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Many people pose the question, “what is the difference between an unrecognized Bedouin village, and a recognized one?” And this is a very valid question, with a relatively simple answer.  Unrecognized villages show up on no official maps, receive no basic services from the state such as water, electricity, sewage, or roads, and are deemed illegal settlements, and thus are constantly subject to home demolitions.  The residents there have no official address, which precludes them from municipal elections of any kind. Some of these villages have been in the same location since the Ottoman times, others were created in the wake of the creation of the State of Israel. Following Israel’s victory in 1948, the Bedouin settlements in the western Negev were destroyed, their residents expelled to a triangular region known as the Siyaj (‘fence’ in Arabic), with the cities of Beer Sheva, Dimona, and Arad forming the points of this triangle. At this point in time, there are 45 unrecognized villages in the Negev, with a combined population of 76,000 people. All of these people are Israeli citizens, yet receive no basic services from the government.

The goal of the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages is to represent the interests of these people, pressure the Israeli government to change this awful situation, ultimately culminating in the recognition of their rights to the services one expects from an industrialized democracy such as Israel.

On the other hand, the cities and towns recognized by the Israeli government are of two types: the townships, of which there are seven, and the Abu Basma villages, of which there are ten. Please see above for more information on both the Abu Basma Regional Council, the townships, and the unrecognized villages.

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