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Daniel Pipes

A fact finding expedition to Israel with Daniel Pipes, focusing on the Negev and Bedouins.

April 26 - May 5, 2015

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Daniel Pipes

A Fact finding expedition to Israel focusing on the Negev and Bedouins. Plus visits to the Gaza border and listen to experts analyses on Israeli military doctrine, new tactical issues (Iron Dome, drones, tunnels, the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport), and lessons learned.

"The success of the nation in Zion will be tested in the Negev"  David Ben Gurion, Israel’s founder and first prime minister

The Negev (as of 2010) is home to 8% of Israel's population, even though it comprises 55% of the country's landmass. Of the region’s 630,000 people, 75% are Jews and 25% are Bedouin.

Several developments in recent years have made the region the topic of headline news:

  1. Attacks from Gaza and Sinai.
  2. Illegal immigration from Africa into Israel.
  3. The increasingly aggressive demands of the local Bedouin community and the contentious Prawer Report to relocate Bedouins from unrecognized villages.
  4. Plans to move all the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) training bases to the Negev.
  5. An ambitious program to reach one million Israeli Jewish inhabitants in the Negev by 2020.
  6. Israel’s nuclear facility at Dimona the topic of growing dispute due to Iranian nuclear ambitions.

To explore the implications and ramifications of these issues critical to Israel and the region, Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, will lead an expedition to Israel in spring 2015.

To be arranged in conjunction with Ben Gurion University and the Heritage Study Programs, the trip will draw on experts from Israel to provide briefings, panel discussions, and visits to off-the-beaten-track locations. The program will also include visits, speakers, and discussions in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Neither mission, nor a tour, this is a fact-finding expedition to one of the most beautiful parts of Israel, nature at its best and a region that is increasingly becoming a player in world affairs.