Al-Sayyid or al-Sayed ( ar, السيد; he, א-סייד) is a Bedouin village in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Located in the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its sout ...

desert between Arad and

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

and just south of

Hura Hura, or Houra ( he, חוּרָה, ar, حورة) is a Bedouin town in the Southern District of Israel. It is located near Beersheba and beside the town Meitar. The town was established in 1989 as a part of solution offered by the state for the ...

, it falls under the jurisdiction of

al-Kasom Regional Council al-Kasom Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית אל קסום, ''Mo'atza Azorit El Kassum'', ar, المجلس الإقليمي القيصوم, ''al-Majlis al-Iqlīmī al-Qayṣūm'') is one of two Negev Bedouin regional councils formed as ...

. In the village's population was .

History

The tribe's oral history tells that its first leader moved to the area from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

with his wife (of local origin) some time in the beginning of the 19th century. They settled amongst the other Bedouin tribes around Beersheba and lived off the land. However, other tribes refused to marry their daughters to the al-Sayyids, who were known as "the foreign

fellah A fellah ( ar, فَلَّاح ; feminine ; plural ''fellaheen'' or ''fellahin'', , ) is a peasant, usually a farmer or agricultural laborer in the Middle East and North Africa. The word derives from the Arabic word for "ploughman" or "tiller". ...

in." Eventually the head of the tribe managed to marry his sons to women from the Gaza area. However, their low social status meant that they continued to be rejected locally, and so the next generation began to marry cousins, a trend that continued for five generations. Even today other tribes continue to veto marriage ties with the al-Sayyids. The social differences between the tribe and its neighbours led to opposition to plans to include the village within the municipality of the nearby city of

(that was established in 1989). Instead, the village was placed under the jurisdiction of

Abu Basma Regional Council Abu Basma Regional Council ( he, מועצה אזורית אבו בסמה, ''Moatza Ezorit Abu Basma'', ar, مجلس إقليمي أبو بسمة, ''Majlis Iqlimi Abu Basma'') was a regional council operating in 2003-2012 and covering several Be ...

. It was officially recognized following

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

Resolution 881 on 29 September 2003, which created eight new Bedouin settlements (seven of which were to be located in the Abu Basma Regional Council).

Demographics

Al-Sayyid is mainly populated by members of the al-Sayyid

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

, who are noted for the high levels of

deafness Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

amongst their population and their subsequent development of the al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language,Michael Phillips
Signs and Wonders
retrieved from The Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2007 which is used by many of the hearing villagers as well as the deaf. Five percent of the tribe (150 of the 3,000 as of 2004) are deaf, compared to a usual rate of 0.1%.One in twenty
Haaretz, 2 June 2004 One suggested cause is the high level of

inbreeding Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders and o ...

within the tribe; 27% of marriages are between cousins, and 65% are between couples related in some way, and a quarter of the population carries the deafness gene. This is attributed to the tribe's historical isolation in the area. There is a presumption that a recessive gene for profound deafness is traced back to sons of the "founding" couple, two of whose five sons were deaf.

Infrastructure and public services

Since 2004, when the village was recognized, there was a significant infrastructure improvement. Several new school buildings were erected. Today there are three elementary schools and two high schools in al-Sayyid. The nearest university is

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

. Village residents receive medical service from medical clinic Leumit, there are additional medical clinics and perinatal (baby) care centers Tipat Halav in a nearby township

Sign language

The phenomenon of an Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language was first revealed in 1990 by anthropologist Shifra Kisch, and it became well known in 2005 when an international team of researchers from different universities, including

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...

, headed by Wendy Sandler started to study this unique sign language. A journalist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Margalit Fox, wrote a book about it, called ''Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind'', published in 2007.

Gallery

File:alSayyid school1.jpg, One of al-Sayyid schools File:alSayyid school2.jpg, One of al-Sayyid schools File:alSayyid clinic.jpg, A medical clinic in al-Sayyid File:alSayyid school3.jpg, One of al-Sayyid schools File:alSayyid school4.jpg, One of al-Sayyid schools File:alSayyid view1.jpg, al-Sayyid view 1 File:alSayyid view2.jpg, al-Sayyid view 2 File:alSayyid techschool.jpg, A technical ORT school in al-Sayyid File:alSayyid private1.jpg, A private house in al-Sayyid File:alSayyid houses.jpg, Houses in al-Sayyid File:alSayyid houses2.jpg, Houses in al-Sayyid

References

External links

Al-Sayyid
Abu Basma Regional Council
Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL)
YouTube, December 2011
Lands of the Negev

Israel Land Administration The Israel Land Administration (ILA; he, מנהל מקרקעי ישראל, Minhal Mekarka'ei Yisra'el; ar, مديرية أراضي اسرائيل) is an Israeli government authority responsible for managing land in Israel which is in the public d ...

{{Al-Kasom Regional Council Arab villages in Israel Bedouin localities in Israel Al-Kasom Regional Council Populated places in Southern District (Israel)