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Beduine (von arabisch ‏بدوي‎ badawī „nicht sesshaft“, „nomadisch“) bezeichnet einen nomadischen Wüstenbewohner (arabisch: al-bādiya, „Steppe, Wüste“) der syrischen Wüste, der arabischen Halbinsel, Teilen der Sahara, des Sinai und des israelischen Negev. Das Wort badawī wird als Eigenbezeichnung von den Beduinen gewöhnlicherweise gar nicht benutzt. Sie selbst nennen sich arab im Gegensatz zu den Sesshaften (Nichtnomaden), ḥaḑar. Dieser Begriff bezog sich auf Städter und Bauern gleichermaßen und bedeutet im Arabischen: fallāḥūna (fallāḥīn). Darauf wiederum geht der Begriff zur Abgrenzung zu den Beduinen, nämlich Fellache („Spalter, Pflüger“) zurück.

Die Beduinen sind Araber und folgen in großer Mehrheit dem Islam. Sie betrachten Ismael als ihren Stammvater. Mittlerweile sesshafte Abkömmlinge der Beduinen unterliegen als Bedun (arabisch für Staatenlose) in vielen arabischen Staaten erheblicher Diskriminierung.
(Wikipedia)
Bedouins in Egypt

Bedouins in Egypt largely reside in the Sinai peninsula and in the suburbs of Cairo. The past few decades were difficult for traditional Bedouin culture due to the changing surrounding and erection of new resort towns on the Red Sea coast, such as Sharm el-Sheikh. Bedouins in Egypt are facing a number of challenges: erosion of traditional values, unemployment and various land issues. With urbanization and new education opportunities offered, Bedouins started to marry people outside their tribe which once was completely inappropriate.

Bedouins living in the Sinai peninsula didn't benefit much from employment in the initial construction boom due to low wages offered. Sudanese and Egyptians workers were brought here as construction laborers instead. When the tourist industry started to bloom, local Bedouins increasingly moved into new service positions such as cab drivers, tour guides, campgrounds or cafe managers. However, the competition is very high, and many Sinai Bedouins are unemployed. Since there are not enough employment opportunities, Tarabin Bedouins as well as other Bedouin tribes living along the border between Egypt and Israel are involved in inter-border smuggling of drugs and weapons, as well as infiltration of prostitutes and African labor workers.

In most countries in the Middle East the Bedouin have no land rights, only users’ privileges, and it is especially true for Egypt. Since the mid-1980s, the Bedouins who held desirable coastal property have lost control of much of their land as it was sold by the Egyptian government to hotel operators. Egypt didn't see it as the land that belongs to Bedouin tribes, but rather as a state property.

In the summer of 1999, the latest dispossession of land took place when the army bulldozed Bedouin-run tourist campgrounds north of Nuweiba as part of the final phase of hotel development in the sector, overseen by the Tourist Development Agency (TDA). The director of the Tourist Development Agency dismissed Bedouin rights to most of the land, saying that they had not lived on the coast prior to 1982. Their traditional semi-nomadic culture has left Bedouins vulnerable to such claims.

The 2011–2012 Egyptian revolution brought more freedom to the Sinai Bedouin, but since it was deeply involved in weapon smuggling into Gaza after a number of terror attacks on the Egypt-Israel border a new Egyptian government has started a military operation in Sinai in the summer-fall of 2012. Egyptian army has demolished over 120 underground tunnels leading from Egypt to Gaza that were used as smuggling channels and gave profit to the Bedouin families on the Egyptian side, as well as the Palestinian clans on the other side of the border. Thus the army has delivered a threatening message to local Bedouin, compelling them to cooperate with state troops and officials. After negotiations the military campaign ended up with a new agreement between the Bedouin and Egyptian authorities.
(Wikipedia)