Paper short abstract:

The Bedouin identity in the Negev is directly or indirectly affected by the political and national dispute about the land. Much of what has been written about the Bedouins of the Negev has focused on the significant impact of the state of Israel and its attempts to settle them.

Paper long abstract:

The Bedouin identity in the Negev is directly or indirectly affected by the political and national dispute about the land. Much of what has been written about the Bedouins of the Negev has focused on the significant impact of the state of Israel and its attempts to settle them. Many social scientists however have rarely addressed the ethnic identity of these Bedouin in Israeli.

The Bedouin themselves have been unable to express their connection to the land in a way that is understandable to sedentary Westernized people. They are still prohibited from using their traditional lands and they believe that in this respect they are being targeted and discriminated against because of their ethnicity. The processes of dispossession and erasure of land and identity materialize in Indigenous people’s lives on a daily basis. Connections to land, place, community, and kinship are enduring.

The formation of a multi-faith coalition of Muslims, Jews, and Christians to protect the sanctity of the mosque and cemeteries in the Negev, has been formed around the principles of peaceful coexistence and interfaith. The consequences of this coalition, cooperated together in order to protect the sanctuaries and places of worship in Israel