Chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease (IHD), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes, which were very rare among the Bedouin until the 1970s, are increasing rapidly (Ben Assa, 1961, 1964; Weitzman, Leann and Abu-Rabiah, 1974; Fraser et al., 1990; Weitzman, 1997, 1999).In a study conducted in 1985, Fraser et al. (1990) found that urbanized ...