Bedouin-Jewish Relations in the Negev 1943–1948

On the foundation of the first Jewish settlements in the Negev, at the start of the 1940s, the Bedouins welcomed the Jewish settlers. The local personal connections and mutual acquaintance between them created a feeling of closeness. The symbiosis of daily life and mutual help in the fields of personal needs, from medicine to transport, replaced their mutual fears.

However, two factors quickly changed this attitude. The first was a severe drought, which struck the Negev in the winter of 1947, and brought with it a difficult economic situation, followed by several robberies and disputes, and damage to property. The second factor was the incessant encouragement given by the leaders of the Palestinian National Movement to the Bedouins to join the struggle against the Jewish population, especially after the UN decision in November 1947, that is, after the partition of Palestine and the inclusion of the Negev within the borders of the Jewish state.

Most of the Bedouins joined the Palestinian National Struggle. Friends of yesterday became today's enemies. The years 1947–1949 were a period of anarchy, which continued well into the 1950s. In this period the State of Israel was established. Consequently, the Jewish population in the Negev was no longer the party responsible for the relationship with the Bedouins, as the Israeli government took its place. Also contact between neighbors was reduced after the Bedouins were evacuated toward the ‘fence’ region, in the Beer-Sheva Valley. The freedom the Bedouins enjoyed before the war did not exist anymore.     

Predicting the use of conflict resolution tactics among engaged Arab-Palestinian men in Israel

This article reports one of the first studies of woman abuse in the Arab world. A standardized measurement package was completed by 434 engaged Arab-Palestinian men living in Israel. The study sought to explain men's differential use of conflict tactics with their fiancées using variables representing three frameworks: (1) male dominance, (2) intergenerational learning, and (3) interpersonal skills deficit. Results revealed that a combination of factors from disparate frameworks best explained the variance. Men who used reasoning in conflicts were less likely to have originated from families where they were exposed to violence, more likely to have egalitarian expectations from marriage, and more likely to be characterized as androgynous. Men who were verbally and physically aggressive toward their fiancées, were more likely to have come from homes where they were exposed to violence, were less likely to empathize with their fiancées, and more likely to hold negative and traditional attitudes toward women.     

Relationships between socioeconomic status,locus of control,self-concept,and academic achievement of batswana adolescents

Relationships between socioeconomic status, locus of control, self-concept, and academic achievement were explored in secondary school pupils in the Mmabatho area of Bophuthalswana (Southern Africa). The analyses of data revealed the following: (a) both male and female Batswana adolescents were found significantly more externally oriented when compared against the normative data provided by Nowicki-Strickland (1973); (b) socioeconomic status was significantly positively associated with internality, self-concept, and academic achievement in English; (c) externality was significantly negatively related to self-concept and achievement in English; (d) self-concept was significantly positively correlated to measures of achievement in English and mathematics; and (e) mathematics achievement of male students was significantly higher than female ones.     

Relationships between personal control,moral reasoning,and socioeconomic status of Nigerian hausa adolescents

The Internal-External Locus of Control (I-E) Scale devised by Rotter, the revised Kohlberg's Scale of Moral Judgment, and a socioeconomic background questionnaire were administered to 97 Nigerian Hausa secondary school adolescents. Data were analyzed to find sex differences in locus of control and moral reasoning, and relationships between locus of control, moral judgment level, and socioeconomic status. Significant sex differences were not revealed in either locus of control or moral reasoning. No significant relationships between locus of control, moral judgment, and socioeconomic background were found.     

Development of a radial gel diffusion technique for the identification of urea in urine stains

A radial gel diffusion method utilizing urease and bromthymol blue has been developed for urine stain identification. Urea, present in urine in relatively high concentrations, can be detected from urine stain extracts. This technique provides both qualitative and quantitative results, and is sensitive enough to detect 0.078 micrograms/microliter of urea.     

