Negev

The desert and the dry land will be glad; the ‘Aravah will rejoice and blossom like the lily.

 

The Negev occupies 60 percent of Israel’s terrain, and is part of the global desert belt responsible for the country’s climate. In Hebrew, the word Negev means “dry”. But visitors travelling the desert roads soon discover that the Negev has much more to offer than just sand and sweeping brownish-grey landscapes. Indeed, since the foundation of the State of Israel, inhabitants of the Negev have worked tirelessly to transform this patch of earth into a flowering landscape, complete with new airport. Plans to expand urbanization, infrastructure and agriculture and to secure water supplies continue to be high priorities, making the Negev the only desert in the world to be shrinking.