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Israel to build first solar plant on Bedouin land

A unique agreement with the State offers a Bedouin tribe in the south of Israel real ownership of its land, enabling it to rent out space for the construction of a giant solar plant.

Bedouin men eat their dinner in a tent on Oct. 9, 2013, in the Bedouin village of Al-Arakib, Israel.
Bedouin men eat their dinner in a tent on Oct. 9, 2013, in the Bedouin village of Al-Arakib, Israel. Roughly 200,000 Bedouins live in the Negev desert, with about half living in the seven Israeli government-built townships in the northeast of the Negev and half in unrecognized villages, which lack basic services such as clean water, electricity or sanitation. — Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

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.

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