ISRAEL GAZA WAR

ALSIRA, ISRAEL -- OCTOBER 19, 2023: Khalil Alamour pauses as he inspects the solar panel powering his village and his home in the Bedouin settlement of Alsira, Israel, Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023. At least 20 Bedouin citizens of Israel were killed Oct. 7 Ñ seven by HamasÕ rockets and the rest when the groupÕs fighters blitzed into farms near Gaza, apparently paying little heed to whom they were killing. Seven others Bedouins were kidnapped, with still no word on their fate. The Bedouins have long eked out a life on the margins of Israeli society, living in unrecognized settlements Ð dotting the expanse of the Negev. They suffer a level of dispossession and official harassment that makes them feel more vulnerable and second-class than other Palestinian citizens of Israel, according to residents. Due to the perennial threat of rockets from the Gaza Strip, all structures in Israel, including homes, are required to have shelters, but the Bedouins settlements not allowed any new construction because of their unrecognized status. Since then, charities and various companies have donated makeshift shelters that offer little protection, according to residents. Now, the war has energized IsraelÕs far right, and anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab rhetoric has deepened the sense of disenfranchisement among IsraelÕs 300,000 Bedouin citizens, just over 3% of the population. As they search for a secure place in a wounded nation seeking revenge, they stand on a fault line between Israel and many of Palestinians Ñ citizens or the occupied Ñ over which it rules.(MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)