Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies The Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies is a faculty within the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research and part of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. It is located in Midreshet Ben-Gurion in the centre of the Negev desert in Israel and was established in 1999. The school offers Master's degrees (both MA and MSc) in Desert Studies, with subjects including physics, ecology, water management, biochemistry, architecture and social science, all with a desert slant. Over 100 students attend the school, and mostly live in specially built housing designed to be
Negev Bedouin Israeli government in the 1950s and 1960s to a restricted zone in the northeast corner of the Negev, called the "Siyagh" ( , an Arabic word that can be translated as the "permitted area") made up of in 10% of the Negev desert in the northeast. In 1951, the United Nations reported the deportation of about 7,000 Negev Bedouin to Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai, but many returned undetected. The new government failed to issue the Bedouin identity cards until 1952 and deported thousands of Bedouin who remained within the new borders. Deportation continued into the late 1950s, as