Amira al Hayb

Amira al Hayb ( _ar. اميرة الهيب, _he. אמירה אל הייב, born in 1985, in Tuba, Upper Galilee, Israel) was the first female Bedouin soldier in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and served with the Israel Border Police.

She was born in Tuba-Zangariyye, and the al-Hayb family moved to Wadi Hammam when she was a few months old. This village is on Israel Land Administration territory and most of its residents, among them the al Hayb family, lived for many years in temporary structures. While she was a teenager, the old cabin of her family was destroyed by the administration on the grounds that it was illegally built. The family had to move to another house which was not fully built.

One of Amira's five brothers is Sergeant Taysir Hayb who was sentenced to 8 years in prison due to killing Tom Hurndall, an activist of the International Solidarity Movement, who was shot by him in 2003 in Rafah when he approached an army post.

At the age of 19, al Hayb wanted to join the IDF. Her decision caused great resentment (for example, the family's house was stoned) from some parts of the Bedouin society, especially from its religious wing and the Islamic Movement supporters. While the recruitment of male Bedouin is common in Israel, the recruitment of females was considered taboo. Nur al Hayb, "the father of the Bedouin soldiers", a disabled IDF veteran from the Eilabun village, came to her aid, and after a struggle she was finally recruited.

Al Hayb had to do the recruit training twice, due to language problems, but eventually joined the Israel Border Police. Her position as the first female Bedouin soldier had caught the public's attention, and, among others, she met with the Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, and the Ramatkal. Following her, other Bedouin women joined the IDF.

Further reading

* [http://www.nrg.co.il/online/archive/ART/551/716.html An interview] with Amira al Hayb (Hebrew)