SEPTEMBER 2021

“Identity and Nation: Comparing Egyptian and Israeli Bedouin Policy”

JESSICA WISNIEWSKY

ARTICLES

Published September 2021

ABSTRACT

In many ways, the Egyptian and Israeli states fail to ‘see’ the Bedouin and 
therefore situate them as a group “in but not of the global order,” an order 
where nations and states represent contingent identities and socio-political 
organizations. However, the Bedouin are not legally recognized as a distinct 
nation nor as indigenous peoples in neither Egypt nor Israel, and Egyptian 
Nationalism and Zionism reject the Bedouin as part of their nation, or 
‘imagined community.’ This concept of nationalism strongly influences policy, 
and as a result, leads to the discrimination of the Bedouin through internal 
colonial policies, land seizure, suspension of human rights, and exclusionary 
economic policy. Despite Egypt and Israel’s different political systems, the 
outcome for the Bedouin in both countries is remarkably similar.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33682/27b9-hcfc
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HOW TO CITE (CHICAGO):
Wisniewsky, Jessica. “Identity and Nation: Comparing Egyptian and Israeli Bedouin Policy.” The Interdependent 2 (2021): 143-156. https://doi.org/10.33682/27b9-hcfc