Meir Cohen and Ayelet Shaked
Meir Cohen and Ayelet Shakedspokesperson

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and Welfare Minister Meir Cohen, who is in charge of the government's efforts to regulate Bedouin settlement in the Negev, toured the town of Rahav and the Negev on Tuesday.

Together with the mayor of Rahat, the ministers came to tour the southern neighborhood of Rahat, Balkia, Tel Sheva and Hashem Zena, one of the three regulated villages that will be established after being approved by the government.

The ministers wanted to see up close the implementation of the government decision in solving the problem of settlement in the Negev through the establishment of the three villages of Khashem Zana, Abda and Rahma.

"For years, the State of Israel has dragged its feet on the Bedouin issue and abandoned the Negev," Shaked said. "All Israeli government ministers are fully engaged in carrying out the regulation of settlements in the field properly and not just on paper, this is an important opportunity that we must take advantage of."

"The Minister of Welfare and I are working together in the south to establish the three Bedouin settlements, to gather the diaspora and reach a settlement in education, employment and the enforcement of illegal construction," the interior minister said.

Welfare Minister Meir Cohen said: "Along with the determination to eradicate crime and violence, we came here today to make sure that the Bedouin receive their rights as citizens of the State of Israel, the three communities and service centers we establish in the Negev are the way, and the most important thing, and the most important thing is that we already have plans moving forward and we are starting to work because the Negev is important to all of us."