General background

The village of Rakhame is located 2 km north-east of the town of Yeruham, along both sides of route 204. 1500 people live in the village. Part of the population lives in this place for generations while the other part are internally displaced who were transferred in 1956 by the government to this location from the Ovdat area. The village is named after a water well that is located nearby. In 2021, the government decided to recognize the village of Rakhamah. 

Infrastructure and services 

No education and health services are available in the village. The children attend school in Wadi Al-Na’am, a 35 km distance with 40 minute drive from the village and in Kasr A-Sir, a 15 km distance with 15 minute drive. For medical care, the residents go to Yeruham, 4 km distance from the village.  In July 2019, the building of a primary school started in the village, after a struggle carried out  by the residents together with Yerucham Council and activists. The actual operation of the school started that year.

Water is obtained from a connection to the main pipe line on the Yeruham-Dimona road and the connection is done privately by the residents. Some residents bring water by water tanks. Rakhme is not connected to the national electricity grid and the residents use solar panels and generators in order to produce electricity. Some families in the village have no electricity at all. There are no paved roads in the village, no sewage system and no garbage disposal. 

Threats

Rakhame is a Bedouin village that is partly under the jurisdiction of the regional council Ramat Negev and partly under the jurisdiction of Yeruham. The residents of Rakhame wish to be recognized as an independent agricultural neighborhood that will be part of Yeruham, or as an independent agricultural village. The present situation of an unrecognized village puts Rakhame under the constant threat of house demolitions, that occur every couple of months in the village. The residents suffer from regular army training that takes place in the area and also in the village itself. The planned rail that will connect Dimona with Yerucham will be harmful to the residents as it will cause blocking roads, building restrictions, house demolitions etc. In September 2017 the organization Bimkom, the Regional Council of the unrecognized villages, Rahma committee and Adala, placed their objection to the Regional Committee but their objection was denied.