the IDF launched a reprisal raid against Nahalin in the West Bank. Prior to 1948 one section of the 'Azazme lived in Wadi Al-Akhdar, 'the green valley', between Bir Saba' and Faluja. In the early 1950s the Israeli army moved them to the hills south of Hebron. In 1969 they crossed the border into Wadi Araba but the Jordanian authorities refused to let them proceed any further fearing a general exodus of Bedouins from the Negev. They were also refused refugee status. Many of them were expelled by Ariel Sharon in January 1972 from the area of Abu-Ageila in a secret operation conducted in late January 1972. There are at least nine Israeli settlements on land claimed by the 'Azazme, including the military camp and prison at Ktzi'ot and the town and nuclear plant at Dimona. 'Azazme population centres in Israel include: Wadi al-Na'am, an unrecognised village with a population of 5,000; Shaqib al-Salam established in 1979 as part of a government program of establishing permanent Bedouin settlements, population 6,500; Bir Hadaj, recognised in 2004, population 5,000. References Further reading (translated from German by William Templer) Bedouins in Israel Bedouin groups Egypt–Israel relations Bedouins in Egypt