When missile sirens sound in the northern Negev village of Abu Talool, Attia Alasam and his neighbors don’t head for the nearest bomb shelter.

Some hide in ditches or holes in the ground. Others climb under tractors and crouch beneath bridges. At best, some can manage to reach large cement pipes or other makeshift fortifications that fall well below Home Front Command standards.

“When you hear that alarm, and you have nowhere to go, and you have nothing to protect you, it’s very scary,” said Alasam, who heads the unofficial Regional Council for Unrecognized Bedouin Villages. “You have nothing to do, you have no protection — you have nothing.”

For the hundreds of thousands of Bedouin living in the northern Negev, and many of the millions of Arab citizens of Israel, such dangers remain a constant worry, in stark contrast to Jewish Israelis, most of whom have access to either protected rooms in their homes or public shelters within running distance.

According to a January report by the Negev Coexistence Forum’s research center, Nagabiyah, only around 35% of Bedouin have access to an in-home shelter. There are only six public shelters in Bedouin communities across the northern Negev, all but one of which are in the city of Rahat, leaving most Bedouin without any shelter.

In most major Bedouin towns, including Hura, Kuseife, Tel-Sheva, Ar’ara‑BaNegev, Segev Shalom, and Lakiya, there are no shelters at all, according to Nagabiyah, which calculated a rate of one public shelter for every 53,825 Bedouin.

That contrasts sharply with the situation for Jews in neighboring towns, like the city of Ofakim, which has 150 public shelters for its roughly 41,000 residents, or about one public shelter per 273 residents, and Meitar’s one shelter per about 369 residents, per Nagabiyah’s analysis of government mapping data.

The stark disparities in protection, which extend across the Arab community but are most acute among the Bedouin, have long been an issue, and activists say little is being done to narrow the gap, despite successive government and watchdog reports warning for years about major imbalances in civilian protection, in particular since Israel’s 12-day conflict with Iran last June.

The problem Arab citizens face has taken on new urgency this month amid the ongoing war with Iran, which has seen hundreds of ballistic missiles fired by Iran, along with rocket fire from the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, much of it targeting northern Israel, where most Arabs live.

To many, the lack of equality in shelters goes hand in hand with the widespread neglect experienced by Arab communities, including poor access to public services and a crime wave they say the government has allowed to fester.

“These large gaps reflect neglect and deprivation in many areas. It’s a bit like the story of violence,” said Amnon Beeri-Sulitzeanu, co-CEO of the Abraham Initiatives NGO, referring to the rime epidemic sweeping Arab society.

“It’s not just about shelters. The economic condition of Arab municipalities is bad. It’s cumulative and just another reflection of the situation facing Arabs throughout the country, at all levels of society,” he added.

Researchers say the gap stems largely from state planning and policy decisions, including limited building permits in Bedouin communities and the state’s refusal to formally recognize dozens of villages in the Negev.

Without approved planning schemes, residents often cannot legally build permanent homes with reinforced safe rooms, which are required in newer construction across Israel.

The mandate that all new construction include a safe room in each unit or a basement shelter, first enacted in the 1990s, shifted Israel’s safeguards away from public shelters. But in places where homes are forbidden from having shelters, the lack of public shelters can be a life-or-death issue.

The report estimated that in the 35 villages lacking state recognition, where about 100,000 Bedouin live, a staggering 92% of residents lack access to standard protected........

© The Times of Israel