‘I can’t survive in a house’: Petra’s Bedouin resist moves to evict them from ancient cave homes | Jordan
BNoon, the Sun is bleaching high, colored sandstone rocks on Petra and temporarily empties the remnants of famous tourist. Vines and a shadow keep the terrace of Muhammad Feras’s cave house, despite the summer heat rising from the Rocky Valley.
44 -year -old farmer and sometimes tourism guide, “I lived here for my life. I have never been anywhere else and I can not imagine that he has not lived here.
During the months, Feras and dozens of Bedouin from the Bdoul community abandoned the caves they call a house. For them in Petra, to build new facilities, to organize an anarchic tourism trade and hundreds of thousands of visitors It is drawn to the ancient region.
The house, which Feras shared with the wife and nine children of Feras, consists of four connected 2,400 -year -old caves and a adjacent tent. The ruins of Petra’s great temple and Colonnaded Ana Street, just 10 minutes walking away. It is also a short hike from the monument known as well. TreasureHe became more famous by Indiana Jones and the last Crusade Expedition.
The caves occupied by BDOUD were initially an integral part of a rich trade city – the successful capital of Nabateans, before the annexation of the AD100 by the Romans, and after the end of three centuries later.
International Human Rights Campaigns called Jordan officials to stop the upcoming evacuation. “The displacement of Jordan’s historical houses in Petra is at risk of cultures,” he said. Man coogleMiddle East and North African Deputy Director of Human Rights Monitoring Organization. “The Jordanian government should stop displacement and respect the rights of Petra’s Bedouin community.”
Petra’s management and development officials, still living on the site Bdoul is still illegal, he says. Many of them claim that they have alternative accommodation, and what they use as home, animal shelters, shops and warehouses causes irreparable damages.
“If we want to maintain the integrity of the site for future generations, we should stop the use of caves for damaging activities,” he said. Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority. “Everyone on the site has to comply with the law, and it is illegal for everyone to live within or use archaeological monuments. [site of Petra] For what purposes. “
Historians say Bdoul has been living in Petra’s caves for about 200 years. Efforts to remove the community from the site began shortly after the classification of the United Nations As a World Heritage Site Later, in an agreement, which was negotiated with community leaders, thousands of people moved to a nearby purpose. Some have escaped without any displacement, or since then he has returned to the cave houses.
In recent years, tourism has contributed greatly to Jordan’s marking economy and large investments have been made in Petra. There is a new museum, cultural village and hiking trails. Like guides harassing visitors, hundreds of stalls drowning the site were cleaned. In the caves offered to tourists or popular booking sites on social media, efforts have been made to reduce accommodation overnight.
The new campaign to clean the caves began at the end of 2024 and now targeted the wide family up to a dozen. Sutuh Al-Nabi Harun Mountain. Jordan officials are accused of using “compelling tactics” by campaignists.
Feras, who gained a subtle life from farming goats and sheep and sometimes acts as a guide, rejected an offer from Petra from the officials of a house in the village where the other Bdoul lived. He said he was sent to prison earlier this year because he did not pay a heavy fine to destroy a legacy area. He was released two weeks later, but now he faced a new court hearing.
Feras said, “It is ridiculous to accuse us of damaging caves,” Feras said. “We are their protectors. We do not destroy anything. We live as we have lived for hundreds of years.”
Yasin Ahmed, one of Feras’s neighbors, said that he had received a court call and a total of tens of thousands of dollars and could not pay.
“I just don’t have such a money. I’m not rich,” he said. “I grew up here and I don’t know anything else. I can’t survive a house in a village… They only offer a very small house, but I have 10 children.”
The tourism trade in Jordan was dramatically fell into the number of visitors of Petra and was shot badly from the war in Gaza. Bdoul, who guided tourists or made a living for selling souvenirs or non -alcoholic beverages, lost most of his income.
85 -year -old Rayya Hussein has never swore to leave his cave from his home, where he lived here all his life. His family was buried in the mountains near. “If they want to forcing me to move, I will go on the mountain and jump.”
He is a political geographer who investigates Petra at the University of Newcastle and his development. Olivia Mason, officials, the UN’s cultural heritage of the site clearly stated that the importance of the importance of the importance of the Bdoul, he said he saw as a distress, he said.
Mason said, “Currently, Jordan’s officials and nobody accept that they can work together,” Mason said. “There should be some level development, but this should not be at the expense of local society.”
Braizat said that the authorities may stay in their caves if they want to very old inhabitants and promised that the houses built by the government presented to BDOUS are three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
He admitted that there was a limited fund for new residences in or near the existing and overcrowded village for the community, but Bdoul said it was a project that would offer alternative livelihoods.
Braizat said, “We should shoulder our responsibilities to give these people to schools, roads, hospitals and everything they need, and a better life,” Braizat said.
But to most of Bdoul, such words are very little. “We have lived here throughout our lives. Our freedom is outside,” Feras said. “Here children have the freedom to go out with sheep and run over the mountain. This is our land.”
Some names have been changed to protect identities
