Negev Bedouin women Negev Bedouin women The Bedouin are a primarily desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group. As a pastoral, nomadic society, they live in numerous nation-states in the Middle East. The Negev Bedouin live in the Negev region of Israel. After Israel's independence in 1948, many of the Bedouin who remained in the area were relocated to towns. Israel has built seven official Bedouin townships, and approximately half of all Negev Bedouin live in these towns. The remainder live in unrecognized, unplanned townships which are officially illegal. The Israeli government does not provide infrastructure assistance or other services to those Bedouin who live in
Negev 13,000 km² (4,700 sq mi) or at least 55% of the country's land area. It forms an inverted triangle shape whose western side is contiguous with the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, and whose eastern border is the Arabah valley. The Negev has a number of interesting cultural and geological features. Among the latter are three enormous, craterlike makhteshim (box canyons), which are unique to the region: Makhtesh Ramon, HaMakhtesh HaGadol, and HaMakhtesh HaKatan. The Negev is a rocky desert. It is a melange of brown, rocky, dusty mountains interrupted by wadis (dry riverbeds that bloom briefly after rain) and