Staff Writer

Rawia Aburabia, an Israeli-born Bedouin, takes comfort in being just another face in America's vast, multicultural landscape.

"When you live in Israel you have the burden of being a minority," said Aburabia, who was born in the southern Israeli town of Beersheva to a Bedouin father and Palestinian mother. "You deal constantly with the issue ‹ personally, politically, all the time, in all my activities it's like continuously dealing with this issue of identity."

But in America, the female Bedouin lawyer ‹ a rare breed in Israel ‹ says she can get "away from being the minority."

As a participant in the U.S.-Israel Civil Liberties Law Program, sponsored by American University and the New Israel Fund, the 28-year-old is spending a year in the District enjoying her nonminority status as she earns a master's degree in civil and human rights law. She is the first female Bedouin program participant.

Aburabia says she is deeply concerned about the Israeli Bedouin community's failure to fully integrate into modern society. She has a strong sense of her roots, and says she practices law "so I have more tools to help my community."

"My assumption with [Aburabia] is that she will be an absolutely leading figure in dealing with issues of women's rights amongst Bedouins and minorities," said Larry Garber, the NIF's CEO.

His organization, along with The Hebrew Language Table, the American Associates of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the Israeli Embassy, is sponsoring a Dec. 3 lecture about Bedouin community challenges to be delivered by Aburabia at the Library of Congress.

Aburabia graduated from Ben-Gurion in 2003 with a degree in social work. She then took a job at a local law firm, but after six months of dealing with municipal law issues, "I realized my passion is human rights," she explained.

After learning about the A.U. program, Aburabia said she applied in hopes of sharpening her legal skills, which are critical in part because many Bedouins, despite being full Israeli citizens, are effectively disenfranchised because they live outside municipal boundaries.

"I think the Bedouin are entitled to have a better life and better opportunities," Aburabia said, explaining that the Israeli court system could be used to push the government to provide more educational opportunities for Bedouins, something she thinks will help her community abandon some tribal customs, such as polygamy.

At the same time, she looks to aid her community in Israel, Aburabia says she is also looking inward. "It's an intersection. I feel that I have to deal with several issues at the same time," such as her Arab identity, Israeli identity and Palestinian identity ‹ labels that often conflict with one another.

"I'm raising a lot of issues that are not so accepted in my society," such as women's rights, "and it's harder to be a women from [a] patriarchal society [who is] raising political criticisms," she explained.

Aburabia also said she hopes to raise awareness for Bedouin issues among local Jews, some of whom are major donors to social organizations that work in Israel.

"I think America has a tremendous role in ... putting pressure on the Israeli government to address these issues," Aburabia said.