You seem to be mad at Carmit being established because “Settlement is an intensely political act burdened with the weight of our heritage” but not because there is any actual undermining of Bedouin rights such as expropriating land. I’m not saying that undermining doesn’t exist because I am not familiar with the case, but with the argument about the political significance level I think it’s very silly to say that establishing this community is inherently wrong because Negev Bedouins are getting the shaft – so Jews should just stick to Tel Aviv (or Chicago). It all depends on how the community conducts itself – if it like the example of Eshbal that you mentioned, and they open schools where Jews and Arabs learn together, and offer informal education in places where it otherwise is unattainable (together with many Arab/Palestinian partners), this new settlement will be a blessing to its neighbors, even more so than for offering gym services. If it is a bourgeois community that offers expensive art galleries and makes no contact with its neighbors, it may be negative. But it’s not inherently screwing the Negev Bedouins (undoubtedly one of Israel’s poorest and most oppressed population sectors) for Jews to live there at all. It’s true that the shitty situation there is connected to the entire Zionist-Arab conflict – it is not only a function of that, but also the local conditions which Carmit can affect negatively or positively.
By the way I refer to them as Bedouin because the (few) Bedouin Arabs I know definitely do not identify as Palestinian.

Ruth, Thanks for your comments. I suppose that my question is exactly that: Is settling the Negev an inherently bad move? The Eshbal case, for example, is a good one. While there is a Jewish-Arab school there, the underlying ideology of building around Karmiel is to make a deeply Arab part of Israel more Jewish, much in the same way that Carmit is making the Meshulash more Jewish. It doesn’t seem to me that any community that is meant to be exclusively Jewish, whether or not it has “services” for Bedouin, will upend any efforts to create dynamic Bedouin communities which have for so long been under the boot.

so you are against Jewish only settlement in the Negev, or…?

Frankly I suspect it’s mostly the dream of Jewish leftists who dream that it’s the dream of Negev Bedouin.

How are the needs of Bedouins, who already suffered through forced settlement, met by the expansion of Jewish settlement?
Ok. Here is your answer: their needs aren’t met by building Carmit. Period. The Israeli government isn’t concerned with making their lives better. Period. And, Rabbi Lopatin isn’t building Carmit for the local Bedouins’ benefit. Period.
How are unrecognized villages, less than a 10 minute drive from Carmit’s cement foundation and without electricity or meaningful political representation, affected by the plan to increase Jewish settlement between Arad and Beer Sheva?
They probably won’t be affected either.
The Negev Bedouin who I’ve spoken with (obviously it’s not an accurate sample) consider the whole Negev theirs to begin with. Why would another Jewish town in the Negev make any difference in this regard??? Oh, I know . . . if we can establish Jewish-Arab schools and dialogue groups, and open up Carmit’s swimming pool to the entire region, then everything will be ok.

I find a respected Jewish Rabbi giving lipservice to Muslim ritual and version of the akedah more troubling than promising. How many generations of Jews lived in Muslim lands without such theatrics? Respect is not built on cultural pandering.
As for the Negev Bedouin… well, I don’t have a lot of experience with nouries, but I do have plenty with Ukrainian gypsies. They were forcibly settled/domesticated by the Russians. From what I understand, it was the cultural equivalent of waterboarding. Three generations later they still have not recovered. The only thing I can say conclusively, from that experience, is to be wary of people with great schemes in human engineering.
Carmit should be built, because Israel is a nominally Jewish country where Jews build cities, and sometimes they do it for non-Jews. Cities and nomads have existed in peace, tension and violence in the Fertile Crescent since Sumer and Akkad. The desert is a big place and the Nouris have a lot of cousins. If they don’t want to settle or wander in Israel, under Israeli rules, they should do so in any of the neighboring countries. That’s one of the perks of a nomadic existence, and something they know very well.

I don’t know. I’ve been in a medical clinic in Mitzpe and the waiting room was full of Bedoin. Friends attend the university in Ariel where a significant number of Arabs are students. In Karmiel, which Eli mentions above, an increasing number of residents are Arab. I’m all for integration and access to services for the greatest number of Israel’s residents.
I think those of us in the states can draw a loose parallel to the experiences of Native Americans. Historically the establishment of schools and medical services targeted at Native Americans was culturally destructive. But the modern reality is that folks relegated, for historical reasons, to remote parts of the country benefit from access to services- be it a Wal-Mart, a university, or a hospital. I don’t think the mistakes of the pioneers and the manifest destiny governments is an argument for not developing in areas where services would be appreciated.