THE SPNI'S ARAB UNIT
The one environmental institution that has managed to penetrate the Israeli Arab sector broadly is the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Two thousand Arab teachers participate in advanced training with the SPNI each year (this constitutes roughly one-fifth of all teachers in the Arab community). There are SPNI branches in such Arab cities as Nazareth and Sakhnin.[70] A professional tour guiding course is taught for Arabs in Arabic. More than fifteen thousand Arab youth typically come out for SPNI's annual rally in the field.[71] Yet even this ostensible success story reveals some of the built-in tensions that contribute to the sense of alienation by Israeli Arab environmentalists.
SPNI's Arab unit was born of a unique partnership between Mahmoud Gazawi and Yossi Leshem. In 1975, after working as a teacher in the south-ern Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, Gazawi approached the SPNI, seeking work. Azariah Alon, then serving as SPNI General Secretary, was not in-terested in hiring an Arab. Leshem recalls:
Azariah figured that it wouldn't work out. SPNI teaches more than a love for nature, but also a connection to the country. He couldn't
Armed with only nominal funding and Yossi Leshem's blessing, Gazawi returned to his village, Kalansawa, as a teacher. On the side, he began an SPNI unit. Quickly it blossomed into a massive success. He initially fo-cused on teacher training because he lacked the resources to work directly with youth. After a few years he had reached most of the interested teach-ers, and Gazawi decided to appeal directly to pupils. In 1980 a major hik-ing/educational event for Arab students was planned. When five thousand kids turned up, Gazawi knew he was on to something. Each year the meet-ing is held in a different place, with the numbers rising steadily.
The SPNI Arab unit clings to a relatively narrow mission, and it stays “on-message.” Its focus is nature, and its orientation is education. The unit puts out pamphlets and books, leads hikes, and runs school groups. It does not attempt to address the urban environmental issues that may be most relevant to Israeli Arabs' day-to-day existence. It also steers clear of themes that have any national overtones. The unit keeps its geographical mandate restricted. The border between Israeli Arabs and their Palestinian cousins in the territories is never crossed. Gazawi explains,“Anything con-nected with water and soil resources there is catastrophic. We don't deal with it. It's just too big, even for us.”
A solid man with graying hair, Gazawi attributes his passion for nature preservation to his upbringing.
I was raised in a rural landscape. My work is especially important to me because of the changes taking place in Arab villages. The natural landscape is disappearing. The children and the general public seem to be moving totally in the direction of Western consumer culture. In the past there was a familiarity with the outdoors. It was part of the lifestyle of the fellah. The entire village identified with the fields, and they would go out to work early in the morning. Today, just try to get people to sleep outdoors! The alienation is drastic. To cook over a fire used to be the greatest pleasure and really a daily event in our childhood. Now young people tell me: “Why cook coffee over the fire when we can use gas?” We used to eat food from the fields. Now we eat Sunfrost.[73]
Gazawi is surprisingly frank about the organizational bias that seems almost as persistent today as it was twenty-five years ago when he first encountered
As a member of the governing board of the SPNI, he is very open about this disenchantment and no longer worries about the impression he makes. There is no shortage of Jewish board members who agree with him. He does see steady progress, though slow. Certainly, his many years of promotional work have paid off. When a survey was con-ducted among residents of Um el-Faham, it was found that 73 percent of the city's Arabs perceived the SPNI as Israel's leading environmental institution.