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S trong drafts of both sweet and savory scents flutter through the warm, sanguine air in the Bedouin township of Tel Sheva, Israel. Forty pairs of captivated eyes and legs follow as Mariam Abu Regayak, a Bedouin herbalist, leads them through the freshly planted circles of powerful desert herbs. These guests to the official opening of the Tel Sheva Desert Medicine Site kneel, rub leaves between their fingertips, and learn of the medicinal value of the pungent-smelling herbs they inhale. For the past six months Jews and Arabs have worked in partnership to create, on this spot of Bedouin land, a learning site where Bedouin knowledge and culture could thrive. Female members of the Abu Regayak family, who own the land, formed the concept for this garden in collaboration with BUSTAN, an environmental justice organization focused on sustainable development and fair allocation of resources in the Negev desert. Every week international and Israeli volunteers joined BUSTAN’s Volunteer Coordinator , Tali Weinberg, to work alongside these Bedouin women. The process entailed clearing the site area, setting the design of the garden with stones, and of course planting the actual herbs. Most of the herbs were sought out from the wilderness of the desert and transplanted to the site. Volunteers were welcomed into the family’s home and learned first-hand not only about desert herbs, but about Bedouin culture and lifestyle as well. Herbal knowledge is an intrinsic element TALI WEINBERG, BUSTAN ARCHIVES A Scent of Sustainability in the Negev by Linda Aziz-Zadeh 40 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G M A R C H / A P R I L 2 0 0 8 6.Politics_4.qxd:Politics 2/10/08 3:18 PM Page 40 of the Bedouin culture. For generations the Bedouin roamed the desert in their nomadic fashion, living primarily off sheep- and goat-herds and subsistence farming. The desert herbs have been of crucial importance to their lifestyle since they were a primary source for medicine, food, and cosmetics. Plant lore is also a natural part of the Islamic tradition that is embedded within the Bedouin lifestyle. As the Bedouin herbalist, Mariam, lets us finger and taste from a heap of the black cumin she uses in her organic soaps, we learn cumin not only strengthens the immune system, but, according to the prophet Mohammad himself, it contains the potential cure for anything but death. Thus there is a spiritual reverence for this ancient knowledge that can be felt within the accumulation of herbs at the site. This herb garden is only part of the greater vision of what will become the Tel Sheva Bedouin Cultural Learning Site. Mariam is converting her family’s whole strip of land into a site that represents the many different facets of the traditional Bedouin lifestyle. Opposite the garden, in between a patch of wheat and another of barley, stands a mud-building demonstration site, which provides an example of Baika mud-building techniques and various examples of the traditional earthen ovens that have been an important part of the Bedouin culture and pita preparation process for centuries. This element of the site was built recently, when Sara, an elder of the family , helped lead a Taboun (Bedouin bread) workshop. Along with the samples of grains, the ovens are set up to teach all about the process of bread-making, which has long been one of the fundamental parts of the Bedouin diet. Also planned is the development of an animal husbandry site, carpets made from goat and sheep hair, vineyards, and models of Bedouin farming methods, as well as a traditional Bedouin tent where workshops will be held and other Bedouin wares will be displayed. There is dire need for an authentic Bedouin cultural site. Currently, the only interaction most tourists have with the Bedouin is through inauthentic nights of “Bedouin Hospitality.” They are taken on camel rides, led into traditional tents where they drink Bedouin tea and coffee and served resplendent meals on beautiful Bedouin mats while being fed quaint stories of traditional gender and tribal dynamics . Not only does this romanticized glimpse reflect nothing...

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