The Feb. 3 road accident that claimed the lives of eight women from Hura, a southern Bedouin community, and left more than 30 people injured, has tragically drawn attention to a well-known fact: To wit, Israel's Bedouin population suffers from serious neglect of its infrastructure. This neglect has likely taken many lives to date.

In this recent accident, a trailer carrying a tractor ripped the side of a bus with female worshipers en route from Jerusalem. They were part of the al-Buraq Procession, organized by the Islamic Movement to bring worshipers to the Temple Mount (Haram al-Sharif) in remembrance of the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey. The women were killed just a few kilometers from home on Route 31, aka the "Bloody Road." Hura declared a day of mourning.

Speaking to Al-Monitor, Mohammed al-Nabari, head of the Hura Council, said, "I grew up here, in Hura. Even from my childhood, I recall large numbers of fatalities. Classmates and friends I grew up with were killed on this road."

On the day when thousands of people attended the burial of the women, however, Nabari felt uncomfortable linking the disaster that had befallen the community to infrastructural neglect. "I do not want to take advantage of this tragic event and tie it to the neglect of the Bedouin communities," he said. "Not that I am denying that there is neglect, but the road accident occurred on a state highway and not inside my community."