Unrecognized Bedouin Villages in Israel - Demographics

Demographics

Bedouin advocates argue that the main reason for the transfer of the Bedouin into townships against their will is demographic. They note that in 2003, director of the Israeli Population Administration Department, Herzl Gedj, described polygamy in the Bedouin sector as a "security threat" and advocated various means of reducing the Arab birth rate. In 2003, Shai Hermesh, the treasurer of the Jewish Agency and head of its effort to establish a solid Jewish majority in the desert, told The Guardian: "We need the Negev for the next generation of Jewish immigrants" and added, "It is not in Israel's interest to have more Palestinians in the Negev."

In 2005 an American philanthropist Ronald Lauder announced plans to bring 250,000–500,000 people into the Negev through the Jewish National Fund's program Blueprint Negev. Bedouin rights groups opposed this plan, as they were concerned that the unrecognized villages might be cleared to make way for Jewish development and potentially ignite internal civil strife. Some Bedouin advocates claim the Blueprint Negev is motivated by demographic considerations, aimed at the increasing Jewish population to offset the growing Bedouin population.

In October 2011 the government decided to establish seven new agricultural settlements in the area of Mevo’ot Arad. On 14 August 2012, residents of five unrecognized Bedouin villages, along with residents of Arad, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, and the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, petitioned the High Court of Justice against the plan saying that it will uproot 800 Bedouin.