n Jordan[edit]
A young Bedouin lighting a camp fire in Wadi Rum, Jordan
Most of the Bedouin tribes migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to what is Jordan today between the 14th and 18th centuries.[90] Today Bedouins make up from 33%[91] to 40%[92] of the population of Jordan. Often they are referred to as a backbone of the Kingdom,[91][93] since Bedouin clans traditionally support the monarchy.[94]
Most of Jordan’s Bedouin live in the vast wasteland that extends east from the Desert Highway.[95] The eastern Bedouin are camel breeders and herders, while the western Bedouin herd sheep and goats. Some Bedouin in Jordan are seminomads, they adopt a nomadic existence during part of the year but return to their lands and homes in time to practice agriculture.
The largest nomadic groups of Jordan are the Banū (Banī laith)(they reside in petra)-- baniṢakhr and Banū al-Ḥuwayṭāt (they reside in Wadi Rum[96]). There are numerous lesser groups, such as the al-Sirḥān (they live near the Iraqi border on the north of Jordan), Banū Ḥasan, Banū Khālid, Hawazim, ʿAṭiyyah, and Sharafāt. The Ruwālah (Rwala) tribe, which is not indigenous, passes through Jordan in its yearly wandering from Syria to Saudi Arabia.[97]
The Jordanian government provides the Bedouin with different services such as education, housing and health clinics. However, some Bedouins give it up and prefer their traditional nomadic lifestyle.
In the recent years there is a growing discontent of the Bedouin with the ruling monarch, but the king manages to deal with it. In August 2007, police clashed with some 200 Bedouins who were blocking the main highway between Amman and the port of Aqaba. Livestock herders, they were protesting the government's lack of support in the face of the steeply rising cost of animal feed, and expressed resentment about government assistance to refugees.[91]
Arab Spring events in 2011 led to demonstrations in Jordan, and Bedouins took part in them. But it is unlikely that the Hashemites are to expect a revolt similar to turbulence in other Arab states. The main reasons for that are the high respect to the monarch, and contradictory interests of different groups of the Jordanian society. The King Abdullah II maintains his distance from the complaints by allowing blame to fall on government ministers, whom he replaces at will.[98]