There are also several kibbutzim, including Revivim and Sde Boker; the latter became the home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, after his retirement from politics.

[2][3] A year later, the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine allotted a larger part of the area to the Jewish State which became Israel.

It forms an inverted triangle shape whose western side is contiguous with the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, and whose eastern border is the Arabah valley.

It is a melange of brown, rocky, dusty mountains interspersed by wadis (dry riverbeds with plants that flower briefly after rain) and deep craters.

The Arabah Valley along the Jordanian border stretches 180 km (110 mi) from Eilat in the south to the tip of the Dead Sea in the north.

[35] In the 9th century BC, development and expansion of mining in both the Negev and Edom (modern Jordan) coincided with the rise of the Assyrian Empire.

[32] The 4th-century BC arrival of the Nabateans resulted in the development of irrigation systems that supported new urban centres located along the Negev incense route at Avdat (Oboda), Mamshit (Mampsis), Shivta (Sobata), Haluza (Elusa), and Nitzana (Nessana).

[32][dubious – discuss] This at least was the prevailing theory, until more recent research showed that the earliest form of Nabataean agriculture in the Negev Highlands was only based on spring-water irrigation, with the much more extensive run-off water harvesting techniques using barrages and terraces apparently developing and being used only later, during the 4th-7th centuries AD, after the 3rd-century collapse of long-distance trade.

Nabatean currency and the remains of red and orange potsherds, identified as a trademark of their civilisation, have been found along the route, remnants of which are also still visible.

[32] As shown by the research conducted by Michael Evenari, novel techniques were employed, such as runoff rainwater collection and management systems, which harvested water from larger areas and directed it onto smaller plots.

[37] He thought that the creators of this elaborate systems had been the Nabataeans,[37] a theory proved wrong by more recent studies, which dated the massive agricultural and demographic expansion in the area to the Byzantine period.

[39] Along with Avdat (Oboda), Mamshit (Mampsis), Shivta (Sobata), Haluza (Elusa), and Nitzana (Nessana), the settlements at Rehovot-in-the-Negev/Ruheibeh (the second largest by population of the Byzantine-era "Negev towns"[40]) and Saadon are also significant for this period.

[41][42] A massive increase in grape production in the northwestern Negev for the requirements of the wine industry was noted for the early 6th century, documented by studying ancient refuse mounds at Shivta, Elusa and Nessana.

[38] It seems likely that these two events resulted in a near-cessation of international trade with luxury goods such as Gaza wine, grape production in the Negev settlements again giving way to subsistence farming focusing on barley and wheat.

[38] Repeated earthquakes hit the region during the Byzantine period, with numerous revetment walls added to buildings to support them against collapse; a large 7th-century seismic event led to the abandonement of Avdat and Rehovot-in-the-Negev.

[38] In Nessana, the number of grape pips is even seen to increase again during the Early Islamic period, probably due to the needs of a local Christian monastery.

[38] This disappearance of the wine industry from the semi-arid northern Negev shows that it was technically possible to sustain it over centuries, but that the grape monoculture was economically unsustainable in the long run[38] due to its dependence on empire-wide trading networks, which required stability and prosperity over a vast territory.

[43] Six Islamic settlements have been found in the vicinity of modern Eilat, along with copper and gold mines and stone quarries, and a sophisticated irrigation system and road network.

[32] What is known of this time is largely derived from oral histories and folk tales of tribes from the Wadi Musa and Petra areas in present-day Jordan.

In the early years of the state, it absorbed many of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, with the Israeli government setting up many development towns, such as Arad, Sderot and Netivot.

[citation needed] It was projected that the Beersheba metropolitan area would reach a population of 1 million by 2020, and Arad, Yeruham, and Dimona would triple in size by 2025.

The $600 million project is intended to attract 500,000 new Jewish residents to the Negev by improving transport infrastructure, establishing businesses, developing water resources and introducing programmes to protect the environment.

[58][59][60] [61] A major Israel Defense Forces training base is being constructed in the Negev to accommodate 10,000 army personnel and 2,500 civilian staff.

Three more bases will be built by 2020 as part of a plan to vacate land and buildings in Tel Aviv and central Israel, and bring jobs and investment to the south.

[62] The Negev Desert and the surrounding area, including the Arava Valley, are the sunniest parts of Israel and little of this land is arable, which is why it has become the centre of the Israeli solar industry.

[70] The Negev is home to hazardous infrastructures that include Negev Nuclear Research Center nuclear reactor, 22 agrochemical and petrochemical factories, an oil terminal, closed military zones, quarries, a toxic waste incinerator at Ne'ot Hovav, cell towers, a power plant, several airports, a prison, and two rivers of open sewage.

[72] The Manufacturers Association of Israel established an authority in 2005 to move 60 industrial enterprises active in the Tel Aviv region to the Negev.

The study, funded in large part by Ramat Hovav, found higher rates of cancer and mortality for the 350,000 people in the area.

Prematurely released to the media by an unknown source, the preliminary study was publicly discredited;[74] However, its final conclusions – that Bedouin and Jewish residents near Ramat Hovav are significantly more susceptible than the rest of the population to miscarriages, severe birth defects, and respiratory diseases – passed a peer review several months later.