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31°19′43″N / 34°53′40″E
October 9, 2011. Grading earthworks in preparation for the new settlement of Carmit (see 20), intended to promote the Judaization of the Negev. The settlement follows the model of Blueprint Negev, a JNF initiative launched in the 1980s with the aim of bringing a quarter of a million members of the Jewish community to settle the Negev. Israeli and Jewish–American environmental groups argue that the current development plan strains water resources, as well as the fragile relationship between the state and its Bedouin citizens. Less than a kilometer to the east of the development is the Laqiyye Bedouin township, established in 1990 as one of the seven official townships in the Negev to sedentarize the Bedouins. Laqiyye has the lowest average income of all the townships, and is comprised mainly of Bedouins from al-Sani‛, of the Tiyāha tribe, which was present on the land of Carmit prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.