Negev Bedouin - Demographics

Demographics

The Bedouin comprise the youngest population in Israeli society - about 54 percent of the Bedouin population is younger than 14. With an annual growth rate of 5.5%, which is one of the highest in the world, the Bedouin in Israel double their population every 15 years. Bedouin advocates argue that the main reason for the transfer of the Bedouin into townships against their will is demographic. In 2003, Director of the Israeli Population Administration Department, Herzl Gedj, described polygamy in the Bedouin sector a "security threat" and advocated various means of reducing the Arab birth rate. In 2005 Ronald Lauder of the Jewish National Fund announced plans to bring 250-000-500,000 new settlers into the Negev through the Blueprint Negev, incurring opposition from Bedouin rights groups concerned that the unrecognized villages might be cleared to make way for Jewish-only development and potentially ignite internal civil strife.