Ar'arat an-Naqab

עַרְעָרָה בַּנֶּגֶב‎‎
عرعرة‎

Hebrew transcription(s)

• Also spelled

Ar'ara BaNegev (official)

Logo

Ar'arat an-Naqab

Coordinates: 31°09′35″N 35°01′25″E / 31.15972°N 35.02361°ECoordinates: 31°09′35″N 35°01′25″E / 31.15972°N 35.02361°E

District

Southern

Founded

1982

Government

• Type

Local council

• Head of Municipality

David Bonfeld (an acting mayor)

Area

• Total

14,052 dunams (14.052 km² or 5.426 sq mi)

Population (2015)

• Total

15,813

Ar'arat an-Naqab or Ar'ara BaNegev (Hebrew: עַרְעָרָה בַּנֶּגֶב‎, Arabic: عرعرة‎‎), previously called Aroer, is a Bedouin town (local council) in the Southern District of Israel. Its name stands for "the juniper tree in Negev". It is situated not far from the archaeological site of Aroer.

Ar'arat an-Naqab was founded in 1982 as part of a government project to settle Bedouins in permanent settlements. It is one of seven Bedouin townships in the Negev desert with approved plans and developed infrastructure (other six are: Hura, Lakiya, Shaqib al-Salam (Segev Shalom), Kuseife (Kseife), Tel as-Sabi (Tel-Sheva) and the city of Rahat, the largest among them).

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the population of Ar'arat an-Naqab was 15,813 in 2015. Its jurisdiction is 14,052 dunams.

Prior to the establishment of Israel, the Negev Bedouins were a semi-nomadic society that had been through a process of sedentariness since the Ottoman rule of the region. Most researches agree that Bedouins arrived to the Negev around AD 1800, but there is evidence of earlier migrations as well.

During the British Mandate period the administration didn't provide a legal frame to justify and preserve lands’ ownership. In order to settle this issue, Israel’s land policy was adapted to a large extent from the Ottoman land regulations of 1858 as the only preceding legal frame. Thus Israel nationalized most of the Negev lands using the state’s land regulations from 1969.

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