Tarabin Bedouin

The Tirabin (Arabic: الترابين) were the most important Arab tribe in the Sinai Peninsula during the 19th century, and the largest inside Negev. Today this tribe resides in the Sinai Peninsula but also in Cairo, Ismailia, Giza, Al Sharqia and Suez, Israel (Negev), Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gaza Strip. A township named Tirabin al-Sana was built in Israel in 2004 especially for the members of al-Sana clan of Al-Tirabin tribe.

Al-Tirabin are considered the largest Bedouin tribe in the Negev and Sinai Peninsula and all of Egypt, with over 500,000 people. During the Mamluk administration, clans such as the Aydi tribe were integrated into the Tarabin in an effort to reduce the power of the clans in Palestine. The Ottoman dynasty, the British Mandate and their followers continued this policy. An Ottoman law of 1875 integrated other tribes living in the Negev into the Tarabin tribe: these are the Azazme, Tiyaha, Jubarat, Hanajre and Huweitat.