9 june 2010, beduin

Trekking across the desert from mitzpe ramon, overlooking israel's largest crater, and introducing the family to this outpost of the sahara. Last night we took a jeep out to see scorpions, porcupine, a fox, a hare and a gerbo, which our eldest held in his hand as it was transfixed by our headlights. Today we drove across the crater, saw fascinating rock formations, made tea from herbs, rode camels and spent a few hours at a beduin village. Israel's attitude to beduin is indulgent, as many used to serve in the army, though less today, "we are losing the beduin" our israeli guide told us. A few weeks ago, in an interesting contrast to the flotilla, a group of hundreds broke across the egyptian border, fleeing a blood feud. In the end they stayed months, as negotiation slowly proceeded. Seeing western lives through a satellite and nearby towns saps tradition, as does access to cheap goods and the ban on their nomadic lifestyle, the negev now being virtually all nature reserve or military zone, and the children must go to school. The roof of the tent we had lunch in was once matted goat's hair, but today cheap black tarpaulin. There was no romance in a grindingly poor community without power in daylight and which lives largely off benefits, tourism and smuggling. Kids get on though, and ours couldn't stop playing with the one-day old goats we were given the run of. Tonight, we sleep at an old council block of flats, now a luxury hotel.