Social Adaptation and Welfare Planning in the Post-Nomadic Urban Environment: The Case of the Israeli Negev Bedouin

Abstract

State planning to settle and to provide services for nomadic populations is a complex enterprise. In Israel, the government's efforts to plan, direct, and contain the Negev Bedouins' social development upon settlement has fostered both positive and negative changes in the new communal setting. Women, children, and the elderly have proven to be particularly at risk during the settlement transition period. Proactive efforts on the part of indigenous and Jewish community planners and social workers provide a crucial component encouraging communal adaptation to new environments and lifestyles. Experiences in the Negev may also provide lessons for community practitioners in other previously mobile communities.