Land ownership is still one of the most pressing issues facing the Bedouin population of Israel’s southern Negev Desert. The Bedouin tribes living there have been waging a yearslong struggle against the state over land ownership, though the courts have ruled against them in most cases.

Bedouins often settle in makeshift structures throughout the Negev and, at least according to the state, use these structures to claim ownership over large swathes of land. Another dispute pertaining to land ownership and the new villages constructed without permits revolves around infrastructure. Most of these temporary villages have no basic infrastructure, including water, electricity, sewage, etc., simply because their status is in question.

Over one-quarter of a million Bedouins live in the Negev, including 80,000 who live in unrecognized villages on disputed lands. As of today, there are some 2,800 lawsuits pending over approximately 600,000 dunams of land.

An agreement signed recently between an Israeli solar energy company and one of the Bedouin families in the Negev offers at least a partial solution to both problems. Marom Energy is planning a solar energy project in the Negev on 150 dunams of private land owned by the Anami family. Its goal is to provide electricity to the region surrounding the city of Beersheba, where many of the Bedouin villages without infrastructure are located.