Emanuel Marx (Hebrew: עמנואל מרקס; 8 May 1927 – 13 February 2022) was a German-born Israeli social anthropologist, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University.

A few months later, the father was thrown back into a concentration camp, but was released in September 1939 when he received an immigration certificate [de; he] to migrate to Palestine.

At the end of the war he began studying sociology, economics, and the modern history of the Middle East at Hebrew University, graduating with a master's degree in 1958.

At the same time, he worked with Meir Yaakov Kister on establishing an Oriental studies strand in Israeli high schools .

While researching the Negev Bedouin, Marx found that functionalist sociology in the tradition of Talcott Parsons, which he had pursued until then, did not help explain the reality he encountered, and he discovered anthropology as a scientific discipline.

His doctoral supervisor was Professor Emrys Peters and his other teachers included Prof. Max Gluckman, Victor Turner and Bill Epstein.

He was a visiting professor at the universities of Manchester, Berkeley, Brandeis, Cape Town, Oxford, Aegean Islands, and Copenhagen.

Marx claimed in the book that the "closure" imposed by the military administration on the Bedouin did not serve security needs, but was intended to prevent them from entering the labour market, in order to make it easier for new Jewish immigrants to find employment.

In their view, the solution to the refugee question would be found in a formalization of their ownership of their current real estate, and in the payment of fair compensation for the property lost to them, and not necessarily by their resettlement.

In the opinion of Marx the organization did much in its early years to settle the refugees, to provide them with primary education, and to integrate them into the labour market.

The government provided them with state-owned Amidar apartments, workfare jobs with the Jewish National Fund, and welfare benefits.

The violent accusers of virtue never harmed officials, but often their actions helped achieve what they wanted, for example a job, improved social conditions or a new apartment.

This book, edited by Marx, which was published in 1980 by Academic Press in London, summarized a series of studies he conducted with his colleagues (including Terry Evens, Myron Aronoff, Don Handelman, Haim Hazan, Dafna Izraeli, Ruwen Ogien, and Moshe Shokeid) in the seventies.

It included a series of studies on various sites in the country, such as kibbutzim, moshavim, development towns, neighborhoods, an industrial plant and a workshop for disabled workers, and bureaucratic organizations such as the Port of Ashdod.

The main purpose was not to describe in detail the community, but to identify the economics, political forces, and bureaucratic organizations and ideologies that influence it.

Because these influences are mediated by representatives of the authorities and other organizations that conduct exchange relations with the community, they take on special forms at each and every site.

The main source of livelihood for the Bedouin during the period when Israel ruled Sinai was the labour of men who stayed for months at work far from home.

This work could bring in more than just orchards and livestock, but because of the unstable political and economic conditions in the area it was subject to fluctuations and uncertainty.

Marx observed upheavals in the labour markets following the Yom Kippur War and again following the peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel.

He saw that the Bedouin were investing tireless efforts in building frameworks to ensure their survival, which included strict preservation of heritage, conservation of water resources, agricultural land and transit routes through tribal strengthening, conservation of orchards and herds as an economic alternative, and by stockpiling food supplies.

One chapter in the book deals with merchants from El Arish who bring all the goods needed for the Bedouin to subsist, and become an integral part of society.

The cannabis travels a long way, from the growing area in Lebanon, through Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Sinai, until it reaches consumers in Egypt.

For example, all the orchards on the high mountain were established with great effort, because the Bedouin were forced not only to dig wells but also to fetch the soil.

The agreement reached between the parties was ratified by law; it enabled the construction of the airport and led to the establishment of two new towns, Kuseife and Ar'arat.

The main importance of Marx's knowledge was that he paved the way for the recognition of the rights of the Bedouin on the agricultural lands they had cultivated for generations – albeit that the authorities' interest in the process had ground to a halt once the airport had been completed.