Finding sources of income

Unemployment among the Jahalin reaches up to 70%. Examples of initiatives in finding employment include: a unique pilot in which Palestinian workers were identified for the hotel industry in the Dead Sea region. We found suitable candidates from the Jahalin communities and the hotels prepared to absorb the new workers.

Developing local tourism – an existing resource that can be leveraged to create a livelihood (further details in the "Tourism Development" tab).

We encourage entrepreneurship among the tribe in order to generate additional sources of income such as - cooking workshops and women's creative projects - one example of such an initiative is the restaurant of Fatma Jahalin, where she and her family renovated the hut next to their home and turned it into a restaurant for travelers in the area. With the help of advertising and support from us, the restaurant provides Fatma with a necessary source of income.

The newest initiative is a full business plan to establish a pasteurization and cheesemaking center for all Jahalin communities. The center will buy milk from all the communities, pasteurize it in a concentrate, make cheese and sell it to the Palestinian markets. This project can provide a livelihood for many families, encourage the preservation of the herds and thus the Bedouin tradition and culture, connect them to the desert against all attempts at expulsion and serve as a platform for community cooperation. To this end, we have raised a donation of 40,000 pounds from a private family foundation, an amount that covers half of the construction costs.

This is a project that can make a strategic change across dozens of Bedouin communities in the northern Judean Desert and also in the Valley.