1/ I partly grew up on the edge of Gaza & know the local cultures fairly well. I'd like to provide basic background into the local Arab population of the Negev & Gaza for people following the news. It's very distinct from other areas of Israel / Palestine in history & language.
2/ The majority of population are Bedouin of nomadic origin. They are known as-Sumraan, ‘dark skinned ones’. Their tribes are organized in confederations & originated in the Hejaz. They arrived from Sinai in the 18th & 19th C & displaced other Bedouin tribes north, to Beer Sheva
3/ FallaHeen, or al-7umraan, ‘the red ones’ & refers to their skin colour. Masses of landless, oppressed Egyptian peasants entered Gaza & the Negev from Egypt & Sinai & became partly Bedouinised. This immigration increased throughout the 19th C, reaching a climax in 1840–1841
4/ with the retreat of Ibrahim Pasha’s armies from Syria. Tens of thousands deserted his armies & remained. They are the second largest Arab group in the area today. They don’t organise tribally, but by district. Many also settled in areas like Lod. Ramle or further north.
5/ Africans, called al-3abeed, which means ‘slaves’, descending from enslaved Africans of 19th & early 20th C, many kidnapped as children in Sudan. As they came as individuals they lost their languages & cultures & assimilated culturally but suffer severe prejudice & are landless
6/ al-Laajieen, 'the refugees', descendants of Palestinians displaced from outside the broad Gaza/Negev region in 1948. Large numbers of them live in UNRWA 'camps'. Often marked socially by appearance (often lighter skin) & Palestinian dialect. Mostly live in UNRWA camps.
Footnote. None of this is a political statement.
Gaza-NE Sinai-the Negev is actually one complex, fascinating region.
It needs peace.
Gaza-NE Sinai-the Negev is actually one complex, fascinating region.
It needs peace.
This also explains why, although the city of Rafah was cut into an Egyptian half & a Palestinian half after 1967, the people directly on either side of the border are ethnically & in terms of dialect, exactly the same people, a mix of Sinai Bedouin & Egyptian peasants.
As this Gazan Hamas leader, Fathi Hamad, said so simply, Gazans are half Egyptian fellaHeen & half Hejazi Bedouin by ancestry. People mistook it to be a statement about Palestinians in general.
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