Overview

Drawing on a wealth of ethnographic and historical sources, Havatzelet Yahel offers an engaging and sometimes surprising history of Israel's policy toward Bedouin tribalism in the Negev desert in southern Israel. The study opens with a detailed look at the 1940s and 1950s in the region, which shaped the relationship between Israel and the Bedouin, most notably Israel's effort to accommodate tribalism in collaboration with the sheikhs. The story then shifts to the next stage in Israel's policymaking under the Military Administration in the 1960s and early 1970s. Although various forces were at work to break down tribal life, especially the hardship of prolonged droughts, nevertheless the pro-tribal policy won out in the end. Today, Israel's policy toward the Bedouin focuses more on traditional tribal norms, rather than promoting democratic individuals values.

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Havatzelet Yahel is Professor at the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is Head of the Israel Studies Program and holds the Michael Feige Career Development Chair in Israeli Society. Yahel is a member of the Israeli Bar and advises governmental entities and others in land policy and legal issues. She has published numerous academic articles on Bedouin issues, governance, land, and settlement policies, and she is author with Emir Galilee of Bedouin of the Negev: Tribalism, Criticism and Politics, which was recently published in Hebrew.

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