permits, and services to people in recognized villages. But, unrecognized villages face great difficulties getting any services at all. Even when some have thousands of people living in them, Israel doesn’t provide clinics or schools. Some villages have only managed to get schools and clinics after Palestinians have taken a case to the High Court to force Israel to provide them. In Um Al Hiran, we have no schools and clinics; our students go to schools in Hura, and we get services from Hura too. We can even manage without services; all we want is to be able to live in Um Al Hiran. We don’t even want stone or zinc houses or caves; all we want is to be able to live in our village. In the village, we get our water on donkeys; however, nowadays since people have bought cars, we can bring water tanks (4 to 5 cubic meters each) to the village. We have wells in the village, but a well is not enough for the water we need. We have set up two pipelines to get water, one from Hura (nearby recognized village), and the other from another village, but then they [Israel] wouldn’t allow the water pressure. But, the Israeli-Jews living next to Um Al Hiran have access to water, electricity, and Israel has even allowed them to make a cemetery for dogs, as well as giving them thousands of hectares. We live a really hard life. A Bedouin is used to living a hard life and we manage it. Since Israel doesn’t provide us with water, electricity or education, we try to do it by ourselves. I take my children to Hura schools to get education; we bring water tanks on donkeys, although this water is never enough. And when it comes to electricity, we buy gas canisters to manage. We can still accept to live this kind of life; all we ask is to let us stay. The Naqab is around 13 million dunams (1,300 km2), and we only live on four percent of the whole Naqab. But, the Israeli media and public opinion try to show that we, the Bedouins, are occupying the whole Naqab, exhausting the state’s resources and stealing the land. We are the original owners and the indigenous people who have lived here even before Israel was established. Their goal is well known, the one ultimate goal, it is not only to take Um Al Hiran. Israel wants to take the whole Naqab, the recognized and the unrecognized villages, they want the whole area.” H. Abu Al Qee’an, Um Al Hiran. Interview: 23 February 2017 67