Blood grouping in a sexual assault case: criteria and methodolgy for genetic marker analysis

A sexual assault case was received in the laboratory. Upon examination, a small bloodstain was located on a bed sheet that was recovered from the defendant's motel room. Typing the whole blood samples from the defendant and the victim revealed that both blood samples exhibited identical phenotypes in eleven different genetic markers. Gm(1) and Gm(2) analysis was then performed on the two whole blood samples which provided discrimination between the two parties.     

Gm(11) grouping of dried bloodstains

An absorption inhibition method for the detection of gamma marker Gm(11) in dried bloodstains is described. Particular reference is made to the association of Gm(11) with Gm(-1, -2). When a dried bloodstain fails to inhibit anti-Gm(1) and anti-Gm(2), this may represent a true Gm(-1, -2) result or there may be insufficient material to inhibit either antibody. The detection of Gm(11) in a bloodstain extract provides an objective means of confirming the apparent absence of Gm(1) and Gm(2) as representing a true Gm(-1, -2) result. This antigen compares very well with other blood group systems with regard to the amount of bloodstain required for analysis and its stability. No evidence is available for preferential loss of Gm(1) and Gm(2) relative to Gm(11) in dried bloodstains.     

Police legitimacy and support for vigilante violence in Pakistan

Bottoms and Tankebe recently analysed the multidimensional nature of police legitimacy and made an argument for its relevance to social order. Using survey data from three communities of varying socioeconomic conditions in Pakistan, this paper examines the links between the multiple dimensions of the Bottoms-Tankebe model of police legitimacy and support for vigilante violence. The findings show overall high levels of support for vigilantism. Regression analysis shows that experiences of police illegality consistently predict support for vigilantism across the three communities. Perceived quality of police decision-making predicts support for vigilantism in some conditions but not others. Contrary to expectations, quality of interpersonal treatment by police and police effectiveness do not explain support for vigilantism. We also found no evidence to show that feelings of obligation to obey the police mediate the influence of police legitimacy on vigilante support. The implications of these findings are discussed in this paper.     

Fatal Intoxications Due to Administration of Isosorbide Tablets Contaminated with Pyrimethamine

In January 2012, 664 cases of pyrimethamine toxicity and 151 deaths were reported among cardiac patients that had recently received free medicines from pharmacy of Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan. These patients, ages ranged from 58 to 75 years, were prescribed simvastatin, clopidogrel, aspirin soluble, isosorbide mononitrate, and amlodipine. On examination of medications being given to them, it was found that a particular batch of isosorbide mononitrate tablets was contaminated with 50 mg pyrimethamine. Cardiac patients were taking isosorbide contaminated with pyrimethamine twice daily (100 mg pyrimethamine/day), whereas therapeutic dose of pyrimethamine for malaria is 25 mg/week. Postmortem urine, cardiac blood, and femoral blood specimens of three deceased males were submitted to author's laboratory for analysis. Postmortem toxicological analysis revealed that pyrimethamine concentration fell within the range of 1–10 μg/mL by liquid chromatography. Clinical, autopsy, histopathological, and toxicological findings strongly suggested toxicity due to pyrimethamine accumulation that resulted in deaths of these cardiac patients.     

Perspectives on Ethno-National Conflict Among Kurdish Families With Members in the PKK

This article reports the findings of an ethnographic study of families with members involved in the armed struggle for Kurdish nationalism led by the Kurdistan Workers' Party. Based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews and observations with a theoretical sample of six families in the area of Yüksekova, detailed discussions were held with twelve members of families with children, partners, or siblings involved in the conflict. Ethno-national exceptionalism plays a significant role in determining the motivations of political violence among groups, but with the additional background of the perceptions and realities of systematic racialization, de-territorialization, disenfranchisement, and cultural exclusion that affect certain Kurdish groups. The findings in this article offer critical sociological and anthropological accounts of the localized drivers of ethno-nationalism, and the motivations for and the experiences of conflict among families with members involved in the armed conflict and the “Kurdish question” in Turkey.