A New Dawn in the Negev and law-makers from the German Bundestag met with New Dawn and other Bedouin NGOs to discuss life in the Negev and the residents' struggle for social rights and political recognition of the nearby unrecognised Bedouin villages. The Negev Bedouin were traditionally pastoral nomadic Arab tribes living in the Negev region in Israel. From 1858 during Ottoman rule, the Negev Bedouin underwent a process of sedentarization which accelerated after the founding of Israel. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, most resettled in neighbouring regions. Between 1968 and 1989, Israel built seven townships in the northeast of the Negev for the Bedouin population,
Bill on the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev better integration of Bedouin in Israeli society, and significantly reduce the economic and social gaps between the Bedouin population in the Negev and Israeli society. By contrast, Jewish families have been encouraged to settle in this part of the country to make the desert bloom and small, gated farming communities – fully serviced with water and electricity – have sprung up close to the Bedouin villages. The government claims that the bill will expand Bedouin communities, some unrecognized communities will be recognized and receive public services, and infrastructure will be renewed, all within the framework of the Beer Sheva District