How can Israel persecute Bedouins?
I can barely express my horror at the way the Israeli government and army are treating the Bedouins of the Negev Desert as described by Rachel Cooke (‘Daughters of the desert’, Observer Magazine, last week). I cannot understand how the Israelis can treat them with such inhumanity, such brutality, and what can only be described as outright racism. How can the nation that suffered the murderous brutality of the Holocaust do these things? Michael Knowles Congleton Cheshire The main problem for Hisen Al-Queda and perhaps many like her is that her husband has two additional wives and 31 children. Surely Israel cannot be criticised for trying to get across to these people that their current lifestyles are unsustainable. Israel probably cannot do much about polgamy and honour killings, but it can assist the Bedouin women and their children by removing them from the squalor they live in. Also, women who are not in a position to ‘refuse their husbands’ are being raped. Israel is attempting to c
