Vol. 4 · No. 2 · 2000

Aref Abu-Rabia

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This article deals with employment, and the problem of unemployment, among the Bedouin of the Negev. Today, the Negev Bedouin can be divided into two main groups, according to the manner of their settlement: Those who reside in seven towns, planned by the authorities: Rahat, Tel al-Saba' (Tel-Sheva), Kuseifa, 'Ar'ara, Shqeb al-Salam (Segev Shalom), Hura and Laqiya; and those who reside in dispersed, unauthorised settlements and live outside the seven towns, in concentrations of varying size. There is also a very small group of semi-nomads. The Bedouin population in the Negev is today (1999) estimated at approximately 110,000. Close to 60 per cent of them live in the seven towns, the remaining 40 per cent of the Bedouin live in tribal settlements, in clusters of huts, wooden, metal, or baked mud huts, in tents made of goat hair, jute bags, or plastic sheets, or in houses built of concrete blocks or stones. The Bedouin living outside the seven towns continue to raise livestock, in flocks ranging in size from a few heads to over 200. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that the Bedouin in the Negev have some 200,000 head of sheep and 5,000 of goats. The Bedouin estimate, which is very likely closer to the mark, is that there are 230,000 sheep and 20,000 goats.