Ar'arat an-Naqab or Ar'ara BaNegev is a Bedouin

Bedouin

The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...

 town (local council

Local council (Israel)

Local councils are one of the three types of local government found in Israel, with the other two being cities and regional councils. As of 2003, there were 144 local councils in Israel, these being settlements which pass a minimum threshold enough to justify their operations as independent...

) in the South District

South District (Israel)

The Southern District is one of Israel's six administrative districts, and is the largest in terms of land area as well as the most sparsely populated. It covers most of the Negev desert, as well as the Arabah valley. The population of the Southern District is 1,002,400. It is 86% Jewish and 14%...

 of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including population, society, economy, industry, education and physical infrastructure.It is headed by a...

 (CBS), the population of Ar'arat an-Naqab was 12,500 in December 2006. Its jurisdiction is 14,052 dunam

Dunam

A dunam or dönüm, dunum, donum, dynym, dulum was a non-SI unit of land area used in the Ottoman Empire and representing the amount of land that can be plowed in a day; its value varied from 900–2500 m²...

s. Ar'arat an-Naqab was founded in 1982 as part of a government project to settle Bedouins in permanent settlements.

Sewage

Until 2009, Ar'arat an-Naqab's sewage either went through an old purification facility or into one of several pools that were created in the 1980s and posed an environmental hazard. As a result of the construction and expansion of nearby Nevatim Airbase, the Israel Air Force invested in the purification facility, making it modern and sufficient for the needs of the village as well as the airbase.