The Arab Bedouin minority of the Negev is one of the most discriminated groups within the Arab population and within Israeli society as a whole. More than half of the approximately 160,000 Negev Bedouins reside in unrecognized villages, which the state refuses to provide with a planning structure and place under municipal jurisdiction. The government uses a variety of measures to pressure the Bedouins into re-locating to government-planned urban centers that completely disregard their traditional lifestyle and needs. Whole communities have been issued demolition orders; others are forced to continue living in unrecognized villages that are denied basic services and infrastructure, such as electricity and running water. Effectively, the residents of the unrecognized villages live in third-world conditions in a first-world state, alongside modern settlements, inhabited primarily by Jewish Israelis. In the 1970s, Israel established seven townships in the Negev for the Bedouin residing in the area, but they are have been neglected by the State since their founding and are continuously ranked as the poorest, least-developed, and most crime-ridden towns in Israel.
Against this difficult backdrop, ACRI continues to work tenaciously to promote equal rights for Arab citizens and to foster a culture of human rights, mutual respect, and tolerance within Israeli society. In addition, ACRI has for years been a leader in the struggle to demand fair and equitable planning solutions for the Bedouin community in the Negev as part of our overriding struggle to ensure justice and equality for all members of society.
Resources on the Negev Bedouin:
Court Orders Education Ministry, Yeruham Local Council to Open Kindergarten in Unrecognized Bedouin Village, May 2010
ACRI, Adalah: Abolish Law Allowing State to Postpone Elections Indefinitely, April 2010
Health Fund to Provide Refrigerated Medication in All Bedouin Clinics, June 2009
ACRI Demands Establishment of Kindergarten in Bedouin Village Rahma, March 2009
ACRI: Mixed Reaction to Goldberg Bedouin Report, December 2008
ACRI Petitions for Health Clinic in Unrecognized Bedouin Village, September 2008
ACRI Appeals to Goldberg Committee to Protect Bedouin Rights, May 2008
Discrimination against the Negev Bedouin in State Planning Fact Sheet, November 2007
ACRI Submits Objections to Beersheba Metropolis Plan, October 2007
ACRI to Court: Link Clinics in Bedouin Villages to Electric Grid, July 2007
ACRI challenges plans to forcibly evict Bedouin residents, April 2007
Following ACRI report, UN condemns Discrimination in Israel, OPT, March 2007
