The Negev Bedouins
Bedouins are a culturally distinctive Arab Muslim ethnic group part of a largely desert-dwelling Arabian group divided into tribes or clans. Traditionally the term refers to “the nomadic Arab of the desert”, but in the context of Israel, Bedouins are not a nomadic community but a social group part of the Arab minority, they represent the 13% of the total Arab population. Within the Israeli territory, Bedouins are located in different geographic areas: North-Galilee, between the Central District and the Haifa District, and in the Negev (South) [5]. In the Negev reside the 74% of Bedouin population that represents one fourth of the total population of the region. According to Central Bureau of Statistics, 67% of Bedouin population in the Negev
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In the 1950’s government forced the Southern and Western tribes in the Negev to move from their residency to the North and join, in an enclosed area (Syag), the tribes who were living there. The Government representatives decided that the solution for the Bedouin future was to resettle them in state-built townships, from 1950 to 1990 the present seven Bedouins towns were built. The “illegality” of the villages in the diaspora localities derives from zoning laws and land contest ownership. Indeed, when the Israeli Authorities were preparing the zones plan in the Negev they excluded the Bedouin villages from the plan and they zoned their land as green areas, industrial, military zones but not as residential . For this reason the Government treats the villages as they were built illegally over the State land. For a long period the Government declined the responsibility toward the Bedouins communities in the diaspora localities and refused to recognise other villages in addition to the seven townships. Only in 2000 the Israeli governments started to set new resettlement policies [7]. In the recent years, a series of initiatives were took for tackling the controversy situation of unrecognised settlements. New permanent township were established, as in Avdat in
In the 1950’s government forced the Southern and Western tribes in the Negev to move from their residency to the North and join, in an enclosed area (Syag), the tribes who were living there. The Government representatives decided that the solution for the Bedouin future was to resettle them in state-built townships, from 1950 to 1990 the present seven Bedouins towns were built. The “illegality” of the villages in the diaspora localities derives from zoning laws and land contest ownership. Indeed, when the Israeli Authorities were preparing the zones plan in the Negev they excluded the Bedouin villages from the plan and they zoned their land as green areas, industrial, military zones but not as residential . For this reason the Government treats the villages as they were built illegally over the State land. For a long period the Government declined the responsibility toward the Bedouins communities in the diaspora localities and refused to recognise other villages in addition to the seven townships. Only in 2000 the Israeli governments started to set new resettlement policies [7]. In the recent years, a series of initiatives were took for tackling the controversy situation of unrecognised settlements. New permanent township were established, as in Avdat in