Essential aspects of the Israeli endeavor to suppress the Bedouin culture and way of life can be revealed by two key policies: the forcible displacement of Bedouins from their lands into townships and discriminatory land allocation. Israel began moving Bedouins into government-planned townships in the 1960s, eventually building seven townships in total. Currently, around 45 percent of all Bedouin in the Naqab live in these townships, while about 25 percent live in villages recently recognized by the government and over 30 percent live in villages that Israel refuses to recognize.336 Israel has attempted to pressure Bedouins in unrecognized villages to relocate to the townships through various means including demolitions and denial of basic services such as water and electricity.337 For the Bedouin, as with many indigenous peoples, remaining on their land is essential to their ability to maintain their culture and traditional lifestyles. The transfer of Bedouin people into townships, therefore, amounts to a “Forced urbanization and proleterianization that efface[s] their nomadic traditions and their rural way of life”338 and violates the right guaranteed by the ICESCR to “housing that is culturally adequate.”339 The design of the townships makes it impossible to maintain traditional agriculture and herding,340 leaving inhabitants without any means to continue their livelihoods.341 This has prompted township residents to try to create agricultural lots and animal pens close to where they live which has resulted in dire ecological problems in the local water and sewage systems.342 336 Although most Palestinian communities within the green line in 1965 had existed long before the establishment of Israel, many Palestinian villages in the Galilee, and at least 50 Bedouin communities in the Naqab, were not included in the 1965 Planning and Building Law. Not part of the national master plan, they became "unrecognized" or illegal under the law. For more information, see: http://www. badil.org/en/component/k2/item/6-al-naqab-the-ongoing-displacement-of-palestine's-southernbedouin.html; Farah Mihlar, Israel’s denial of the Bedouin, Minority rights group international, November 2011. Available at: http://minorityrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/MRG_Brief_ Bedouin.pdf 337 The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Negev Bedouins and Unrecognized Villages. Available at: http:// www.acri.org.il/en/category/arab-citizens-of-israel/negev-bedouins-and-unrecognized-villages/ 338 The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, the Association for Support and Defense of Bedouin Rights in Israel, Arab-Bedouin coalition of organizations and Parents Committees for promoting education and cultural rights, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, and Recognition Forum, The Arab-Bedouin in the Negev-Naqab Desert in Israel, Response to the Report of the State of Israel on Implementing the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), October 2010. Available at: http://d843006.bc470.best-cms.com/uploaded/Final_Shadow_report_ESCR_1Nov_10.pdf 339 United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing (Art. 11 (1) of the Covenant), E/1992/23, 13 December 1991 340 The Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality, the Association for Support and Defense of Bedouin Rights in Israel, Arab-Bedouin coalition of organizations and Parents Committees for promoting education and cultural rights, Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, and Recognition Forum, The ArabBedouin in the Negev-Naqab Desert in Israel, op. cit., October 2010 341 Ibid., page 19 342 Ibid. 92