Bedouin Children in the Negev: Characteristics, Needs and Patterns of Service Use

The Bedouin population of the Negev is undergoing a very significant transition from a nomadic to urban lifestyle. The Bedouin constitute one of the poorest communities in Israel, which has broad implications for the economic and social well-being of their children. The services for this population are very under-developed and all of these problems are particularly severe among residents of the widely scattered, small communities that are not recognized by the state and that constitute about half of the Bedouin population of the Negev.

The goal of the study was to contribute to the development of broader and better responses to the needs of this population. The study examines their situation, needs, characteristics and preferences regarding services. The information was collected during the years 2003-2005 by the Institute in partnership with Prof. Al-Krenawi of Ben-Gurion University. It was based on interviews with a representative sample of 1,000 Bedouin mothers about their children and it included a sub-sample of children with disabilities. In addition, interviews were carried out with a sample of youth aged 14-17 and with professionals working with the Bedouin population. Exceptional efforts were made to fully include the residents of the unrecognized communities in the survey.

Forty percent of the mothers had no education at all and the average family surveyed had 6.8 children. The rate of health-service utilization is quite broad. Utilization of social services, in contrast, is limited, relative to the extensive needs of the families and youth. Physical access to educational frameworks is problematic, particularly in unrecognized villages, and this is the main reason why children are not sent to preschools. The dropout rate is high, and increases dramatically in the higher grades. Few children and youth participate in organized after-school activities either because they are not available or because they are too far away.

The survey is the most comprehensive study of Bedouin children that has been conducted to date. In particular, the study provides information about the needs of children in the unrecognized communities for the very first time. The study steering committee included extensive representation from the Bedouin community in order to ensure the broadest possible involvement and participation in all aspects of the study. It also brought together many of the key persons involved in or responsible for developing services for this population. The findings have been presented to a wide range of forums of policymakers and professionals. They are serving as the basis for a number of new initiatives and recently, the Israeli government approved a comprehensive program to develop services for the Bedouin community, which was prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs. This report presents all of the study findings to the general public.

The study was made possible by the generous grants from Michael and Andrea Dubroff, Massachusetts, the Helen Bader Foundation and Ashalim. It was carried out with the assistance of SHATIL and the Council for Unrecognized Villages. A separate report about children with special needs has been published.

Citations in the professional and academic literature

Treister-Goltzman, Y., & Peleg, R. (2015). Literature review of type 2 diabetes mellitus among minority Muslim populations in Israel. World journal of diabetes6(1), 192.

Fragman, A. (2013). Spelling accuracy of consonants in Arabic among Negev Bedouin students. Open Journal of Modern Linguistics3(04), 330.

Treister-Goltzman, Y., Peleg, R., & Biderman, A. (2015). Anemia among Muslim Bedouin and Jewish women of childbearing age in Southern Israel. Annals of hematology94(11), 1777-1784.

Athamny, A. (2012). Repercusiones de las condiciones físicas de las aldeas no reconocidas de Israel sobre la salud de los niños. Espacio para la infancia. Las condiciones de vida: cómo influyen en la salud de los niños pequeños37, 14-16.

Fragman, A. (2014). Spelling Development among Triangle versus Native Bedouin Arabic Pupils. World Journal of Education4(2), 65-75.

Gottfried, R., & Ben-Arieh, A. (2019). The Israeli Child Protection System. In National Systems of Child Protection(pp. 139-171). Springer, Cham.

Mark, H. F. (2017). Microaggressions in the Context of Conflict: A Study of Perceived Discrimination among Israeli Adolescents (Doctoral dissertation, UC Berkeley).