Human, Society & Environmen Lab

Over less than a century, the majority of the once nomadic Bedouin of southern Israel were moved to live in towns that were established for them by the state, in the process of urbanization. These towns are far from satisfying the desires and needs of all the Bedouin. The rest of the Bedouin prefer to live outside the towns in a rural space. Based on archival sources the study reveals that the early policy supported the establishment of rural agricultural villages and transferring all Bedouin into fellahin (peasants). This policy was only later changed towards urbanization, a change that brought a problematic outcome. At the core of this study is an attempt to trace the reasoning that stood behind these policies and to make an analysis of their development and implementations.