The unrecognized villages of the Negev do not appear on the formal maps of Israel and information about the villages is not available. Following various plans which jeopardize the existence of the villages, committees and plans which examine the issue of settlements in the Negev and due to the misguided information appearing in the media, the goal of this project is to gather accurate information on the villages. The website exposes the location of each village, its unique story and the governmental services it receives, or doesn’t receive as the case in most villages.

The project aims to produce local knowledge, and therefore was done in cooperation with the committees of the villages. NCF’s staff visited and toured the villages with the residents and gathered with them the information which appears in the site.

In view of the numerous threats looming over the unrecognized villages in the Negev – from Prawer plan, Route 6, army bases being moved to the Negev and the policy of house demolitions – the goal of this site is to expose the real situation on the ground and to refute the prevailing myths about the Negev, such as the argument that the Bedouin population lives in a “diaspora” and not in distinctive villages.

The center of the site is the map which presents the location of the Bedouin villages in the Negev. It gives easy and quick access to information and photos from each village and also the various plans which threatens the future of most of these villages. In our view, making the information available and accessible to the public is another step in the struggle between local information and facts on the ground and the misinformation spread by the authorities. Moreover, it is a big step in the struggle for recognition of the unrecognized villages in the Negev.