See Nov. '10 post, Beersheva, Feb. '11 post, Negev -- Bedouin Women & Oct. '11 post, Shephelah Field Trip.
More than half the land mass in Israel is in the Negev -- much of it south of Beersheva, always considered the southerly terminus of Biblical Israel. We got a small dose of this arid desert in our Oct. 9 field trip with BYU students to Shephelah. But our earlier adventure on 10/3/11 took us even deeper into the south & the lives of those who live there. We also saw some ancient Biblical ruins.
Negev (Hebrew: "dry" or "south"). The Negev is a rocky desert with hyper-dry mtns. ranging up to 1,500' high. It is an inverted triangle of nearly 5,000 sq. miles, bounded by Sinai (west) & the Jordan Rift Valley (east, running about 110 miles beyond the Dead Sea to Eilat & the Gulf of Aqaba above the Red Sea).
It is by far the driest part of Israel. Beersheva, northern Negev's main industrial center, averages 8" of annual rainfall. Further south gets only from 1" to 4". But when it rains, it pours -- often filling wadis (dry river beds) with flash floods. Hardpan soil (called "loess") increases water runoff and erosion.
Biblical Negev. After Abraham & his nephew Lot left Egypt 4000 yrs. ago, they each took separate lands. Lot journeyed east to the cities & plains of Jordan. Abraham became a nomadic tent dweller in northern Negev, south of Hebron (Gen. 13). Thus, he was an early Bedouin (Arabic: badawī or "desert dweller").
Unrecognized villages. After Israel's 1948 War of Independence, 80% of all Bedouins in the Negev moved to other Arab countries. Today nearly 200K remain -- the poorest of the poor (70% are below the poverty level). Most live in about 45 "unrecognized villages" (mobile Bedouin camps) -- undefined settlements with no taxes, no municipal services & few if any permanent bldgs.
Israelis plan to double their own population in the Negev in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, they have tried to assimilate Bedouins into 7 "recognized villages," incl. public schools, clinics, housing & infrastructure. At the same time, environmental laws have squeezed out traditional lifestyles by creating sizeable nature preserves & have restricted grazing by goats in the Negev. These attempts at "sedentism" (transitioning a population to permanent residences in a fixed location) may be almost as easy to do with Bedouins as it has been with our own Native Americans!
Bedouin women: Are especially challenged in adapting to more urbanized living, as 90% are illiterate & 90% unemployed -- barely subsisting. Also, the Bedouin growth rate is 5.5% per year (60% under age 17), largely due to polygamy (affecting 40% of all Bedouin families). Anti-polygamy laws are not enforced. Some illiterate wives are being abandoned for more literate ones. We visited a charity we support that is helping to ease this sedentism for Bedouin women.
Sidreh-Lakiya. That charity is located in the recognized village of Lakiya (10K popul.). For 20 years, it has promoted the empowerment of women thru greater education & employment. Sidreh is Arabic for cedar: a tree that grows slow but strong in very hard places.
Behind their retail store was a huge, authentic bedouin tent & floor loom.
Tourism Director Katie Simpson (Wm. & Mary Univ., here just 2 weeks ago) explained the steps of weaving -- from shearing to spinning to dying to end product.
Some of this work like spinning wool into thread, weaving & finishing can be done at home, while attending to other duties.
Spun yarn is dyed (into 35 natural colors), prepared & wrapped into balls at Sidra's production center, where end products are also marketed.
A life story. Eran Hayet translated for Hagar (Ha - jar') -- 1st Bedouin woman to attend high school & learn Hebrew, in 1960; also 1st to get a driver's license. Despite contrary peer pressure, her husband supported her. Their 9 children have gone on to grad schools & the professions. 
Khadra (Sidra's founder and director) eagerly described their progress.
These were some end products -- recently marketed in Santa Fe, NM.
Eric and Elaine Huntsman seemed as impressed as we were.
This was its men's community center.
Will it soon become a "recognized village"? Only time will tell.
Tel Arad. This was a large Canaanite city located near 2 key trade routes (perfume, N-S & patriarchs, E-W). When the King of Arad fought off Israel's entry there, Moses utterly destroyed it & other cities (Num. 21; Judges 1:16). It was abandoned until David & Solomon rebuilt it as a fortress city after 1000 BC.
The Cistern/Well. Canaanites built a covered cistern. Later, Israelites dug until they hit water & made a well. Muslims rebuilt it in 8th century AD.
Each of 3 rooms had the same function as Solomon's Jerusalem temple. Entering the Holy of Holies, I recalled leaving my scriptures there on one of the two entry "standing stones" during our 1999 tour. I hope they found a good user.
This is the only Judean temple recovered by archaeologists to date. Ezra Taft Benson once told David Ben Gurion that other temples outside of Jerusalem would be found. Moses told the people to perform their temple ordinances only in God's own habitation, chosen "out of all your tribes" (Deut. 12:5, 11, 14). Will a temple be found for each of the 12 tribes of Israel? Only time will tell.
Several wells, including this one, tapped a huge underground aquifer. Abraham also dug a well, watered a grove & swore an oath with the king there (Gen. 21).
This aquifer also supported an elaborate water system & huge cistern beneath Tel Be'er Sheva. We all explored it with red & green hard hats.
Dr. Huntsman explained how this horned altar was found & reassembled -- further evidence that Israelite temples were here before King Hezekiah's reforms after 560 BC suppressed all shrines outside of Jerusalem. (See 2 Kings 18). The Israel Museum has the original; this was an exact replica.
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