who are the Bedouin?

[kai]

The number of Bedouin, an Arabic abbreviation of Bidoon Jinsiyah or “without citizenship,” is estimated at between 100,000 and 120,000 in a population of 2.8 million.

Mostly descendants of Bedouin nomads who failed to apply for citizenship when Kuwait passed its citizenship law in 1959, the Bedouin cannot legally work in Kuwait and are denied health care, public education and access to courts. They are also denied a piece of the huge largesse that comes from the country’s oil resources.

The government requires them to relinquish citizenship claims in order to receive birth, marriage or death certificates, Human Rights Watch reported. Al-Shamari said that up until 1986 Bedouin enjoyed the same rights as regular Kuwaitis, except for the right to vote. During the 1980s, they comprised some 90% of Kuwait’s army and Interior Ministry personnel, he said.


Kuwait stateless demand rights - Arab News



BEIRUT: The nation’s 100,000 to 150,000 estimated bedouin are not receiving adequate medical access and are discriminated against by primary healthcare providers, a EU-backed project has concluded.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lo...-adequate-equal-healthcare.ashx#ixzz1WUr4mnHz
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)





who are these people ? are their problems due to not registering for citizenship of relatively newly formed countries ? was it because they were/are nomadic? How are they different from a Kuwaiti? or a Palestinian? or a Lebanese?and Egyptian is it just that they didnt fill in the forms?


I would be particularly interested in Arab responses to this but please feel free to join in if you have any answers.

 

[elmarna]

A nomadic peoples -many belong to the coptic church as well as islam. They rely on gods world and feel that to be 1 with gods world is a good way to be!

 

[kai]

A nomadic peoples -many belong to the coptic church as well as islam. They rely on gods world and feel that to be 1 with gods world is a good way to be!

Thanks elmarna, do you know if they consider themselves separate from national identities or was it all down to the fact they didn't claim citizenship when they were supposed to.


arnt the Bedouin in Sinai Egyptian? they seem to be somehow separate?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/9501505.stm


They seem to have trouble all over the place. i find it puzzling.

 

[Levite]

Bedouins have been around for centuries. They are nomadic, generally travelling within certain traditional areas or routes. Though some of them, in the past, capitalized on their wandering by becoming successful traders and merchants, many remained primarily sustained by light herding of goats and camels.

There have been, for the past fifty to a hundred years, and still are today, as you noted, considerable transition shock and associated difficulties as bedouins begin adjusting to life in a world with much less fluid borders, and with no real space given for nomadic tribal cultures. Their troubles, all over the Middle East, are in some ways not unlike the troubles of the Romany folk in Europe, or the traveling folk in Britain and Ireland.

 

[England my lionheart]

You could add the Tuareg who are also nomadic,they have fought against the Army of Mali after it gained independence,they are quite wide ranging around the Sahara and like Mali don't mind Slavery.

 

[Levite]

You could add the Tuareg who are also nomadic,they have fought against the Army of Mali after it gained independence,they are quite wide ranging around the Sahara and like Mali don't mind Slavery.

Sure. If I recall right, there are also various nomadic tribal peoples in Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of South America. And, of course, many of the Native American peoples in North America used to be nomadic or semi-nomadic, before white folks took over....

 

[England my lionheart]

Sure. If I recall right, there are also various nomadic tribal peoples in Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of South America. And, of course, many of the Native American peoples in North America used to be nomadic or semi-nomadic, before white folks took over....

Damn white people,i'm glad i'm pink

 

[England my lionheart]

This is quite interesting Egypt's Bedouins Raise Tension at Israel and Gaza Border - TIME

 

[kai]

I have to admit i was hoping for some Arab input.