Negev Bedouin - Israeli-built Townships

Israeli-built Townships

Between 1968 and 1989 the state established urban townships for housing of deported Bedouin tribes and promised Bedouin services in exchange for the renunciation of their ancestral land.

Within a few years, half of the Bedouin population moved into the seven townships built for them by the Israeli government.

The largest Bedouin locality in Israel is the city of Rahat, it was established in 1971. Other towns include Tel as-Sabi (Tel Sheva) (established in 1969), Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom) in 1979, Ar'arat an-Naqab (Ar'ara BaNegev) and Kuseife in 1982, Lakiya in 1985 and Hura in 1989.

Those who moved into these townships were mainly the Bedouin with no land claims, so they didn't have that imperative to remain on their land.

According to Ben Gurion University's Negev Center for Regional Development, the towns were built without an urban policy framework, lacking business districts or industrial zones; as Harvey Lithwick of the Negev Center for Regional Development explains: "...the major failure was a lack of an economic rationale for the towns..." According to Lithwick, and Ismael and Kathleen Abu Saad of Ben Gurion University, the towns quickly became among the most deprived towns in Israel, severely lacking in services such as public transport and banks. The urban townships were plagued by endemic joblessness and resulting cycles of crime and drug trafficking.

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