"If I am to die, then at home": The study that raises questions about the evacuation of border settlements

A new study by Dr. Nivin Ali-Saleh Darawshe and Dr. Sagit Lev, from the School of Social Work at Bar-Ilan University, points to the heavy price of evacuation - and raises a question that is also relevant to the Jewish settlements in the north: Is a sweeping evacuation always the right solution?

Arab al-Aramshe was the only Arab settlement in the north where a widespread evacuation was implemented during the Swords of Iron war, in the years 2023-2024. However, in practice, a large number of its residents refused to evacuate from the start, or returned after a short time. The phenomenon was particularly prominent among the village elders, even though the danger was not theoretical: the village suffered fire, IDF forces operated within it and in its surroundings, and in April 2024, right in the heart of the village, a reservist soldier was killed and others were wounded by a drone strike at the site.

Arab al-Aramshe is the northernmost settlement in the Mateh Asher Regional Council, and is located on the Adamit plateau near the Sulam Tzur ridge and the Keshet Cave, right next to the Lebanon border. It has about 1,700 residents, who are members of the Bedouin Aramshe tribe. The residents of the settlement are known for their strong connection to the land, many work in agriculture in the surrounding settlements and many of them serve in the security forces and in the IDF.

The researchers themselves did not reach Arab al-Aramshe. A local social worker whom they briefed via Zoom conducted interviews for them with 14 of the village elders, who during the war evacuated, stayed in their homes, or returned to them. They transcribed and analyzed the recorded interviews. The analysis revealed vulnerability on the one hand, and resilience on the other.

The vulnerability included the perceived threat of the war and its emotional price, including fear, sleep disturbances following shelling, deterioration in health and cognitive status, loneliness and boredom associated with displacement and limited mobility.

The resilience was expressed in coping strategies based on faith in Allah as a source of meaning and stability, hope for peace and security, and patience in the face of ongoing uncertainty.

"A sentence that recurred among the elders was: 'If I am to die, I want to die in my home'", Dr. Lev said. According to her, the study showed how much the home for the interviewees is not just a structure: "It is the place, the belonging, the village, the animals, the agriculture. This is a very deep-rooted, domestic and spiritual belonging".

Even the solution that seemed relatively suitable on paper, a hotel in Nazareth, in an Arab city, turned out to be completely foreign to some of them. The move from a Bedouin village to a hotel in an urban environment created a sense of alienation and lack of belonging. Some of them preferred to return to their homes despite the incessant fire.

The researchers were careful not to determine that the conclusion is that settlements in danger should not be evacuated. According to Dr. Lev, in an emergency situation it is not always possible to manage a prolonged process. But the study points to the need to re-examine uniform and forced evacuation. "In retrospect, the context and cultural sensitivity were not taken into account enough," she says. According to her, it is possible that a solution in a more rural environment, a move to relatives, or a process based more on dialogue and choice would have allowed the residents to leave with greater confidence.

In this sense, the findings also echo the debate that developed in the Jewish settlements that were evacuated in the north. For the first time in Israel, a prolonged and widespread evacuation of entire settlements from the border line was implemented, and in retrospect, its prices also became clear: temporary dismantling of communities, scattering of families, damage to livelihoods, and difficulty for some of the residents to return. Among a rural and elderly population, says Lev, the disconnection can be particularly difficult.

The study also found among the elders of Arab al-Aramshe significant sources of resilience that they draw from Islam. One of them is "Sabr" (in Arabic: صَبْرٌ): patience and the ability to bear difficulty out of faith that it is temporary. The elders relied on accumulated life experience and on the feeling that they had already gone through wars and crises, and therefore would also get through this.

Another source was religious faith: for some of them, the decision of whether they would live or die was ultimately perceived as a decision of Allah, a perception that helped cope with fear and even influenced the decision to stay.

Dr. Nivin Ali-Saleh Darawshe and Dr. Sagit Lev will present the findings of their research at the biennial conference of the Israel Gerontological Society, which will be held on September 2 and 3, at the Binyanei HaUma in Jerusalem, under the title "Between Routine and Emergency - Challenges, Opportunities and Spaces for Growth".

Their conclusion is not that evacuation is necessarily a mistake, but that for the next time, if it comes, God forbid, it is perhaps worth asking, and through a way of public participation, to decide whether it is right to sweepingly evacuate the entire population of the settlement, and to decide not only who needs to be evacuated - but also where and how.