Summary
A new Israel Defense Force training-base complex, planned just south of Be’er Sheva, which Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin’s Postscript presents as more a new town in the Negev than merely a base, and as a source of jobs for Segev Shalom whose bedouin share would be confined to low-skilled, lower-paying work (PDF p.234).
Details
- Ir HaBahadim (Hebrew: City of the Training Bases) was designed to house the IDF’s Armaments School, Logistics Training School and Military Police, as well as providing a variety of essential facilities for a population of between 10,000 and 20,000 servicemen and women (PDF p.234).
- Segev Shalom had succeeded in its bid to acquire a number of positions in the base’s newly developing labour force; Kher El-Baz notes that virtually all of the jobs available to the bedouin would be in the low-skilled, lower-paying fields, such as laundry and food services (PDF p.233-234).
- A civic agency representative at the May 2009 Negev regional development conference noted that high-security jobs in particular would not likely be available to bedouin community members (PDF p.234).
Related pages
Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin, Segev Shalom, Kher El-Baz, Beersheba