Ethnic Business Entrepreneurship Among Urbanising Bedouin in the Negev, Israel

The authors??? spatial and socio-tribal analysis of ???ethnic entrepreneurship??? among the Bedouin of the Negev in Israel found no differences in these enterprises between the planned towns and the unrecognized informal settlements outside towns, but considerable differences were found between the fellahin Bedouin and the ‘true’ Bedouin, who compete latently for sociopolitical and economic hegemony. The author concludes that the process of ethnic entrepreneurship bears implications for sub-ethnic internal relationships, for the Bedouin struggle to protect land to which they claim ownership from the State, and for the broader issue of ethnicity and business within the Bedouin community.