Derived from the Arabic term “badawi” (Arabic for “desert-dweller”), Bedouin is a general name for Arab nomadic groups. Once characterized by a nomadic and rural lifestyle, the Bedouins in Israel have largely become sedentary as a result of Israeli government policies, which, since the 1960s have aimed to settle the Bedouin population in planned communities. Two major disputes between the Bedouin communities and the State of Israel persist: land ownership—many Bedouin do not have ownership papers for the land on which they have traditionally lived—and unrecognized villages. Unrecognized villages are villages that generally predate the existence of Israel but are not officially recognized by Israel; as a result, these villages do not have state support for basic services and infrastructure. The approximate 170,000 Bedouin population in Israel, half of whom live in unrecognized villages, resides primarily in the Negev desert and the northern region of the Galilee. The Bedouin of the Negev is Israel’s most impoverished group, with the highest rates of unemployment. See Kimmerling, Baruch and Joel S. Migdal. The Palestinian People: a History. London: Harvard University Press, 2003; Lynfield, Ben. “In Israel’s Desert, A Fight for Land.” 20 February 2003. The Christian Science Monitor. 21 July 2011. http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0220/p06s01-wome.html; and ”Negev Bedouins - Info Sheet.” 5 February 2009. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel. 18 June 2011. http://www.acri.org.il/en/?p=608.  http://www.justvision.org/glossary/bedouin