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Hobby Forum Index » Music - Afro Latin » [ot] In Israel, a Good Samaritan to Russian immigrants...
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 Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:18 pm |
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http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1002/p07s02-wome.html
In Israel, a Good Samaritan to Russian immigrants
Despite facing discrimination himself, Bedouin lawyer Raid al-Ubrah helps
newcomers assert their rights.
By Danna Harman | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the October 2, 2008 edition
Rahat, Israel - It's almost evening and the al-Ubrah family is getting ready
to break the Ramadan fast. Women in traditional dress kneel around an open
fire making pita bread and the men lounge on cushions waiting for the sun to
set and the feast to begin.
Raid al-Ubrah, the eighth of the family's 10 children, comes screeching home
in his silver sports car, takes off his preppy paisley tie, scoops up his 5-
year-old son, and puts his two mobile phones on vibrate. Office hours are
over, he says with a grin, and its time to switch gears.
Mr. Ubrah cuts a rare figure among the 45,000 Bedouin who live in Rahat,
Israel's only Bedouin city. For starters, he is a lawyer – an uncommon
profession here. More uniquely, he speaks fluent Russian, having studied in
St. Petersburg.
But for Ubrah, his volunteer work stands out. He's the in-house Russian-
language lawyer at Yad Riva, a Jewish nonprofit in Beer Sheva that offers
free legal assistance to the elderly, many of whom do not speak Hebrew
confidently. They come for help with everything from filling in social
security and pension forms, to advice on housing loans and what to do when
their dog bites the neighbor and they get sued.
"I enjoy the action, I like the old people, and I like helping out," Ubrah
says. "Who cares if the person asking for advice is Arab or Jew or
Christian?"
From the desert to St. Petersburg
Excepting a high school trip to Egypt, the first time Ubrah left Israel was
to study in Russia. Much of his clan – with thousands of members one of the
largest in the southern Negev – came to see him off at Ben Gurion Airport.
"My dad grew up in the desert, living in a tent. And, while he may have
wanted to be a lawyer, there were no opportunities," he says of his father, a
nomad turned truck-company and travel-agency owner. "He paid for all my
education and encouraged me. I had to make him proud."
In five years in St. Petersburg, Ubrah learned Russian, received a degree in
international law, and came to love the Russian people.
Once he had settled in and started his small practice in Beer Sheva, Ubrah
was on the lookout to do something to benefit Russians there.
But for a Bedouin, volunteering within the larger Israeli community is
complicated.
"I don't agree with the basic concept of Israel as a Jewish state," says
Ubrah, railing against what he calls gross government discrimination against
Israeli Arabs, including the Bedouin.
During the last 40 years, about half of the 160,000 Negev Bedouins have
moved, or been forced to move, from the desert to one of the seven government
established Bedouin urban centers, where infrastructure is weak, and land is
insufficient for traditional livelihoods like herding and grazing.
According to a 2007 study by the Van Leer Institute, a Jerusalem-based think
tank, 66 percent of Negev Bedouin live in poverty – compared with 25 percent
of the general Israeli population.
The situation is far worse for those outside urban areas, who live scattered
among some 39 villages not served by the government. Human Rights Watch
asserted in a March report that officials systematically demolish Bedouin
homes in these villages while overlooking or retroactively legalizing
unlawful construction by Jewish citizens nearby.
"Israel should officially be a state for all its citizens. What, this is not
my country? I don't pay taxes?" asks Ubrah.
Clinton Bailey, a Bedouin advocate, activist, and scholar, stresses that
Ubrah's sentiments are representative of the community.
"There is a general growing feeling that the state has really let them down
in terms of social services and resources," he says, pointing out that fewer
Bedouin serve in the military or vote for Jewish Israeli political parties
than ever before. "This is leading to alienation, and in some cases even
political extremism," he says.
Despite these tensions, Ubrah didn't think twice about Yad Riva.
"The fact that the government is bringing in all these Russian so-called Jews
and giving them rights here, while we are lacking in ours, is not something I
accept," he says. "But the immigrants themselves? What are they to blame?"
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, more than 1 million Russians have
come to Israel under the law of return. Many of those who visit say Yad Riva
is a godsend.
Naomi Neuhaus, the Yad Riva coordinator in Beer Sheva, says they originally
put out a call for a Russian lawyer. "But no one was volunteering. And then
in came Raid. And well, he was a surprise. A terrific one."
Providing consultation and kindness
Ms. Neuhaus often sits in on Ubrah's clinics, even though she doesn't
understand Russian. Recently, a feisty woman in bright turquoise pants came
in crying over a money feud with her children. Ubrah drafted a letter for her
and gave her a tissue. Another woman, who arrived with family in tow and a
stack of papers she could not read – was upset about her rent agreement.
Ubrah crafted a letter to her landlord.
A secretary came in and interrupted a meeting with a plate of cookies. "Take
that away!" bellowed Neuhaus, "Don't you know its Ramadan?" she protests,
waving her arms wide in Ubrah's direction.
Maybe the client is hungry, suggests Ubrah, nodding kindly at a man seeking
debt advice. "Everyone has their own story here. That's acceptable."
Copyright © 2008 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. |
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