15 }} These townships cannot resolve the issue of high population density and illegal construction in the Negev absolutely, so besides expanding existing towns, the Israeli government has decided to construct 13 additional settlements with modern infrastructure for the Negev Bedouin, and Umm Batin is one of them.[http://www.mmi.gov.il/static/HanhalaPirsumim/Beduin_information.pdf Bedouin information] Israel Land Administration

The village was established following Government Resolution 881 on 29 September 2003, which created eight new Bedouin settlements (seven of which were to be located in the now defunct Abu Basma Regional Council).[http://www.abrahamfund.org/main/siteNew/index.php?page=115&action=sidLink&stId=903 Government resolutions passed in recent years regarding the Arab population of Israel] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207082421/http://www.abrahamfund.org/main/siteNew/index.php?page=115&action=sidLink&stId=903 |date=2012-02-07 }} The Abraham Fund Initiative It was officially recognized in 2004.[http://www.btl.gov.il/Publications/research/Documents/mechkar_98.pdf National Insurance Institute report, 2009] p.9

In early December 2016, Israel’s Transport Ministry without any previous warning or explanation suddenly removed the village’s only bus stop, thus isolating villagers who do not have private vehicles.[http://972mag.com/israel-strands-bedouin-in-their-own-village/123722/ Israel strands Bedouin in their own village] +972, 14 December 2016.

Formerly part of the Abu Basma Regional Council, Umm Batin currently falls under the jurisdiction of al-Kasom Regional Council. On November 5, 2012 the Israeli Ministry of Interior abolished Abu Basma, splitting it into two smaller regional councils, al-Kasom and Neve Midbar.[http://www.adalah.org/eng/Articles/1873/Adalah-Demands-Cancellation-of-Decision-to-with-to Press Release, 29 November 2012] Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel[http://abubasma.org.il/index.php?m=ar&artd=6282 Press Release, 14 November 2012] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821123651/http://abubasma.org.il/index.php?m=ar&artd=6282 |date=21 August 2013 }} Abu Basma Regional Council website (in Hebrew)

Prior to its division, Abu Basma Regional Council represented approximately 30,000 people spread across eleven newly recognized Bedouin villages.[http://adalah.org/Public/files/English/Newsletter/97-October2012/Redistricting-Naqab-Dividing-Abu-Basma-Thabet-Abu-Ras.pdf Segmenting the Naqab(Negev): Israel Redistricts to Postpone Local Elections for Arab-Bedouin Citizens] Dr. Thabet Abu Ras, October 2012 Along with the dismantling of Abu Basma, the Israeli Interior Minister postponed regional council elections for Al-Kasom and Neve Midbar until 2017.[http://adalah.org/Public/files/English/International_Advocacy/ENP/Adalah-Submission-for-EU-ENP-2012.pdf Adalah Briefing Paper, 7 November 2012] From its inception in 2003 until its division in 2012, Abu Basma Regional Council had been headed by an official appointed by the Interior Minister. The elections—which had been mandated in a ruling by the Israel Supreme Court to take place in December 2012 - would have represented the first democratically elected leadership of the Council.[http://www.adalah.org/eng/Articles/590/Demanding-the-Annulment-of-a-New-Law-which-the-Local HCJ 3183/10, Hussein Rafeea, et. al v. The Minister of the Interior, et al.]

It is accepted to give all the newly established councils a four-year trial period before elections are held. According to the amendment to the Regional Councils’ Law passed in 2009, that period can be extended by the Israeli Ministry of Interior indefinitely. Following a decision taken by the Kneset’s Interior Committee in 2010 to force the government to present a detailed timeline for the council’s development the date for the first elections in the Abu Basma Regional Council was set as 2012.Rebecca Anna Stoil, [http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=177916 Bedouin council's first election in 2012] The Jerusalem Post, June 9, 2010 But due to the unpreparedness and low level of municipal services eventually these elections were delayed once again and never took place due to the regional council's abolition.

The residents are mainly of two tribes: Abu Kaf and Abu Assa.

Umm Batin has four schools, serving kindergarten through twelfth grade: Abu Kaf and Al-Sanabel Elementary Schools, Awrat Secondary School, and ORT Umm Batin High School. There were a total of 2,163 students enrolled in Umm Batin schools in 2012.[http://www.adalah.org/eng/Articles/1822/Adalah-Demands-that-Education-Ministry-Connect-17 Press Release, 26 July 2012] Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel The nearest university is Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Be'er Sheva.

There is an acting "The English in Umm Batin" program, a result of cooperation between the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Medical School for International Health, the community of Umm Batin, and the students of ORT Umm Batin High School.[http://englishinummbatin.blogspot.co.il English in Umm Batin student blog]

File:Al-Sanabel Elementary School.jpg|Al-Sanabel Elementary School

File:Abu Kaf school Umm Batin.JPG|Abu Kaf Elementary School

File:Abu Kaf school 2 Umm Batin.JPG|Abu Kaf Elementary School

File:Umm Batin path.jpg|Dirt road through Umm Batin

File:Umm Batin goat pen.JPG|Family goat pen in Umm Batin

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• Arab localities in Israel
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• Sedentarization

{{Reflist}}

• [http://abubasma.org.il/index.php?m=text&t=10729&lib=759&la= Umm Batin] Abu Basma Regional Council {{in lang|he}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbOrkxHpWdc ORT Umm Batin and the High School for Environmental Studies in the Negev]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei8yHjk_MbM Lands of the Negev], a short film by Israel Land Administration describing the challenges in providing land management and infrastructure to the Negev Bedouin
• [http://www.mmi.gov.il/static/HanhalaPirsumim/Beduin_information.pdf Bedouin information] Israel Land Administration
• Seth Frantzman, [https://academia.edu/2267963/Presentation_to_Regavim_about_Negev Presentation to Regavim about Negev]

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Category:Arab villages in Israel

Category:Bedouin localities in Israel

Category:Populated places in Southern District (Israel)

Category:Populated places established in 2004

Category:2004 establishments in Israel